Dream Factory or Nightmare?

Hollywood Animal is a management simulation game, inviting players to delve into the intricate and often ruthless world of film production. It’s a genre that has seen its fair share of attempts, from the grand aspirations to the more niche offerings, but rarely has one promised such a granular look at the nitty-gritty of movie making. Does it capture the glamour and the grind, the triumphs and the tribulations of the silver screen, or is it one big parody? Read on to find out!

From Script to Screen

In Hollywood Animal, you assume the role of a budding film studio head, tasked with navigating the cutthroat movie industry from the late 1920s onwards (1929, specifically). Gameplay generally revolves around greenlighting projects, hiring directors, writers, and actors, managing budgets, constructing sets, and ultimately releasing films to critical and commercial acclaim. There are also several choices available to you at different points that require you to choose between something heinous and something horrific, and this in turn is what contributes towards Hollywood Animal’s charm.

Hollywood Animal doesn’t present a predefined narrative in the traditional sense; instead, the story is emergent, crafted by your choices and the unpredictable nature of the film business. Your studio’s journey, from a small independent outfit to a Hollywood titan, is the central narrative, and you’re in the driving seat. You’ll encounter historical events, technological advancements like sound and colour film, and the ever-shifting tastes of audiences. There is a highly granular level of detail in managing your studio, including everything from negotiating contracts with temperamental stars to dealing with studio politics and rival studios. The success or failure of your films directly impacts your studio’s reputation and financial stability, creating a compelling, self-driven story arc based on your decisions.

The Inner Workings

Hollywood Animal provides a detailed and accurate simulation of film production from its chosen era, featuring mechanics like talent scouting (complete with unique skills and demands), departmental staff management, and script development. The film production pipeline involves multiple stages: script development, pre-production, principal photography, post-production, and distribution. Each stage requires careful management of resources, time, and personnel. There’s a dynamic market system where film genres wax and wane in popularity, forcing you to adapt your strategies based on audience feedback and reception in general. Financial management is crucial, as you’ll need to balance income from film sales with expenditures on salaries, studio upgrades, and marketing. Not only that, but I discovered that very few people were prepared to work for wages as low as I was proposing, so making sure that you remain fair whilst frugal is key.

Hollywood Animal also incorporates elements of studio management, allowing you to build and upgrade facilities, research new technologies, and even delve into the personal lives of your hired talent, with potential impacts on their performance. The sheer number of variables and interconnected systems aims to provide a rich and challenging management experience. However, this very comprehensiveness, with its multitude of variables to track, can quickly become overwhelming. Despite numerous full-screen prompts explaining everything in real-time, the sheer volume of information thrown at you makes it easy to feel swamped and inclined to dismiss it rather than understand it.

Silver Screen Aesthetics

Hollywood Animal presents its world with a stylised, somewhat isometric visual approach, reminiscent of classic management simulations. The graphics offer a clear overview of your studio lots, production facilities, and the various characters populating your cinematic empire. While not aiming for photorealism, the art style is functional and provides enough detail to distinguish different elements of the game world. However, the interface remains largely static. While pleasant to look at initially, its lack of change means there’s little to continually impress you. Character models, on the other hand, are depicted with a caricatured charm, fitting the often eccentric personalities of the film industry and are entirely believable.On the audio front, Hollywood Animal sounds great, with fitting music and sound effects throughout, thus adding to the overall immersion. 

The Director’s Cut

Hollywood Animal possesses significant replay value, largely due to the sheer number of paths to take at numerous points. With no set story, each playthrough offers a new opportunity to build a different kind of studio, focus on different genres, or explore various strategies for success. You can play it nicely and be fair, or you can try to be an absolute monster, taking advantage of anyone and everyone possible. In fact, a disclaimer at the game’s start reveals Hollywood Animal’s commitment to historical accuracy, intending to recreate the era’s experience as authentically as possible. This includes deliberately leaving in some truly horrific, yet historically viable, options that you can indeed choose. The rationale is clear: despite these actions being wrong, ignoring their existence would only work towards making them subsequently worse.

In addition to a vast pool of available choices, the dynamic market, the vast array of available talent, and the historical progression ensure that no two games will unfold in exactly the same way. The challenge of balancing budgets, managing personalities, and adapting to industry shifts provides ample reason to return and attempt to build an even greater cinematic dynasty.

Conclusion

Hollywood Animal attempts to offer a deep and engaging simulation of the late-1920s film industry, with a level of detail that will appeal to fans of complex management games. Its historical setting, historical accuracy, and the promise of navigating the evolution of cinema are certainly appealing. However, the sheer amount of ongoing processes and information that requires attention could easily prove to be a deterrent for some. The constant stream of data and decisions can lead to a sense of overload, causing some people to feel overwhelmed and disinclined to continue. Yet, for those who relish the challenge of meticulous resource management and strategic planning within a unique historical context, Hollywood Animal delivers a deeply satisfying challenge.

Grade: 7/10 – Good