Wannabe fashionistas who happen to like card games may enjoy Fashion Solitaire, a contemporary twist on a classic game. Using clothing cards (skirts, pants, jewelry, etc), dress your models in time for the fashion show. To earn more cash, create your own designs and add them to the deck, though your addition removes an existing card. You can also fatten your wallet by playing several cards at once on the same model.
The challenge is that the models tend to be divas (just like in real life), and before they're ready to sashay down the catwalk you need to meet their conditions. For example, one model may want something yellow, while another may insist on wearing a jacket and pants. Meeting their conditions can be tricky since you can only play the exposed cards on the board. Fortunately, there are ways to expose the rest of the deck. You can stack similar clothing cards (e.g. hairstyle cards), put unwanted cards in the reserve pile, move some cards to empty piles, and of course there's the trusty Undo button.
Players who think they can channel their inner Marc Jacobs will think twice during the more difficult rounds. There are times when you'll have to pair say, traffic-stop red stockings with an electric neon pink skirt because you can't get to the cute white skirt nestled at the bottom of the pile. Suffice to say, many of my fashion victims did not end up being the next top model.
Although overall Fashion Solitaire is a fun game, it has some nagging issues. For a game based on the premise of beauty, graphics is a beast. The images look simplistic and 16-bit. Characters are pixelated and movement is jerky, and these flaws are magnified when in full screen mode. The game's low price of $19.99 is no excuse for shoddy graphics, for I've played countless free games that look superior to this. Considering that it's backed by a major company (Lifetime Networks), one would expect a game of higher quality.
The pop-up hints are helpful during early stages, but it'd be nice if you could turn them off once you get the hang of things. Several times a pop-up got in my way as I was picking up a card. And frankly, some of the clothes just plain look hideous. I'm no designer, but some of the clothes aren't fit for Elle or Vogue.
If you're curious to check out Fashion Solitaire, download the free one-hour demo, but don't bother paying the 20 bucks for the full version.
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