13 December 2024

The genre, which many like to call “Boomer Shooter”, has never been as vibrant as it is now. And vibrant is the catchword when playing Fashion Police Squad for the first time, which despite being an FPS doesn’t have any gore elements, nor will the objective be to finish with the species that are on the other side of the barricade. A title that is full of references, not only to titles that made this genre so beloved, such as Duke Nuken, but also to movies like The Wolf of Wall Street, or to Drag elements such as the highly acclaimed Death Drop, when the game is charging and even when pressing the special skill button and even the finger snaps from Nintendo Direct showcases.

This was one of the cases that caught my attention on Twitter for its creative and colorful side in terms of presentation but also in terms of gameplay. It’s noticeable that the Mopeful Games studio put a lot of time and attention into every detail during the adventure. While the story isn’t the deepest, every line of text lets the characters’ personalities shine through, and there’s even drama to keep things spicy.

The player will take on the role of Sergeant Des, a policeman dedicated to fighting the wave of fashion crimes that is ravaging the city. The streets are full of people who have various problems in terms of their clothing, which, yes, are present in our daily lives and which, among them, are multiplied by examples of tourists wearing sandals and white socks (please don’t do this), clothes that are too tight, the Karens of this life, &c. After playing this game I will keep an eye out for these situations! Watch me!

As I mentioned there are no moments of gore or any kind of violence. Well… there are times when it is possible for us to throw a good b*tch slap in the face of clothing aggressors, however, all weapons are somehow related to fashion and affect specific enemies. The 2-Dye-4 Elite gun is perfect for solving crimes of monotony of colors against the gray suits of businessmen who throw suitcases at us, but it is completely harmless against, for example, bigger cases and when I say bigger I mean in terms of stature, since there are lockers (gym bros) in suits that don’t fit the shoulders in the best way. In this case, Tailormade will be called to the noise to mend the stitches of a once-giant suit. All weapons have a different but very intuitive flow from the first contact with them. It should be noted that the water weapon makes it possible to wet not only enemies but also the ground and thus make the character move faster. This is a viable option for traversing the map faster, but it also makes it easier to reach platforms further away.

I found myself often looking for the right button to pull the right weapon to fight the fashion crime that was in front of me. Yes, because playing in Hard mode is not easy at all. I had to repeat several sections as they were filled with waves of enemies that seemed endless. At certain times there is a need to cross the level again in the opposite direction. Not being exactly the same thing, since the enemies presented in a second round may even be different from the previous case, but there was a need to do so to add some game time to a level that seemed to be small.

When it comes to level design, the colorful maps, which get more interesting as the story progresses, invite your exploration and become even more interesting due to the amount of secrets hidden in each corner and that reward the player with a poster of the character dressed in very special ways. What about a He-Man or a Harry Potter in a fashion game?

Whether you understand fashion, whether you’re a fan of Pop Culture elements, or on the other hand you don’t understand any of these subjects, Fashion Police Squad manages to grab the player for the fun of its easy-to-recommend gameplay and still delivers a few laughs in between.