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Clueless: The Game

Score: 50%
ESRB: Everyone 10+
Publisher: Legacy Interactive
Developer: Legacy Interactive
Media: Download/1
Players: 1
Genre: Miscellaneous/ Simulation

Graphics & Sound:

The first thing that comes to mind when I look at Clueless: The Game is the question Why? It's been nearly 15 years since the film saw theaters, and the game itself is nothing more than a paper-doll dress up game that would have been little different if the movie license wasn't attached to it.

The look and feel of the game screams Flash. Not that I have anything against flash-based casual games, but it's just one more thing in the overall game that makes me wonder at the point of it. But at least the graphics used are clean and crisp. With the exception of a few characters, the sprites used look a lot like their Hollywood counterparts. Unfortunately, one of the characters that doesn't look right is the movie's/game's main girl Cher (originally portrayed by Alicia Silverstone). But actors like Murray (Donald Faison now known for his role on Scrubs) and Mel (Dan Hedaya) look spot on.

Outside of the character sprites used for progressing the game's story, the models used during the fashion dress-up levels look very generic except for whatever head is on the character. But since most levels have you frantically looking between the clothes and each model's timer, this is hardly noticed.

Sound is better left turned off. No voice acting is used during the game's between-level story progression, and I found the background music so overpowering and annoying that it never took long for me to turn it off. This is especially true of the game's opening song that plays while a loading bar slowly fills up before you even go into the Main Menu (like I said, it feels like a Flash game).


Gameplay:

Clueless: The Game's core mechanic is actually pretty solid. It has one goal and does it well. Because of this alone, the game is almost tolerable and the other shortcomings can sort of be ignored (mostly by turning off the music and skipping the dialogue).

Your job is to move through several different shopping centers, picking out various outfits for your girlfriends. Each store has different clothes and 10 levels for you to complete. Basically, you will be introduced to a new style, like Beverly Hills Preppy. You will get a list of fashion descriptors that make an article of clothing fit that style. In the case of Preppy, you have things like: plaid, sequins, shiny, strappy, zippered, laced-up, buckled, sparkly, laced and so on. You then go into the level where three character models appear in their skivvies with various clothes around them ready for you to put on them and grade your outfit. The clothes are grouped by Tops, Bottoms, Shoes and Accessories. You simply click and drag the clothing to the model you want to wear it, and when you have all the necessary parts, click on the little green "thumbs up" to get your grade.

You are graded on how each piece of clothing fits the style that model is going for. For instance, if you were trying to put together a Vintage Hollywood outfit, then the more polka dots, floral prints and feathery things you had on the model, the higher your grade. And there is also the boyfriend-factor. Each of the models has a boyfriend who knows what he wants. One might prefer bold colors, while another likes black. One might like to see short skirts, while another prefers longer styles. As your grade is being tallied, you will also gain more points by choosing an outfit that fits his likes.

As you progress through the game, you will unlock more and more outfit styles and the levels themselves will be a mix of different styles. But don't worry, they tell you what the styles might be before actually going into the level. When you are introduced to a new style, that is the only one you have to pull together in that level, but the following one will include that and another, and after that, two additional styles and so on. At least the game clearly displays below the model what style she is going for, so it never gets too frustrating or confusing.

You will also earn various power-ups as you complete outfits. These are everything from clearing out the bins of clothes for a fresh set to resetting the model's times and giving your girls bonus points for putting them in certain poses or having certain boyfriends.


Difficulty:

Clueless: The Game does an okay job of starting easy and slowly turning up the pressure, but even towards the later levels, I never felt like the levels were too frantic to finish. As you progress, you have to have an understanding of more and more fashion styles and what goes with them, but quite frankly, each style has so many attributes, that only a basic understanding is needed. For instance, the style Rodeo Drive Rodeo has a country look to it. You don't really need to know that plaid, denim and fringed are things you need to look for, just look for stuff that cowgirls should wear and put those on your models. While you might not get top scores, all you need is a C average for the outfit to count.

Game Mechanics:

Clueless: The Game is all about casual game mechanics. You never need to do anything more than point and click. Like I said in the GamePlay Section, the act of dressing up your paper dolls is solid and works well. Grabbing an article of clothing and dropping it over the girl you want to dress in it is effortless and works well. If you already have a top on her and want to use a different one, you can either take it off manually or just drag the new one on top and the pieces swap. The game is always very clear on what style each girl is going for, and while there doesn't seem to be a way to check that style's list of attributes in-level, there is rarely a need to since it will always give you a refresher on that style before actually entering the level.

In the end, Clueless: The Game seems to suffer a lot more because of the license attached to it than the gameplay itself. While I don't think I would've paid for this game, I think it would get a much better reception if the attempt to force it into the movie's story was removed and you simply played dress-up with the sprites. I would think the game would simply feel a lot better that way.


-J.R. Nip, GameVortex Communications
AKA Chris Meyer

Minimum System Requirements:



Windows XP or Vista, 800 MHz processor, 512 MB RAM, 32 MB Video Card, DirectX 9.0c
 

Test System:



Alienware Aurora m9700 Laptop, Windows XP Professional, AMD Turion 64 Mobile 2.41 GHz, 2 GB Ram, Duel NVIDIA GeForce Go 7900 GS 256MB Video Cards, DirectX 9.0c

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