When Angela opens her own boutique, she finds herself in competition with famous designer Noemie herself for Fashion Week. Only problem, Angela doesn’t know if she should use her true designs or ones that better fit the mainstream. Can Angela find the courage to show the world her true colors?
Yes, that first paragraph was my attempt at a play on the title and I would also like to say that this review contains spoilers. So, if you want to go in fresh, skip to the last paragraph. Now I want to point out something I’m sure everyone who’s played at least one Fabulous game seems to notice. They have a pattern; Angela gets so blinded by what she wants that she doesn’t see the big picture which results in disaster. Then, after she’s dug herself deep, she manages to find a way out of the hole. Well, this game isn’t that different. Only, this time, the hole Angela dug herself in was getting her boutique shut down. Let me explain that, in the beginning, her friends showed themselves how loyal they are by offering her their money to invest in her boutique. While Angela showed herself to be invested in the design part, the same couldn’t be said for the boring stuff like the permit, checking with the fire marshal and other things that led to the boutique getting shut down by the law. After that, Angela lies to her idol, fashion designer Noemie, about not being Angela but her assistant Emily. Then, after working with Noemie, Angela gets discovered and then shut down by an angry Noemie, which was a serious overreaction that I will explain later. Angela then feels so guilty about wasting her friends’ money that she flees to Snuggford without so much as a goodbye to them, refusing to see them until she can pay them back. Finally, she gets back on her feet, goes back to New York and takes down her rival while learning to be true to herself. It’s a lesson she’s learned five games in a row and, hopefully, it’ll stick this time but, considering there’s another game after this, I have my doubts.
I mentioned a new character named Noemie who’s a fashion designer Angela admires similar to Trudy from Angela’s Fashion Fever. Like Trudy, Noemie is a wolf in sheep’s clothing wanting desperately to hold on to her fame. Unlike Trudy, Noemie actually sees what she’s become. She even admits it to Jenny during an interview after she guilts Noemie over trying to ruin Angela’s life. Unfortunately, this was when Noemie thought Angela was actually Emily, Angela’s assistant, and, the minute Noemie found out Angela lied to her, she not only went back to trying to destroy her but filed a lawsuit against Jenny. Yeah, I know, it’s confusing. Let me explain that Noemie started out no different from Angela, an aspiring designer ruined by an older fashion designer she admired. Then, as Noemie got older and started running out of ideas, she took credit for the designs her assistants made and ruined other up and coming designers the way they tried to ruin her. Noemie realizes this early in the game but, when she found out who Angela truly is, Noemie did a complete 180 and decided to ruin the poor girl because of one little lie. I get being upset with Angela about it but, just because Angela lied doesn’t justify Noemie’s behavior. Especially when she threatens to ruin the career of her assistant, Michelle, so that she can destroy Angela once and for all. Unfortunately for Noemie, she didn’t count on Michelle standing up to her and teaming up with Angela to trick Noemie into admitting she’s a fraud. In the end, thanks to Michelle and Officer Murray (who I’ll explain later), Angela exposes Noemie and even gets a recording of her saying that she was the one who sabotaged Angela. In the end, Noemie finally learns her lesson and agrees to reveal herself as a fraud even apologizing to Angela and telling her that, while New York might not like her designs, the rest of the world will.
Other than Angela’s feud with Noemie, the game has a few other small stories as well. I already said that Angela’s friends tried to help by giving her money and that Jenny interviewed Noemie only to face a lawsuit. However, Kitty and Virginia are no slouches. It is Kitty who reminds Angela about the building laws and tells her when she comes back that, this time, she needs to be aware of them instead of focusing on just the clothes. When Angela’s at her lowest and afraid to submit her designs, it’s Virginia who models for Angela and gets her designs accepted. This touches Angela so much that, when she gets into a more famous magazine, she refuses to dump Virginia as a model. Caroline, who we met in Angela’s Wedding Disaster, even acts like the chorus singing songs about Angela and reminding her not to forget herself in the end. I remember a review on Gamehouse that called Angela and her friends shallow. Yet it’s Angela’s “shallow” friends who agree to give her the money for her boutique, who help her every step of the way. Shallow or not, they sound like genuine friends and I would rather have that then a deep “friend” who couldn’t care less about me. I mentioned Officer Murray earlier and I’m sure that you’re wondering who he is. He’s a cop and Angela’s love interest yet, at the same time, that doesn’t stop him from letting Angela know when she’s breaking the law by not following proper building codes. He also ends up arresting her for it because he doesn’t let his personal feelings get in the way. Yet, in the end, he teams up with Angela to take Noemie down. I say teams up with her because, even though the game frames it as a damsel in distress situation, it was Angela, Murray and Michelle working together. Michelle who, at first, was afraid to stand up to Noemie and even took a picture of one of Angela’s secret designs so that Noemie could not only pass it off as her own, but frame Angela for theft. In the end, thanks to some harsh words from Angela, Michelle finds the courage to stand up to Noemie. If that’s not enough, in the Snuggford level, you get appearances from Emily, Francois, Sally and a brief one from Amy and her grandfather. Emily hints to her next game and Francois acts as the coded gay best friend he usually is, giving Angela advice. One day, they may let Francois out of the closet and give him his own life and maybe there is a game I haven’t played yet where he did. Unfortunately, this is not that game. There’s also a minor spat between Edward and Evelyn which goes nowhere other than hinting that Evelyn is having a midlife crisis and she conveniently forgot that Edward once punched a guy out for calling her old. However, Edward is the one who tells Angela not to be afraid to show her true colors, which is what she ends up naming the new fashion line.
The game play is the same as every other Fabulous game. You play as Angela collecting clothes for customers, some who go straight to the register and others who go to the fitting room or sit down to try on shoes. You take the clothes, shoes and/or jewelry to the customer and check them out.
Some may require mini games, such as helping them fit into the shoes or adding some final additions on the clothes. At first, the clothes Angela can choose from are New York stylish. Then, during the fifth chapter, Angela designs clothes inspired by her friends from Snuggford, Amy, Emily, and Sally. I found this so touching that I almost wanted to cry. Like in the last Fabulous game, you gather diamonds from special events in levels and challenge levels that you spend on clothes. Though, I should warn you, you won’t be able to get all of the clothes by the end of the game but that’s where the endless level comes in. The endless level’s available once a day and you can collect more diamonds. At least, you would be able to if there wasn’t a bug that prevented you from getting more diamonds from the endless level after beating the game. Anyway, buying them is also an option and there are two secret levels for the angel and the devil. Anyone who’s played Fabulous ought to remember them as the ones that give Angela conflicting advice throughout the game. The devil level appears after you finish the second chapter, which fits considering that it’s when Angela lied about her identity to get ahead. The angel level appears after the fifth chapter, which was when Angela decided to be true to herself. During the end credits, the angel and devil appear to make commentary on each character and it’s brilliant! My favorite is when Emily appeared and the devil called her a big shot while the angel pointed out that, without Emily, they wouldn’t exist. Considering that Fabulous is a spinoff of Emily’s series, Delicious, I’d have to agree with the angel on that one.
This game is entertaining and addictive. I give it 7 out of 10; one of the better Angela games. Do you feel the same way? Also, if you have your own request, feel free to say so in the comments, email me, or friend me on Discord at suburbantimewaster#8733.