Common Sense Media Review
By Christopher Healy
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Teen girls working-in-mall sim loaded with consumerism.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 9+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Play
Videos and Photos
Charm Girls Club: My Fashion Mall
Parent and Kid Reviews
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
- Pricing structure :
- Available online? : Not available online
- Publisher : Electronic Arts
- Release date : October 21, 2009
- Genre : Girl
- ESRB rating :
- Last updated : June 9, 2022
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