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It's easy to become a bit cynical about expansion packs. Watching game-makers ruthlessly wring moms and control freaks dry with endless add-ons will do that to you. Do we really need The Sims: Tax Day or Liquor Store Tycoon? The Movies, though, is a game that really did leave us yearning for a sequel. Lionhead pulled off a great feat with their take on the Hollywood studio. The game smartly balances sim-centric studio management with the pure creativity of scripting, casting, directing, and cutting movies from the ground up. Cooking up plots and crafting your own machinima with the game's Avid-style video editing tool is tons of fun. But the variety of pre-fab scenes provided in the first game only whetted our appetite for virtual movie-making. The Movies: Stunts & Effects adds several new wrinkles to back lot micro-management. Yes, actual gameplay. Unlike other expansions that add only new behaviors, jobs, or outfits this upgrade actually builds a happy little rec-room of game play onto the core  mechanic.

Dying For A Living

With stuntmen added to the talent pool, you've got more miniature employees to keep happy. Don't worry, though, these fearless doubles aren't as bitchy as actors and directors. They don't throw tantrums over the plushness of their trailers. And they definitely don't jump up and down on Oprah's couch. These Jackie Chan-types have only two needs: training and health. Let their bodies deteriorate and they'll be sidelined with a “lacerated backside.” Don't train them enough and they'll fall flat on their face, ruining your stunt-filled summer blockbuster. Hopefully Michael Bay is taking notes. This complication would feel like busywork if it weren't for the game's goals and awards. Several stunt-related categories have been added to the in-game award show. Walking home with these trophies scores valuable bonuses that reduce stuntman recovery time or make daredevil feats easier to pull off. There's also a stunt achievement ladder that dangles more bonus-based carrots. They're simple inducements, but they do the trick.

Chewing Up Scenery

But what would an expansion pack be with out swag? The Movies: Stunts & Effects delivers tons of costumes, sets and props opening up tons of cinematic possibilities. New lot decorations are part of the package too, but these little perks hardly add to the game. Like the masses were really crying out for a Christmas tree to slap down near their studio gates. Give us a couple palm trees and we're good. It's the new movie scenarios that'll put butts in seats. See, The Movies doesn't really give you full control when it comes to shooting your flicks. Instead you get a bunch of typical movie scenes that you string together to tell your story. Advanced filmmakers can use a new “free cam” mode which allows them to position and move the camera within these scenes, but the action pretty much stays the same. More scenes at your disposal means more variety in your studio output. And that's a good thing.  Being the violent, little video game monkeys we are we're happy as Ratner to find tons of gun-play, fistfights, and explosions added to our cinematic arsenal. The props and costumes are pretty testosterone-flavored as well – lots of military uniforms and guns. You're not going to win any Oscars with the movies you make with The Movies: Stunts & Effects. But you will make things go boom.

Gimme Props

A big gripe with The Movies was you had to play through the game to open up all the full complement of film-making tools, props, and sets. This expansion doesn't change that. Sandbox mode dials down the difficulty with a handful of cheats that make pulling of stunts and financing your effects-laden star vehicles way easier. There's also a shortcut for game veterans that lets them start a career in the 1960s with a fully built studio and a stable of newbie stuntmen. But there's no magical Spielberg code. If you want to make shorts you're gonna have to play some game. But that's why we're all here, right? Come on in for a group hug.

No Life 'Till Latex

If there's one weak point to The Movies: Stunts & Effects is the short shrift that special effects get. Sure, you get tons of masks, make-up, monster costumes and other action-themed toys to play with, nut these details are purely cosmetic. They don't really change the way you play the game. Maybe it's a bit of justice that anonymous stuntmen get all the glory here while the Ray Harryhausens and Stan Winstons get reduced to generic “research” jobs. A more in-depth path that let you build your own ILM would have been pretty fresh and made the effects part of this pack's title feel less like an afterthought.

No Small Feat

The good news is that The Movies: Stunts & Effects is highly unlikely to inspire add-on remorse. There's enough new game here to buoy all the backdrops and furnishings that come with your standard issue game upgrade. Auteur types are well served with a cutting room floor full of broken bones, exploding cars and giant monster attacks to help them better express their creative visions. In other words, if you're not the gotta catch 'em all type, this expansion pack feels like it actually expands an already great game.

Review By: Gus Mastrapa

Video Produced By: Michael Leffler