When it comes to fighting crime few games can claim to do it as fabulously as Fashion Police Squad – an old school shooter with a few dashes of modern gaming thrown in for good measure, seeing you fixing the most hideous of crimes against fashion. Developed by Finnish studio Mopeful Games, you play as officer Des and you live for the call of a “Fashion Crime in Progress“, seeing you grabbing your Belt of Justice and your Tailormade Sewing Machine and fight crime, one stitch at a time. Trendopolis is your city and it’s a city that never sleeps, as you’ll be you’ll battle sagging pants with a whip of your Belt of Justice one minute and the next Socks with Sandals by throwing countless Sock Gnomes at the perp.
The game is set across 13 fairly beefy levels (with a few challenge levels thrown in too) and it tells a very light hearted and honestly laugh out loud tale, over its 5 to 6 hour run time. It’s full of class and sass in equal measures. This flies by as it is forever throwing new elements into the mix from weapons, enemies and the way you can move around. There is a real Doom Eternal vibe to its brand of combat as well, where it’s much more “puzzle” room focused than just hit and run.
Each enemy you’ll face will need to be handled by one of your 5 core weapons, so you’ll be forever switching between your Tailormade, 2DYE4 Carbine Elite and the W.A.R.drobe Launcher to name a few. Plus most of the weapons have an alt-fire, which adds another layer to the action, as later battles often need you to combo attacks to dispatch the more challenging foes. If all else fails though, you can fill your special bar that will let you unleash your F.A.B. Slap glove, which lets you to not only dart across the level but will one hit “kill” as well for a set time.
Though it does get a bit frantic during some levels, if you keep an eye out for collectables like swag and mocktails, they’ll keep your health up as well as giving you extra armour. So shooting and moving is the real key to victory. But to keep things fresh from endless area to area blasting, there are a few different missions you get to tackle from an on rails shooting section to becoming a roof top sniper… you never know what is really coming next.
Visually the game is a mix of 2D and 3D, as the world is all 3D, but all the characters are 2D pixel style which makes for a striking visual presentation. Sound wise it’s a 16-bit sound affair and the soundtrack is outstanding with a pop/synth offering that perfectly fits the world. Fashion Police Squad is a solid shooter that plays smart and is a tonne of fun wrapped in a very unique core idea. If you are looking for an old school blaster that just hits or a bit more drip in your gaming, it’s well worth the look.
An Xbox review copy of Fashion Police Squad was provided by Mopeful Games PR team, and the game is available now on Xbox, Switch, PlayStation and PC for around £17 depending on platform… shoes.
The Verdict
Stuart Cullen
Latest posts by Stuart Cullen (see all)
- Best Games of 2022 – Scotch Corner’s Verdict – December 28, 2022
- Turbo Golf Racing Preview – August 11, 2022
- MultiVersus Preview – May 24, 2022