Hoshiko_2000 reviews: Style Boutique
Before I start this review, I must confess that I have little interest in fashion. I rarely read the fashion articles in magazines, I only ever flick through Vogue to laugh at it, and clothes shopping bores me to tears. Therefore, for such a fashion-uninterested person as myself, Style Boutique was an unusual choice.
I brought the game out of curiosity. I'd seen it advertised, had read about it on the internet and had heard it had spent a while in the game charts; it looked like an odd little game, and I was curious to see why it was so popular. Also, after having spent the last few months fighting my way through Final Fantasy 3 and Final Fantasy: Ring of fates, I fancied a bit of light relief, and since I never really play any girly games as such, I thought it might make an interesting change. How good the game actually turned out to be blew me away.
Style Boutique is a brilliant and thoroughly enjoyable game! The game starts off with you working as a sales assistant at the famous Primavera boutique, and being shown the ropes by its manager Grace and co-worker Renee. After only a day, your talent is spotted by Primaveras young, rich and handsome owner Dominic, who gives you the opportunity to open your own boutique.
You get to name your boutique and can choose its interior from a number of different designs and styles, ranging from stylish and classy to Gothic or oriental. You also get to create your own character; you can choose from a number of different hairstyles, skin tones, face shapes, eye and hair colours. I based my own character's design on myself, because I have no imagination, but you really can create some very varied characters.
From that point on the games objective is simple; to make your boutique as successful as possible by serving your customers and meeting their needs. When you serve a customer, they will usually give you a brief description of what they want; a cute T-shirt, a casual dress, or something which goes with an item they are already wearing. You then have to find them an item that fits their image and budget, eg. a girl in to cute clothes will not appreciate a Gothic head dress, and someone with an £100 budget can hardly afford an £800 dress.
And oh, the clothes. The clothes in this game are amazing! Some of the designs, particularly from Gothic brand Ravencourt and punk brand MadJack, are simply incredible! The detail, quality and pure awesomeness of the designs is at times truly breathtaking, and owes itself largely to the games success. You select the clothes sold at your boutique yourself, and you can choose stock from sixteen different brands, each with their own distinct image, including retro, street style, Gothic, punk, baby doll and celebrity-chic. There are reportedly over 10,000 different items you can buy, and every time you make a purchase the item also gets added to your character's wardrobe, so 'you' can also wear the great clothing this game has to offer.
As you get better at serving your customers your shop rank will rise, and you can also enter various fashion contests, where your styling skills are put to the test. The overall objective of the game is to reach the top shop rank and win the international contest, which does not take very long to do, and once you manage to do this you have technically completed the game. However, you can continue the game for as long as you like. It's a quite literally a game you can complete in a week and keep playing for ever at the same time!
Aside from the clothes and the fun of running my boutique, one of the things I found I really loved about this game was the characters. Not to mention your various customers, there is your kind mentor Grace, (mostly) helpful assistant Renee, who comes with you from Primavera, mad fashion contest organiser Roccoco, clutzy but friendly photographer Libby, Dominic's kindly but fretful butler Godfrey, who is also Libby's grandfather, Dominic's rather snooty and odd maid Eunice, who wears impossibly thick glasses and likes Dominic, and of course Dominic himself.
*Dominic spoilers*
I will openly admit that I am one of the many Dominic fangirls; I fell in love with him the moment he first appeared. In the game it is often hinted that Dominic has feelings for your character; Godfrey seems to have picked up on something and makes a couple of apparent attempts to get the two of you together, immediately followed by Dominic coming in all embarrassed and apologetic and asking if Godfrey has said 'anything strange'. He gets you a present for your birthday then goes all awkward and stutters when he gives it to you, and if you lose the international contest he shyly offers to walk you home, then realises he has something to do, and gets embarrassed and goes red. He also says a few things which hint at him having feelings for you.
Sadly though, in my experience at least, your relationship never progresses beyond this. There are rumours that Dominic asks out/proposes to your character after you have served 1000 customers - I have done this and waited a for a while, but nothing has happened, much to my disappointment. Same thing goes for valentines day; there are claims that Dominic has asked people on dates on valentines day, but all that happened to me was Eunice coming in wanting a 'fashionable' outfit in order to win Dominic's affections (so of course I gave her the ugliest outfit I could put together).
Therefore I think the notion of Dominic dating your character may just be something of a myth, either down to mean people trying to frustrate fangirls, or people getting the wrong end of the stick. I'm not saying that I think that all the people who claim to have got together with Dominic are liars, just that I need stronger proof before i'm going to take these claims literally.
*spoilers end*
Overveiw
Positive points
The amazing clothes
Very enjoyable and highly addictive gameplay
Interesting characters, each with their own distinct personalities
Dominic, who is worth playing the game for alone
You can play this game for as long as you want and finish it quickly at the same time
Negative points
Can get a bit repetitive
Music is nothing special
Would like to see more character relationships and plot progression
You can't date Dominic
Total rating: 9/10
Overall, Style Boutique is a rather different and very enjoyable game, which I can't recommend enough. It is a game that can even be enjoyed by people who are not normally interested in fashion like myself. Whether you would like to delve in to the world of fashion, or just fancy something a little different, Style Boutique is a rare gem that only comes around once in a while, and I really would advise that you don't miss it!