Having recently reviewed the Charm Girls Club Pajama Party for Wii we were intrigued to see how these various titles for the DS were going to unfold. The Charm Girls Club My Fashion Show, My Perfect Prom, and Fashion Mall are all separate games for the DS but all equally looking to be the girls girl game for Nintendo DS.
Charm Girls Club: My Fashion Show
The Charm Girls Club My Fashion Show has put out a great fashion game for girls. My fashion show is a game comprised of fashion challenges, the runway, building your own wardrobe, and collecting charms for your charm box. There is also multi-player compatibility so you can challenge your friends.
The game is setup so you can get design challenges, this is perfect for the future project runway fans that might not be old enough to watch the show yet. For the challenges you typically have to pick a model and dress her according to the challenge: color of clothes, makeup, jacket accessories, this is all done by interchanging clothes with the DS stylus. You can also accessorize your model with a puppy and you can also accessorize the puppy to the theme of the show as well as the model. Once you are done with the challenge you are set for the runway show.
For the runway show there are 3 different ways to pose and walk the runway. The first is where you take the stylus and you drag it to trace a path for the model to walk. As your model struts her stuff down the catwalk, there will be little circles to touch so your model can stop and pose along the way. You also can draw lines from each point that you want the model to walk. Since there is a time limit on the runway, the more walking and posing you can fit into the time limit, the more points you will get. I thought this was straight forward and shouldn’t be a problem for any gamer.
Some of the games feature the use of a cell phone, so you can send text messages or receive your challenges. This can also be used during multi-player so you can see what your friends are doing and it can be used to exchange ideas.
The graphics are pretty good but a little cartoony but the clothes are represented well, they do change from dresses to jeans and jackets and they have definition to them.
The controls are very basic and good like most DS games. The stylus is the focal point for the game, you use it to pick all the clothes and accessories for your model. You also use it for the runway shows.
Charm Girls Club: My Perfect Prom
My perfect prom is indeed your chance to make a perfect prom. This is very similar to the other CGC games but I think the best one yet.
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You start off with it being the final weeks to the prom. There are challenges that coincide with planning for the prom and anyone who has been to one knows it is not easy. You have to go and complete different challenges to earn charms so you can build your wardrobe and get ready for the prom.
In My Perfect Prom when you are on your computer at home you can view what is called a cv profile (the equivalent to Facebook in Charm Girls) and you can see potential dates of interest so if you receive a text from a boy or even your girlfriends with a question about themselves, the answers are in the cv profile.
This part was fun and I liked how the challenges were things you typically see for planning a prom. Some of the challenges were taking a road trip, car wash, and a makeover. For the road trip you set out to collect hearts. As you are driving you need to avoid obstacles. I can see this being exciting for a gamer especially if they are counting down the time for their permit or license. There is also the classic car wash where you use the stylus to wash off the soap of the car before the time runs out. Then there is the makeover, when one of your best friends asks you for fashion advice there is only one thing to do and that is a makeover. You can do everything from change her hair style and make up.
Once you complete all the challenges you need to pick a date. There is a choice of 3 different boys or you can opt for a mystery date. With the mystery date you can customize your date’s hair, clothes and even his boutonnière. You can also text any of the 3 dates during the game and the more you text one boy, the better the chance of him asking you to the prom.
On prom night it is time to celebrate from all the hard work and planning that was done. You can dance by using your stylus to connect dots that are lit up around you. This is also a challenge so you will have time to practice before the big night. You can also take photos to remember the night. It is very straight forward where you tap the screen once to focus and tap a second time to take the picture. The rest is a night to remember.
Charm Girls Club: My Fashion Mall
Lastly Charm Girls My Fashion Mall is a mission where you and your friends need to help you make your local mall fabulous again. There are many mini-game challenges for each wing and once you complete the challenge you move on to the next until that wing of the mall is fixed up and fabulous. In this game you get to browse cv files for all the mall shoppers, this comes in handy if you get a personal shopper challenge. This is where someone comes to you for shopping advice, you can look at their cv file to see what they like.
Some of the challenges are Hamburger Heaven in the mall munchies wing. Here you need to use your stylus to mix ingredients, flip burger patty’s, and make sure your cooking to the customers order card. There are similar challenges in the mall munchies wing and it is your job to get customers eating in this wing again.
For the gifts galore wing you need to help out the stores in trouble this could be organizing the stores inventory, where you use the stylus to match different gifts so it cleans up the store.
Conclusion
No matter which Charm Girls Club genre you choose to purchase for your ‘tween they will most likely enjoy them all. Of course the great feature of the CGC games is that you can use the charms with any Charm Girls Club game unlocking your clothes etc in other CGC versions. My favorite ones have to be My Fashion Show and My Perfect Prom. They are fun and had a good momentum to it. I especially found My Perfect Prom something I could relate to real life which was a nice touch. The Charm Girls Club My Perfect Prom, My Fashion Mall, and My Fashion Show for Nintendo DS all retail for $29.99 at Amazon.
The Good: The CGC series of DS games are made for girls and with that focuses on genres that appeal to them most shopping, fashion, and modeling. Easy games that don’t require much strategy and would likely appeal to young girls.
The Bad: Graphics are weak and bit old school. CGC requires the use of the stylus for the majority of the time – so you better not lose it or you’ll be out of luck.
