If
you’ve
ever
imagined
yourself
as
the
next
Hollywood
visionary
but
lack
the
actual
talent
and
skill
required
to
pen
a
script
that
could
make
Angels
weep
and
your
wallet
bulge,
then
The
Executive
–
Movie
Industry
Tycoon
might
be
for
you.
By
navigating
menus
you’ll
put
together
movies,
grow
your
studio
and
hopefully
bank
plenty
of
cash,
or
you’ll
be
another
failed
movie
studio
pumping
out
straight-to-DVD
drivel.

You’ll
start
your
big
screen
career
in
a
humble
fashion,
a
single
person
inside
a
tiny
office/bedroom
with
far
too
much
time
on
your
hands
and
the
firm
belief
that
you
will
create
the
next
Marvel
Cinematic
Universe,
except
you,
in
your
infinite
wisdom,
will
know
when
to
stop
milking
a
franchise.
Of
course,
you
won’t
actually
stop
because
look
at
the
money
it’s
bringing
in!

Available
On:
PC
Reviewed
On:
PC
Developed
By:
Aniki
Games
Published
By:
Goblinz
Publishing,
Maple
Whispering
Limited

Review
key
provided
by
the
publisher.

At
first,
you’ll
have
just
your
company’s
CEO
to
write
scripts
and
film,
but
as
time
goes
on
and
money
gradually
seeps
into
your
coffers
you’ll
be
able
to
recruit
more
people,
move
into
a
bigger
space,
start
scaling
up
movie
production
budgets
and
research
new
options
and
technology.

The
process
of
making
a
movie
is
simple
enough:
first,
you
pick
a
genre,
a
theme
and
an
age
rating.
Matching
these
aspects
properly
sets
up
your
movie
for
success,
like
pairing
horror
with
a
werewolf
theme
and
an
R
rating.
Some
combinations
are
glaringly
obvious,
and
others
require
a
lot
more
guesswork
to
figure
out,
especially
regarding
the
age
ratings.
You’ll
also
need
to
pick
out
directors
and
actors
to
work
with,
weighing
up
their
metrics
for
box
office
draw,
affinity
for
the
script
and
how
well
they
match
the
chosen
genre.
Oh,
and
how
much
they
get
paid,
obviously.
The
game
has
some
fun
here
by
throwing
heaps
of
actors
and
directors
at
you
with
names
that
seem…familiar.
If
you’re
even
a
fleeting
fan
of
movies
you’ll
get
a
kick
out
of
seeing
them,
just
like
how
you’ll
get
a
kick
of
the
game’s
timeline
roughly
following
that
of
the
real
world,
right
down
to
monumental
movie
releases
that
helped
shape
pop
culture.

With
those
aspects
out
of
the
way,
it’s
on
to
the
sliders
and
optional
extras.
How
much
time
and
money
should
be
put
into
the
writing,
costumes,
music,
editing
and
so
on?
Well,
that
all
has
to
be
handled
via
sliders
where
you
allocate
how
much
effort
needs
to
go
into
every
aspect.
An
engaging
murder
mystery
favours
sharp
writing
and
editing,
whereas
a
sci-fi
action
flick
is
probably
going
to
benefit
more
from
an
emphasis
on
special
effects.
Again,
some
of
it
is
obvious,
like
a
musical
being
all
about
the
soundtrack,
while
other
styles
of
movie
are
more
nebulous.

The
premium
features
are
a
more
confusing
idea.
As
your
movie
is
slowly
put
together
you’ll
be
given
the
opportunity
to
add
premium
features,
provided
you’ve
researched
them,
such
as
period
costumes,
fight
choreography,
stunt
work,
creature
designs
and
much
more.
The
game
vaguely
hints
that
as
you
make
bigger
movies
and
grow
your
studio’s
overall
rating
the
audience
will
expect
more
of
these
costly
features,
and
they
also
have
some
requirements
on
top
of
that
to
take
into
consideration,
such
as
the
movie
needing
to
achieve
a
minimum
critic
rating
to
take
effect.
Outside
of
these
few
nuggets
of
information,
though,
the
premium
features
are
something
of
a
mystery
in
how
they
truly
affect
a
movie’s
success,
and
even
more
so
in
terms
of
how
to
match
them.
A
premium
writing
feature
that
focuses
on
funny
one-liners
and
quips
obviously
suits
a
comedy,
but
you
might
also
assume
that
an
adventure
movie
could
benefit
from
it
too.

In
other
words,
there’s
a
fair
amount
of
guessing
when
it
comes
to
making
movies,
That’s
why
it’s
important
to
assign
staff
to
analysing
your
films
after
they
come
out.
The
reports
will
narrow
down
what
you
need
to
do,
including
adding
visual
indicators
to
the
sliders
so
that
you
have
a
better
idea
of
where
to
focus
your
time.
Given
enough
analysing,
you’ll
eventually
have
a
nearly
infallible
template
to
creating
certain
genres.

Occasionally
the
game
might
throw
a
curveball
at
you
–
a
lead
actor
causing
problems,
or
some
accident
during
filming.
These
are
resolved
by
picking
one
of
the
options
presented
to
you.
Really,
these
incidents
exist
a
way
to
help
stave
off
the
increasingly
formulaic
way
in
which
you
make
films.

