With November being one of the busiest months of the year for gaming, it’s interesting that Nintendo releases two semi-high profile games with a fair amount of fanfare, yet it decides to almost stealth release this game and not give it the attention it deserves. New Style Boutique 2: Fashion Forward is an interesting game that will certainly surprise those who haven’t given it a shot.

Bring fashion back.

Fashion Forward starts off on a rather somber note. The player opens a letter from their deceased Grandmother containing a key that opens a door in her doll house. After opening the doll-house, the player is greeted by a small doll-like being called Sophie. She tells you of an entire city behind that door. She invites the player to come with her and after creating your avatar you’re ready to go, and so your stylish adventure begins. New Style Boutique 2 doesn’t have a gripping story but it does enough to string the player along with it. You will sell clothes and when a certain amount of sales is reached, a small story sequence will commence. This will usually be a friend who introduces a new mechanic or other characters. But with every passing “story mission” characters will comment on the success your business is having or you will actively see your influence on the city’s fashion sense, giving the player a real sense of progression. Everyone in the town will eventually know you and wear the clothing you picked out for them so while there isn’t a real beginning-middle-end story there is progression that can be seen all throughout the game and makes the player feel like they are creating their own story. The city is crowded with girls you can talk to and interact with. Pretty soon players will start recognizing characters by their personality traits and will start interacting and hanging out with their favorite characters. That being said it’s a bit disappointing to see some of the dialogue being re-used on several characters. It breaks the illusion that these are all different characters but doesn’t keep the player from enjoying their joyful and interesting conversations. Fashion Forward doesn’t follow a straight narrative but there is still somewhat a sense of progression that at the end feels like you really went on a journey.

The Most story you will see is when a new area or mechanic is introduced.

Fashion Forward.

The player starts the game off selling clothes in their boutique by trying to find a piece of clothing the customers ask for. Customers will ask for something orange or black or they might be a bit vaguer and ask for something flashy or girly. Then it’s up to you to find out what they mean and give them the right piece of clothing. It starts simple but soon customers will be more demanding and want you to make entire outfits. It basically boils down to cross-checking the list for the right category and finding what seems to meet most of the specifications. It’s really engaging and fun but selling clothes in Fashion Forward actually is a small part of the game. After sometimes players will be able to decorate rooms, do make-up, style hair and even do fashion shows. There is a ton of stuff to do in New Style Boutique 2 and it’s a surprisingly beefy package. In the beautician section customers will enter the shop and ask you to replicate the makeup on a photo of another character. The problem is that sometimes characters want a totally different color of what’s shown in the picture. In the hair styling section players will interview their customers to find out what exactly it is they’re searching for. Then it’s the player’s job to find something that describes or at least comes as close to that description as they can. These are the three main gameplay sections of the game but there is so much more to see and do in the wonderful Beaumonde City. There is tons of content and hours of playtime in Fashion Forward.

It’s fun trying to find that perfect outfit for your customers.

Working with what you got.

Fashion Forward isn’t a graphical powerhouse. But it makes up for it by using a very simplistic art style. All characters look like fashion dolls like Barbie which makes sense since the entire game can be boiled down to an electronic version of dress-up. It’s a smart way to make the most of what you have and it doesn’t look half bad. All the environments look lively, colorful and surprisingly don’t clash with designs of the character models. The music sound just as you’d expect from a Nintendo game like this should sound. Music hits all the right notes and perfectly fits the situations. When in a Boutique it sounds like a video-game version of a Boutique and when in a park it sounds like what a video-game park would sound like. If there would be any complaints it’s that some of the clothing pieces have blurry textures and some of the character animations are stiff, but again it goes with what it has to work with some less polished aspects. However considering the presumably lower budget the game has compared to other Nintendo games it did an amazing job.

The game uses what it has? And it does it very well.

Styling and profiling

Conclusion:

New Style Boutique 2: Fashion Forward is a great game that will satisfy anyone that’s looking for a game like this. It’s filled to the brim with stuff to do and see. The art style looks great, even if the character animations are a bit stiff and weird. It doesn’t really have as much of a plot but it does manage to make you feel like there is some progression in your character and the city she lives in. It’s interesting that this game actually manages to do better than both a Mario Tennis and Animal Crossing game that came out in the same month.

8/10