"Addicting"

Well let me start off by being honest and admitting I'm a straight normal guy. That's right. You want a unbiased review? You got it.

Now at first when I heard about this game, I assumed it would be this sort of game geared towards 'tweenager' girls and fashion heads.

Welllll, I was wrong there. Out of curiosity I borrowed the cart from a friend a mine and spent the free time of my week on this. What I didn't expect was to be immersed so much into this game, and boy can I tell you, this game is ADDICTING. I'm not even a fashion nut too!

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Outline:

Basically, you're a girl who has sent an job application at this fashion shop run by a diva of a gal named Grace, assisted by this ditsy yet enthusiastic girl called Renee -- which is owned handsome millionaire named Dominic who happens to have a very loyal butler and maid at his service. Starting to get a picture?

The game works you like a dog, starting from down under of clothing retail sales to eventually reaching from the top of glamor and fame after owning your own fashion shop and being named the fashion designing queen of the world.

With that in mind, the game is courteous enough to also customize your own character, which later on in the game you can further unlock other variety of things as well.

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Concept:

The whole premise of the game mostly comprises of serving customers by picking apparel for them with the pleas they offer to you. The game has A LOT of customers, so you won't see the same 'Sally' over and over again.

All your customers has different tastes in styles, preferences and budgets. Like a good sales rep, it's your job to make do with their needs and satisfy them while making some cash in the process to spend on yourself buying new clothes, makeup and getting your hair done -- too stocking up on new apparel for your shop further on in the game. You also have the ability to later setup your interior design and music of your shop, and dress up mannequins for potential window shoppers to buy.

The game has about 10,000 apparel pieces, which cycles randomly throughout the game and in real time season. There is such a wide variety of things such as different brands of clothing to choose from (which you can buy at limited quantities in the Exibition Hall no less) that it might take a full year before you can unlock everything. Now that's some replay value.

Also with that in mind, your shop will also gain points which increase your shop rank with the more satisfied customers you help and profit increases. This also plays in the part of entering certain Fashion Contest's to work your creativity and wits.

Surprisingly, this concept doesn't sound all that original on paper, yet it's been done so well, you'll actually immerse yourself in it so much that you'll forget how hours fly pass you without even noticing it.

Also if that's not enough to tide you over, there is a Wi-Fi mode in which you can send leaflets to other people to promote your styles, manage your own fashion boutique online for others to check out and buy your set up mannequins and just shop around other people's shops across the world. You can also compete in fashion contests via Multi-Cart play with other people too, isn't that cool?

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Graphics:

The graphics are nice, although not as sharp. With the DS what can you expect anyway?

It sort of resembles more into a crossover of american/japanese anime style when it comes to character models. However the backgrounds and clothing graphics are quite nice. Nothing else to comment here though.

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Music:

Again, not much to comment here. There are some catchy upbeat tunes and some, not so well. It really depends on the individual though. To me, I like it. Again with a DS, you really can't expect high quality crisp MP3 style music bits, though it got the job done.

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Controls:

This game uses the vertical hand held DS approach such as games like Hotel Dusk: Room 215. It works very well and is appropriate for this game. The game is mainly touch operated so you'll need your stylus most of the times, while the buttons and d-pad serve as optional controls.

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Replay Value:

Addicting. You'll spend way too many hours on it. Nuff' said. Tons of extras to unlock, lots of customization, Wi-Fi interaction...


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Quirks I didn't like:

Well I was expecting that we would of had the option to actually design our own clothes (similar to the Animal Crossing games) and be able to showcase them online, however unfortunately it looks like the game couldn't handle this feature.

Also, the Wi-Fi is a bit lacking, as there is no online fashion contests and with shopping online, you are limited to only setting up only 3 mannequins at a time.

The story itself could of had a little more work, letting us interact more with the customers individually and our peers, but nevertheless it's not that big a deal. You're pretty much more focused on running your shop anyway.

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Final words:

Don't be fooled by the box cover and the general idea of this game. This game isn't only for just 'tweenagers' and fashion heads, but pretty much anybody, boy or girl. Once you start this game, you'll have a hard time putting it down...trust me.

Overall score: 8/10

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 11/13/09

Game Release: Style Savvy (US, 11/02/09)