Hands on with Vivendi's Surviving Hollywood
It's all about the script, baby
Having spoken to developer Centerscore about its episodic mobile game Surviving Hollywood, we thought it only fair to get ourselves some playtime on the text-based role-playing-lite title. Note that there are no plans yet to release the game in Europe, because the episodic micropayment model is not yet really supported by mobile operators here. (More's the pity).
Quick recap: In Surviving Hollywood, you start off as a wannabe actress, trying to make her way in the media jungle, which you do by negotiating multiple choice conversations, moving locations between offices, studios and bars, and balancing networking and partying with getting your beauty sleep.
After an initial download, the game will be updated weekly over a 12-month period.
In play, Surviving Hollywood's role-playing proves lite, but its test-based nature is definitely heavy. This is especially true in the game's first chapter, where you – the naive ingenue – arrive in Hollywood, and have to go through the process of establishing contacts and trying to find an agent. There's loads of text and conversation dialogue to work your way through.
We found it a slow start, but things did get a bit more interactive when we hit the mini-games. These use a simple 'move and press the right button at the right time' approach to activities such as going to the gym and collecting falling hearts, and a club-based music game.
You can get an idea of the LA action you'll be up against in this video footage:
