Fashion Police Squad Review

Reading Time: 5 minutes

Fast Facts

Calling the Shots

Fashion Police Squad is a traditional first-person shooter with one major twist. Instead of slaughtering enemies, I bless them with my superior fashion sense. Throughout this game, I would need to tie pins in oversized shirts, dampen bright colours, and even ensure nobody was wearing socks and sandals. It is a cute premise, and I was excited to see how this concept enhanced the first-person shooter genre.

The first thing I recognized about Fashion Police Squad was how down-to-earth the story was. For example, the main character uses commonplace phrases as though he lives in modern society.  I enjoyed how conversational the story was, and while it was not the focus of the title, the cute characters and theming were a wonderful addition. Moreover, despite knowing very little about fashion, I was able to appreciate many of the parodies of classic brands. Plus, there were other pop culture references and subtle innuendoes that kept me entertained.

In addition to structuring the storyline, this fashion theme transferred into the gameplay. Each enemy I faced was criminally unfit and I needed to find a way to update their attire. I liked this innovative take on the first-person shooter genre as it enabled the developers to switch how I looked at the game. While in other games like Dusk I needed to swap between guns when I ran out of my limited resources, Fashion Police Squad incentivizes using different weapons because many enemies are committing different crimes. Since each is committing a different crime, it was impossible for me to damage any of the enemies unless I was working to fix a problem they were facing. I thought this was a fun and purposeful way to mandate variety, and I ended up enjoying it.

Fearsome Foes

Moreover, the enemies themselves were a lot of fun to take out. Each is distinct, so I needed to leverage multiple strategies even before selecting my weapon. The enemies spanned from basic ranged attackers to belly-flopping beach dads wearing crocs. I enjoyed how each enemy brought something new to the table. The enemies felt purposeful. Especially as the levels got more involved, new enemies required me to consider not only the individual impact an action has on them but the overall effect that has on my position.

For example, one of my weapons, the belt of justice, stuns my enemies. Further, an enemy has a large area of effect attack that cannot be blocked or avoided unless I stun her with the belt. I enjoyed rushing through the levels to make sure she could not damage me. However, as I progressed, I encountered another enemy who purposely got hit by my belt as though they were some sort of meat shield. While this was by far my favourite example of how the different enemies combine, Fashion Police Squad continually made me think on my feet and leverage every asset in my toolkit.

Tricky Terrain

In addition to taking out enemies, I needed to master my movement. I was further impressed by how fluid and cohesive my main character felt. The belt of justice helped a lot with this, as in addition to using it offensively, I could use it defensively to grapple different objects. This helped me reposition, reach new heights, and fly through levels. It felt great to do so. Moreover, another one of my weapons enabled me to move more quickly, sliding through levels at a much faster pace. This made the game a lot more fun too. The game even leans into this, including platforming sections to break up the traditional gameplay. I thought everything related to the movement was excellent and enjoyed how fast the game felt.

While the movement was standout, the stages and level designs were the one thing that did not stand out. Most of the areas in the first half of the game were very similar. This was largely due to the lack of distinct stage hazards. However, towards the end, I was able to visit more interesting locales, and though I would have appreciated a bit more variety, this did not severely hinder my experience with the game.

At the same time, I did appreciate how the developers guided me through the levels. In Fashion Police Squad, each main objective was indicated as a marker on my map. Following this helped me get to the end of the level which was especially helpful since the locations often blended. This mechanic was incredibly helpful and all in all, traversing the levels was a lot of fun, even if the stages were not as unique as I would have liked.

Old Fashioned Fun

I further liked the objective markers because while they led me to the main events, there were secrets and collectable items to search for in each level. This meant that though the game guided me through the stage, it did not explain everything I needed to know to perfect the game. Plus, the game never slowed me down with unnecessary tutorials and if there was ever any information I wanted to skip, it was easy and quick to do. These additional objectives encouraged exploration and were surprisingly challenging to find, so I appreciated their inclusion.

Additionally, there are multiple difficulties to select. These alternate difficulties always justify revisiting the game, so I once again appreciate their inclusion. Each mode explained what the target demographic was and the one I selected accurately represented the amount of difficulty I desired. I enjoyed the difficulty description and additional selectable options for multiple playthroughs. They worked wonderfully.

The music and sound design further kept me invested in the game. The music was high energy but never annoying and the sound effects were informational, concise, and rewarding. I thought they balanced each other wonderfully.

Even the visuals were great. The enemies are flat pixel art sprites which I thought were incredibly charming. Each enemy was vibrant and distinct even if they were not supposed to be. Plus, it was always funny to see how egregious the fashion crimes were.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed my time with Fashion Police Squad. It felt good to move and shoot in, I enjoyed the interesting enemy designs, and I liked the multi-faceted weapons. It is easy to recommend, so I will. I recommend that you try out Fashion Police Squad.

Rapid Reviews Rating

4.5 out of 5

4.5