DS Review: Jojo's Fashion Show

Before you say it, I know what you're thinking. God, not *another* fashion designer game... AND it's by Ubisoft? This is going to be a trainwreck... I know. I thought this too. But you know what? I can honestly tell you that I was pleasantly surprised by this one... It really wasn't bad!

Despite my horrible skepticism about how this game would be before I even picked it up (I mean, c'mon. Just LOOK at the cover!) based both on appearances and the company that released it, I decided I'd do it anyway, if even just for having some new material to review. I swear I can vaguely recall a computer version of this game a year or two back, but the gameplay was nowhere near similar to this, and I don't even know for a fact if it truly was the same title or if it was just similar. Anyway, I digress.

First impressions were immediately made when upon starting up the game, I took note that the main character looks like a redheaded, younger version of the Supernanny. (I think this is the second game I've made such an observation on... Either she has a really common face, or I have issues. More likely, a combination of the two.) The defenses were up. Anyhow, upon entering the Runway Mode of the game, we're immediately thrust into the world of Jojo Cruz; former fashionista extraordinaire. After taking about 20 years off from the business, her work has been eclipsed by that of her rival, who's effectively taken over the fashion scene. At the urging of her daughter, she's decided to get her designs back out on the runway again and resume her rightful place as top designer. The question becomes, can she do it?

As you probably have already surmised, you will indeed be playing the role of Jojo as she spreads her designs through New York, London, Sydney, Milan, Tokyo, and of course, the fashion capitol of the world, Paris. In each level, you'll be presented with a theme (if not multiple themes) that you'll have to design your creations to accomodate. Some of them are simple as a color; others are prints vs. solids, some are based on eras, while others as mash-ups such as Flamenco Punk or Cowboy Glam. It is these latter types of themes that will force you to have to become increasingly creative in how you both approach your designs and in the way that you think about pairing your outfits together.

I'll admit that the plotline is a little dodgy; while I did try to skim through the dialogue bits at the beginning of each level, I also found that the dialogue screens scroll through too quickly to read in many instances, and I finally gave up trying. They're not really important to the gameplay anyhow; what matters is that you take note of which items will work for which cateories as they flash by at the beginning of every level. This is your only real challenge aside from every level being timed, and only having about 10 seconds or so to prepare your outfits and debut them down the runway. There's no time for dillydallying; speed and quick thinking are virtues if you want to want to succeed at this game.

The graphics were surprisingly better than I'd anticipated, given the animation style both used on the box and for the characters during the dialogue screens. During the actual gameplay, it's different and it's improved. Same goes for the runway shows. So I'm giving the game high marks in this area. I wish I could say the same for the sound. I played the majority of the game with the sound turned off. The music mostly isn't too terrible, except for one horribly annoying high pitched wail that goes off during the design screen about every 5 - 10 seconds that could trigger a bout of tinnitus in just about anybody. For how awful that sound alone was, I do have to deduct points off my final rating of the game for that.

As you complete levels throughout the game, more and more items will become available to use in the Dress Up Mode portion of the game. Although I only played with that for a brief time, I can safely tell you that it's nothing more than yet another virtual dress up doll game when you play it on that mode. It could have easily been left out of the final product, except for that with this game's length, I guess they needed something to help flesh things out a little more. I completed this game in three sittings of a couple hours each; I'm quite certain that if one were determined to, they could easily complete the whole game in a single day.

Overall, I think I'm feeling generous and I'm going to rate this game a 7.5 out of 10 couture outfits.

DS Review: Grey's Anatomy

Ever since a young age, I've been fascinated by anything and everything to do with the medical field. Some of that may stem from having a long history of medical ailments my whole life, some of it may stem from reading medical textbooks for fun. Whatever the reason, I've owned pretty much every single video title based on a medical premise since I was about 7 years old. (If it was for a system I didn't even own, I'd get it anyway and find someone who'd let me play it at their place. Yes. I am that much of a nerd for this stuff.) In addition, I also watch pretty much all the medical-based television shows that hit the airwaves too - E.R., Scrubs, House, Doc, Private Practice, etc. Last but not least, I can't forget the one that seems to be everybody's current favorite (okay, no hatemail from the House fans now), Grey's Anatomy. I just about jumped for joy when I found out a video game was being made of it.

But of all the companies out there to attempt such an undertaking..... it had to be Ubisoft. The company notorious for having fabulous game ideas, but bad execution. This, unfortunately, is no exception, I hate to say.

Don't get me wrong. There's a lot of nice things I can say about this game too. For instance, the graphics on this game are pretty superb; not only for a DS game, but for being based on real life actors and actresses. The likenesses are absolutely dead-on it to the point where it's almost creepy. In addition, the realism during certain surgical procedures (i.e. craniotomy) have officially been the first in a video game, ever, to nearly make me literally dry heave at how realistic they looked. (I got over it, but still. I was not anticipating such a reaction from myself.) The sound effects aren't too bad, either. The music could be improved, in my opinion, but then I'm not too hot on the music from the show either, and it's pretty darn similar to that. So I guess I really don't have a leg to stand on to complain about that. The dialogue and storylines seem like they easily could have been written by the actual screenwriters from the show.

But, as with anything, there's things to nitpick too.... In this case, they're very big somethings. As with all Ubisoft games I have played this far, the places you touch on the screen don't exactly seem to match up with where the touchscreen picks them up. (And before you start tossing accusations that my touchscreen may be messed up, it's not. I've heard this from countless other Ubisoft players, and I tried the game on 3 different DSes. Trust me. It's not the screen.) This causes huge problems in attempting to play a game in which precision is key. But even so? That's not my main issue with this game.

My big beef with the Grey's Anatomy game is that, while sure, a lot of the television series is based on the interpersonal relationship dramas between the characters of the show.... Who wants to play that out in a game? Maybe touch on a little bit, sure, that'd be fine. But a medical drama - ESPECIALLY one transferred into a game - should be focusing on the actual medical procedures primarily; NOT who's screwing who and whatnot. There's only a very small portion of the game spent on doing surgeries. Look, if I wanted a relationship simulator, I'd of played one of the MANY myriad of games out there that focus on just that. With so much quality in other areas, how could they have possibly screwed this up so badly? I just don't know. Needless to say, I'm very disappointed. Even if you're a die-hard Grey's fan, I can't imagine you'd care for this "game" much.

For those who didn't feel like reading the whole review, my final analysis is bleak. Great in theory, terrible in execution. I give this game a 3 out of 10 clipboards...and it's only that high because of the quality of the graphics.