A demo code was used, with many thanks to Weapy Studios.
Hollywood Animal is an upcoming game from Weapy Studios, the creators of This is the Police and its sequels This is the Police 2 and Rebel Cops.
The Premise of Hollywood Animal
In Hollywood Animal, we leave the world of law and crime behind and turn our eyes to the early days of Hollywood, a few years after the invention of the talkies – movies with recorded voices and soundtracks. Our job is to lead and develop a fledging film studio to success and fame while navigating the cutthroat movie business with all its difficulties and nuances.
Gameplay
We start by choosing a name and logo for our new film studio. After that, at least in the demo, we have a ready film to finish and market. We have a choice between three genres, all of which will be moderately successful. This way, we are shown how the choice of genre, actors, music, etc., influences the film score and the earnings.
The premade film also gives us a certain freedom to upgrade our studio. We have buildings we can start building. We even have a choice between contractors- some are paid less than others, but the finished state of the building is also different. When a building, say, a security office, is finished, we can upgrade them one at a time. It looks like a skill tree. If we build a script department, we can add a new ideas workshop, then upgrade to making sequels, making good sequels, making franchises, and so on.
While running the studios involves mostly appointing staff to different tasks, from time to time, we get story events, like in a visual novel—for example, the mayor of the city will see one of your movies, and then his daughter will want to become an actress. Do you agree to do a favor for the mayor and cast a new and untried actress or reject him outright? Either way, there will be consequences.
Speaking of staff, we start with some and then can hire more. While we can use staff as we appoint them, in general, it’s a good idea to let them specialize. For example, only one of the scriptwriters writes detective movies, one of them westerns, and so on. Interestingly enough, when a script is finished, all of the writers get experience, whether or not they wrote it.
In the script planning stage, we can choose genres, story events, characters, demographics—who our movie is for—and so on. Sometimes, if you have a particularly good combination, the game will remark on it, prompting you to repeat it at a later stage.
Actors, producers, and composers also gain experience and improve their ratings. The better rated the people working on a movie, the better earnings it makes. Sometimes, you might have workplace conflicts, with actors refusing to work with our actors. In cases like this, you might need to negotiate.
Hollywood Animal is, without a doubt, a proper strategy. It is about a business that has never been particularly gentle or fair, especially in its earliest years, so some parts of the content might not be suitable for young players—approach cautiously.
Art Style
Like other titles by the developers, Hollywood Animal is undoubtedly a very stylish game. The UI is art deco, while cut scenes are quick and snappy. Style-wise, Hollywood Animal is very much like other games by the developers, and that’s a very good thing.
The soundtrack is very on point with the rest of the game. Since my film studio barely made it for five years, I can’t tell if the soundtrack changes with the decades. It would be a fun fact, but it’s charming even this way.
Some Side Notes
In the demo, we have a very generous starting capital, even after purchasing the film studio. This allows players to truly try out all unlocked buildings and make some very poor-rated movies while looking for the path to success. Still, money isn’t unlimited, and you can lose this game. Should that happen, the developers have implemented a feature where you can choose when to start your save without starting from scratch.
Settings-wise, Hollywood Animal has basic Display and Music settings.
Final Thoughts
In general, I don’t like strategies—almost always, I quickly lose interest and move on. I played Hollywood Animal for almost two hours without stopping or realizing how much time had passed. I can’t wait for the full game to arrive. You can find the Steam page for Hollywood Animal here to try out the demo.
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