Imagine if you took Doom Eternal and instead of slaying demon’s you were fixing the fashion mistakes of the local populace? Fashion Police Squad is the answer to that completely normal question. You’ll add color with a shotgun, sew up fabric faux pas from afar with a machine gun, and swing through the city with your trust belt through 4 hours of fashionista fun. Things can get overly complicated combat-wise, but there is a ton of referential fun to be had. Let’s break it down.
Kiki’s Organic Clothing: The World
Fashion Police Squad wear’s its heart on its sleeves. This is an over-the-top first-person shooter that mixes 2d pixel models into a 3d environment with aplomb. As the top agent of the F.P.S., you’ll work your way through 13 levels which run rough 3 to 4 hours total. The story is goofy and had me chuckling the entire time. There are a lot of references to real-world memes and entertainment that fit this ridiculous world. The game never stops introducing new mechanics, whether it’s enemy types, your arsenal, or minigames. Those minigames are key as the combat, while fun, did get a bit long in the tooth for me despite the game’s short runtime.
F.P.S. goes for the Doom Eternal style of combat puzzles. Each weapon only works on a specific NPC, with later enemies requiring combinations of weapons and their alternate attacks. You’ll get five weapons in total:
– Paint Shotgun: Shoots a spread of paint to add color to gray enemies. The alternate sucks neon out of foes and the environment to power up the main shot.
– Sewing Machine Gun: The main volley is sewing needles that tighten up the loose-fitting suits of enemies. Your alternate fire is a fabric grenade needed from some of the more annoying foes.
– Sock Gnomes: They latch on NPC’s wearing socks with sandals and chomp away over time.
– Water Cannon: The main attack is a spray that can cool down fire foes, tighten up loose suits, wash away neon colors, and make the ground slick so you run faster. The main attack also powers up a meter which feeds the alternate fire. This attack allows you to aim down sites and rapidly attack with water at a distance.
– A Mystery Weapon: Obtained near the end of the game, no need to spoil this one. It’s a lot of fun!
– Fab Slap Glove: Your super meter ability, allows you to teleport to and instantly defeat any enemy for a set period of time.
Leave Covered in Fresh Hot Drip
Each weapon in the game isn’t meant to kill, but to “drip out” your enemies. The world is a basic-looking 3d one full of vibrant colors. Every character and weapon model is a 2d pixel-based sprite that is easy to read even when the combat becomes chaotic later in the game. The art style carries the game, and as a title based on fashion, it had to be great. One issue was the amount of screen tearing I saw on the Series X version I played. Even with a VRR-enabled display, it was noticeable, but without VRR it was downright terrible at times. Some missions didn’t seem to suffer much, but when the action got hectic later on I started to get a headache from it. There is a FOV slider in the graphics option along with a Quality Settings toggle. Nearly every prompt in the game told me to use the keys on a keyboard for my weapons, so I’m guessing there wasn’t much done for this port. It feels like an indie PC title, thankfully one with excellent controller support.
The only voice work in the game is the opening title sequence, after that, every sound uttered in the game is a 16-bit era-sounding grunt or short quip from enemy characters. The music is excellent and fits the vibes of the world brilliantly. It’s mostly dance and pop-sounding synths early on with some genre shifts later to match the intensity of the levels.
Despite its basic port-feeling nature, I didn’t run into any bugs, and quick resume worked flawlessly. Best I can tell there is no online functionality in the title, nor did I feel much urge to go back for achievements or secrets. There are collectibles to find and you can hop back into any mission after you’re done with it at your leisure.
Wrapping Things Up With A Nice Pink Bow
Fashion Police Squad is smart, plays pretty well, and doesn’t overstay its welcome. It’s priced at $20 on Steam, and if that holds true for the Xbox launch then this one is an easy recommendation for any lover of first-person shooters and fashion.
Fashion Police Squad
Played on
Xbox Series X
PROS
- Great Style
- Decent Combat
- Fun Soundtrack
CONS
- Overly Complicated Late Game Combat
