Filed under: iPhone, iPod touch, App Review
App Review: Fashion Fix by Roiworld
Ever wanted to play an iPhone memory game about dressing up an avatar? Ever wish that the cute brother of your best friend would admire your fashion sense and want to go out on date with you? Well, now there's Fashion Fix for iPhone. And...let me be blunt. Fashion Fix is the most inane waste of time and money you could possibly imagine. And for some reason I cannot begin to fathom, my tween daughters love it. Available in both a free lite [iTunes link] and paid [iTunes link] version, this incredibly stupid app has captured the hearts of my girls.
The game goes like this: You select a level (5 in the free version, 50 in the paid version) and tap through a little "scene". In the one shown at the top of this post, a particularly vapid girl makes smalltalk with Ben, the brother of her friend. Here, Ben is impressed by her complete lack of conversation and intellect, offering to go out on a date with her.
After this conversation, you study 4 preset outfits, committing one to memory in the 15 seconds allotted. You then shop at the "Boutique" to choose a hair style, outfit, shoes, accessories, makeup and so forth. No, I am not kidding. When you're done matching the style you studied, you tap Done.
Once you do so, the program grades your accuracy, awarding up to 300 points based on how well you matched the suggested outfits. Get over 200 points and Ben returns, inviting you on a date because you have awesome fashion sense. Miss too many points, and Ben returns to say "Sorry. I forgot about an important lecture. Gotta run." Apparently, Ben is deeply, deeply into fashion. Unless you dress exactly according to the mandates of the application, you lose. And the cute (albeit effeminate) boy ditches you because he doesn't approve of your looks.
Could this get more shallow?
For anyone who has a feminist bone in their body, or knows a feminist, or once saw Maude on TV, this application is politically incorrect kryptonite. It will suck every neuron from the user's brain, replacing them with soft pink cotton. That pink cotton will, however, be able to memorize fashion plates and duplicate them on demand.
For everyone who has tweenager daughters, make sure you have a nice talk about how inanely stupid this application is, even as you fork over your two bucks. Because the powers of tweenage persuasion cannot be overestimated.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
BigB said 2:50PM on 10-14-2009
I really dont see the problem, its just a simple memory matching game. Nothing to get that worked up about.
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JAQ said 3:19PM on 10-14-2009
It's a simple memory matching game... wrapped up in an idiotic scenario which bears no resemblance to the real world and which holds up vanity and the superficial approval of others as something of value to strive for. I think it's the last 3/4 of this sentence that the author finds troubling.
And I watched "Maude" as a kid, so... me too. :)
THJ said 10:12PM on 10-14-2009
That's was so me in college!
THJ said 10:13PM on 10-14-2009
Sorry, just checking the specs on the n-line for the rotary girder....
raul said 4:10PM on 10-14-2009
it's just a game.. chill out.
it's not worse than war games or grand theft auto..
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David Winograd said 4:53PM on 10-14-2009
Yeah, this is pretty inane and distasteful, but I don't think it's in the bottom 100 of most tasteless apps.
How about shooting your boss or photographing and discussing pros and cons of your fecal matter? Those have to be on a lower rung of hell.
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jake said 5:45PM on 10-14-2009
Well, beyond realizing that my three teenage nieces will rip all their brains from their heads using a home surgery kit and no anesthetic IF they think a boy MIGHT be interested in them, AND realizing that this game recreates this sort of mindless behavior -
I have to agree with the above posters in a way. If this is going to create mindless girls, then those violent video shoot everything that moves revenge-filled video games that most teenage boys play should also create violent shoot everything that moves revenge-filled boys. And that's not happening, right?
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TrendGiveAfuck said 3:38AM on 10-15-2009
Distasteful? C'mon. It's just a clothes-matching game.
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George said 3:00PM on 10-15-2009
Hahahaha, I downloaded this app on a download spree a few weeks ago out of pure curiosity and found myself mindlessly addicted to it. The stories that make up each 'level' are hysterical, and the way you get rejected for not dressing correctly is just so hilariously bitchy it cracks me up! It's a perfect parody of every fashionable female stereotype that it ought to be distributed with copies of the "Mean Girls" DVD.
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