While
tycoon-style
games
are
not
known
for
their
graphics,
I
did
find
myself
wishing
that
The
Executive
would
occasionally
throw
some
sort
of
special
effects
into
the
mix.
Everything
takes
place
in
menus,
your
office
serving
as
nothing
more
than
an
almost
static
backdrop.
Even
when
filming
movies,
the
scene
doesn’t
change.
Even
old
games
like
The
Movies
showed
the
filming
process
and
tried
to
make
it
more
visually
engaging.
The
Executive
doesn’t
bother
at
all,
turning
the
art
of
making
movies
into
something
that
happens
purely
in
menus,
sliders
and
spreadsheets.
Of
course,
in
a
weird
way,
that’s
a
perfect
analogy
for
the
modern
Hollywood
machine,
where
films
typically
seem
to
have
been
designed
using
checkboxes
rather
than
lovingly
crafted.
Still,
a
touch
more
visual
flair
wouldn’t
have
gone
amiss.

Everything
you
do
slowly
generates
research
points
that
can
be
spent
on
acquiring
a
bigger
office,
opening
up
new
departments
such
as
marketing
or
increasing
your
options.
Perhaps
self-distribution
might
be
a
smart
unlock,
or
maybe
you
just
want
more
themes
to
play
with.
Don’t
sleep
on
the
ancillaries
option,
though,
which
unlocks
the
ability
to
earn
money
from
your
back
catalogue
of
published
movies.
Ultimately,
though,
research
doesn’t
add
too
much
to
the
game,
mostly
just
adding
a
few
more
optional
boxes
to
tick.

There’s
an
obvious
lack
of
depth
to
gameplay
as
well,
and
a
lot
of
interesting
aspects
about
movie-making
that
could
have
been
explored
just
aren’t
included.
Stuff
like
debuting
your
movies
at
a
film
festival,
merchandising
and
licensing
are
all
absent,
just
to
name
a
few.

To
put
it
simply,
it’s
a
repetitive
game
thanks
to
its
very
nature.
It’s
best
played
in
short
sessions,
usually
while
using
the
fast-forward
button,
because
if
you
play
for
too
long
the
sliders
and
check-boxes
become
rather
dull.

But
it’s
worth
considering
that
the
simple
gameplay
loop
is
also
what
makes
The
Executive
work
so
well.
It’s
an
excellent
game
to
play
to
take
a
break
from
bigger,
more
complex
stuff,
something
you
can
fire
up
when
you
have
15
or
30
minutes
to
spare.
In
this
sense,
I
really
appreciate
what
the
game
is
and
is
trying
to
do.
It
isn’t
shooting
to
be
a
realistic
and
in-depth
recreation
of
actually
making
movies.
It’s
more
like
an
abstract
representation
of
the
art
form.

A
lack
of
strong
feedback
is
probably
the
game’s
biggest
issue,
leaving
you
wondering
how
a
movie
failed
or
why
another
succeeded.
And
yet,
that
might
be
by
design
to
help
keep
the
game
interesting.
You
see,
in
Game
Dev
Tycoon,
which
The
Executive
is
based
heavily
upon,
once
you
cracked
all
the
formulas
you
could
pump
out
endless
surefire
hits
like
a
machine
gun
firing
bullets
made
of
pure
success.
The
Executive
isn’t
as
reliable
because
sometimes
things
just
fail
for
no
discernible
reason.
Did
your
movie
win
big
at
the
awards?
Great!
But
it’s
not
going
to
save
the
next
four
films
from
bombing
despite
everything
seemingly
being
right.
Occasionally,
it’s
because
you
just
weren’t
paying
attention
by
releasing
a
film
in
a
genre
the
audience
isn’t
interested
in
right
now
(market
prediction
is
something
worth
assigning
staff
to)
or
because
you
put
it
out
during
a
very
busy
month.
But
other
times
it’s
simply
because
the
game
decided
audiences
are
fickle
bastards.
Is
this
annoying
or
does
it
keep
the
game
more
interesting?
That’s
up
to
you.

I
do
appreciate
a
new
endless
mode
being
added,
too.
During
your
campaign
as
you
get
closer
to
the
end
the
game
will
display
a
message
asking
if
you’d
like
to
swap
over
to
endless
mode
so
you
can
keek
going
forever.
If
you
agree,
the
timeline
of
events
and
movie
releases
based
on
the
real
world
stops
and
is
replaced
by
an
infinite
series
of
generated
stuff
to
keep
up
the
illlusion
that
you’re
battling
against
other
film
companies.

The
Executive
doesn’t
really
expand
upon
the
tycoon
sub-genre’s
formula,
but
it’s
still
an
enjoyable,
simple
strategy
game
that
lets
you
live
out
your
fantasy
of
making
movies
without
all
the
boring
real-world
work
that
goes
into
it.
Now,
grab
the
overpriced
cinema
popcorn,
would
you?
I’ve
got
a
schlocky
werewolf
horror
script
that
will
hopefully
fix
all
of
my
money
woes.