Charm Girls Club: My Fashion Mall
Teen girls working-in-mall sim loaded with consumerism.
Common Sense is a nonprofit organization. Your purchase helps us remain independent and ad-free.
Charm Girls Club: My Fashion Mall
Did we miss something on diversity?
Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.
Suggest an Update
A Lot or a Little?
The parents' guide to what's in this game.
What Parents Need to Know
Parents need to know that this collection of minigames is housed within the framework of a working-at-a-mall simulator. Although the player's custom-made avatar doesn't buy anything, she frequently undertakes "personal shopping challenges" in which she helps friends purchase the best clothing and accessories. The storyline features a rivalry between two cliques of girls who vie for both accolades from the mall owner and attention from visiting boys. The competition between girls never goes further than slightly catty remarks. Charm Girls Club: My Fashion Mall's primary theme is hard work and responsibility, but the heavy consumerism of its shopping mall setting is impossible to overlook.
Community Reviews
There aren't any reviews yet. Be the first to review this title.
What’s It About?
In CHARM GIRLS CLUB: MY FASHION MALL, five teenage girls are recruited to help turn around a failing shopping center. They help each other out, working in many of the mall's stores, performing tasks such as making pizzas, serving coffee, organizing clothing, washing and grooming dogs, flipping burgers, and functioning as a personal shopper. The girls find out that a rival clique -- three other teens who call themselves the Queen B's -- have also been hired at the mall. Competition develops between the Charm Girls and the B's, not only for credit in improving the mall, but for the attention of boys who come to shop there.
Is It Any Good?
Charm Girls Club: My Fashion Mall offers the kind of storyline that fans of prime-time Disney and Nick tween shows are likely to find very engaging. And it's most likely the plot that will keep them playing. Either that or the chance to win new fashions for their avatars. There's a wide range in the entertainment value of the minigames themselves. Some, like sorting clothes into the proper bins, are pretty dull. Others, like several food prep games (which resemble those of Cooking Mama), are more enjoyable, but even they become tiresome when repeated as often as they are in My Fashion Mall.
What it comes down to is that pretending to have the kind of menial summer job teenagers get at a mall is not much more fun than actually having one. The most entertaining bits in My Fashion Mall are the creative challenges in which players are given certain constraints -- for instance, the character loves vertical stripes, hates blue, and needs a skirt -- and must then put together a suitable outfit. There's a very specific audience that will be drawn to this game, but beyond those particular girls, there won't be much appeal.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about the appearance of Claire's Accessories in the game. It is the only real-world, brick-and-mortar business in a virtual mall filled with fake stores that only exist in the game world. Why and how did Claire's end up in the game? What is product placement?
This is an avatar game, one in which you can re-clothe and re-style your avatar as often as you like. Parents can ask their children about the clothing and style selections they make.
The restaurants in the mall serve burgers, pizza, and coffee, and these are the only foods and drinks in which the characters partake. Is this a healthy diet?
Game Details
- Platforms: Nintendo DS, Nintendo DSi
- Available online?: Not available online
- Publisher: Electronic Arts
- Release date: October 21, 2009
- Genre: Girl
- ESRB rating: E for (No Descriptors)
- Last updated: August 31, 2016
Our Editors Recommend
-
Cooking Mama
200 crazy DS Mini games with cooking theme.
-
Gardening Mama
Offshoot of Cooking Mama, with plants.
-
Chibi-Robo: Park Patrol
Environmentalist robot restores a ruined park.
-
Harvest Moon: More Friends of Mineral Town
Female character puts a new face on farming sim.
-
Help Wanted
Weird and witty minigame compilation with some iffy humor.
For kids who love simulation and fashion games
Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are created by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners.
See how we rate