Tween (pre-teen) girls should love Belle's Beauty Boutique. I bet my nine-year-old niece would get into it if it's not too fast-paced for kids her age, but alas, she hasn't stopped by since I started playing the game. Continuing the popular tradition of running a business game where you serve customers and keep them happy, Belle's is all about the hair and the typical stuff you find in a spa.
Shampoo, color, cut and dry are all included along with polishing nails. The ones that make a player go nuts are the hair coloring and nail polishing because you have to select the color the customers want. It's tough with the color selector moving at different speeds and in different directions. I can't tell you how many times I've given blue hair to someone who wanted blonde. As soon as this happens, I immediately give the person a treat, usually magazine, tea or a spa treatment depending on what you have.
The game comes with two modes: Story and Endless Beauty. In story mode, like other similar games, you shoot for a goal and the game gets harder as you advance. Continuous mode is non-stop except to upgrade the beauty shop. I couldn't get very far in Endless mode.
Story mode works better as I advanced most of the time. As it should be, I didn't easily reach the goal on every level, and sometimes it took a few tries to get through it. Some games made it impossible for me to work my way past a level. I like a game that challenges without being impossible and Belle succeeds. In the later levels, you gain helpers - a good and bad thing. Your helper could beat you to a customer and you have to redirect yourself elsewhere. Madness, but fun madness.
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