Great novelty for Friends fans! (Mattel Friends Scene it! DVD Game)

Member Name: Stephoohla

Product:	Mattel Friends Scene it! DVD Game
Date:	17/08/09 (69 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Fun, interactive with DVD

Disadvantages: Questions about the actors are hard, and not good for non-Friends lovers

I'm a huge Friends fan - I've watched it from the first series, and over time have seen at least every episode three times, but with certain episodes I've seen over 10 times, therefore I think it's safe to say that when my friend told me she was bringing this game round so we could play it, I was super confident I'd beat everyone!

It was easy enough to set up, there's a board, a DVD, counters dice and cards. There were four of us playing, and the side of the box states it is best for "2-4 players". We split up into two teams, me with my boyfriend, and my friend with her's. In basic terms, it's a simple question and answer board game, where players take it in turns to roll the die, move the correct amount of spaces, and it's the person who gets to a certain point, or in this case the middle, who wins. The die are different in this game, as you throw two, but one is a regular numbered dice, and the other has symbols on, indicating which type of question you'll answer.

The DVD runs alongside the game, so that certain questions will be on the DVD, and others will be printed on cards that you pick up. The DVD contains simple questions, video clips, audio clips, etc, and you simply have to answer the questions.

I think a good feature of the game is that the board can be folded in half to create a shorter version of the game, which I reckon takes about 20 minutes, maybe half an hour. The full version can take an hour, or a bit longer.

Another brilliant feature is the 'Party Play' option on the DVD, which, once selected, just runs question after question about friends, meaning you can still play but don't have to faff about with cards, dice, etc, or even the board if you don't want! This can be played using just the DVD and is quite a good idea for large parties, where someone can keep scores using just a pen and paper!

Once the DVD is in, you use the DVD player's remote control buttons to move 'up' 'down' or to press 'enter', which is all easy to get the hang of. There is an option on the DVD of 'How To Play' which gives you a demonstration of how it all works, but since I've played it a lot now I don't need it anymore. It's very easy to use anyway, so even if you're new to the game, it might not even be necessary to see this.

In game play, each team takes it in turn to roll both the die, the numbered and symboled one. The number is how many spaces you move, and the symbol gives an instruction of whether you have to answer a DVD question, a card question, or another option.

There were different categories of questions, for example, you may have to answer a question like 'Who did this' or 'Who said that', but there are also harder questions asking what the actor/actress did before Friends, or which actor played guest characters, etc.

I found that, being a huge Friends fan, most of the questions were easy, apart from the actor/actress questions. These were very hard and I hardly got any right. Because they're all American actors, I think you'd have to be American to be able to know all of the questions, or if you're a big American sitcom/TV show fan then you'll definitely have an advantage.

There are also Buzz cards which you might sometimes come across, which may you give good news or bad news!

You win by reaching a certain square which leads to the centre of the board, which you must answer certain questions to get through to the centre. But the first one is an 'All In' game, therefore if the opposing team can answer first, then the other team must stay where they are until their turn again. Once the player does get to the centre however, they have final questions to answer on the DVD, and a right answer means they have won the game.

I can see why this game is quite popular among Friends fans (I wouldn't recommend for anyone who is not a Friends fan... my boyfriend isn't really and he didn't know many questions rendering him a useless part of the team!). It's a bit of a novelty and a perfect birthday or Christmas present to a Friends lover. After a couple of games it does get a bit stale though, as even though the questions are different, the same ones do come up every now and again, and its just not as exciting after a few plays!

I think the game started out as fairly costly, about £35, but luckily the price has come down now in some places to £20. I would recommend you give this game a go, but after a few weeks it will probably end up in the bottom of a cupboard once its served its initial usage!

Summary: Great for birthday or christmas presents for any Friends fan