Publisher: Mystery Studio
Developer: Mystery Studio
System requirements: Windows XP/Vista, 800 MHz CPU, 512 MB RAM, DirectX 7.0, 44 MB hard-drive space
Genre: Hidden Object
Release date: Available now

Up until I received Fashion Assistant, I wasn’t aware that there was an underground fan base for hidden-object games. Heck, I didn’t even know that “hidden object” was considered a genre in the first place. Yet after an hour or so with Mystery Studios’ casual offering, I began to see that there could be a market. And while this game in particular is geared more towards the junior-high, female, “The Devil Wears Prada” crowd (which I also didn’t know existed), I found myself compelled to play until the end by choice and not by assignment. Maybe this casual-game thing isn’t so bad after all.

Julia is finding that the world of high fashion is no place for a rookie. As the new employee at Fashion Forever magazine, she went in expecting basic grunt work that would eventually build her up level by level. However, the longer she stays, the more she realizes that they must hatch the higher ranking employees from special cocoons incubated at Dolce and Gabbana stores in lieu of promotion. In other words, it’s impossibly tough going, especially with five-minute lunch breaks, a demanding harpy for a boss, and a vindictive co-worker who’s sawing at the next rung on Julia’s corporate ladder.

Yet what sounds like Hollywood-caliber office complexity is really nothing more than a pretty frame for the simplest of concepts. In Fashion Assistant, there’s a list on the left side of the screen filled with objects you must locate or activate in a static scene. It might be as easy as finding a hairbrush on the ground, or as difficult as picking out an eye of Ra tattooed on some girl’s shoulder amongst half a dozen others. It’s basically bar-game fare for tweens. Mini-games are interspersed, too, most of which entail organizing objects and schedules, while others require a more dexterous mouse hand for cutting out pictures and applying makeup. Yet you shouldn’t think the target audience is an indicator of no challenge. Some scenes had me clicking zippity-zappity, as easy as could be, while others were clever enough to have me reaching for the hint button, which recharges like an MMO toolbar to prevent you from cheating your way through a scene.

After awhile, though, I realized that I was backtracking through the same places, only this time I was searching for objects I missed the first time through. There is a sunlight-and-darkness mechanic that presents itself at certain points, too, and while I thought it would be a welcome change of pace, it did nothing but frustrate me and grind my progress to an aggravating halt as I meticulously scanned what little area my flashlight or sunglasses could afford me. The rest of the visuals, however, are colorful, albeit simplistic, they represent well their respective objects and people, and they look especially sharp in windowed mode. Full-screen, on the other hand, is a blurry mess with no options to adjust.

Still, I’ve got to hand it to Mystery Studio for keeping me in my computer chair for the duration. It’s a real testament to the power of the casual-game platform, and given a few rewards beyond finding extra designs to piece together after the game is done, and some much needed variation in the music department, this could make a good time-waster for the little princess in your life, especially when you consider the $6.99 price point.

I never really considered myself a 12-year-old girl before, to be honest, and that might tarnish my review for some because I’m not the intended audience. What I can say is that, despite some problems with repetitive music and blurry graphics at full screen, Fashion Assistant is a well put-together offering, for what it’s worth. Download the demo for your daughter or niece, and if they like it, consider the full version.

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