Parents' Guide to Project Makeover

While you'll bounce back and forth between playing match-3 games and performing character makeovers or room redecorations, it's the focus on spending real cash that's concerning. In Project Makeover, clothing, accessories, and other looks cost coins, and cash players earn from winning rounds can be used to outfit their avatar. While the room redesign aspect involves more options, you're not given many style choices initially, which doesn't provide much opportunity for creativity. You can generally earn enough coins by playing the matching games, but gems, which will buy extra turns if you can't complete a game round, are doled out more sparingly. Plus, once kids run through the five lives they're initially given, they'll have to wait 20 minutes for a life to replenish before playing, which can really slow the app's momentum down.

Of course, there's another option -- to buy a gem package. But these costs can quickly add up fast as the rounds get more challenging. The ongoing makeover plotline is another potentially problematic element. The first recipient, who's referred to as homely and a nobody by a fashion industry character the other stylists dismiss as mean, is presented pre-transformation as a dowdy, unhappy person. One of the first moves players make is to pay to remove her glasses, and she literally sparkles when given a new haircut, makeup, and outfit. The narration suggests she's getting a makeover to help her achieve her dreams -- which, coupled with her reaction to it, presents a somewhat uncomfortable association between physical appearance, beauty, self-perception, and value. Parents may want to talk to kids about that possible connotation -- or help them find another match-3 game to play, if they get too frustrated with the waiting time Project Makeover can involve.