Style Boutique 3: Styling Star - Game Review

Now that New Style Boutique 3: Styling Star has been out for a few months, I think it's time to write a review of what I think about the game. The game is the fourth one in the series from Nintendo and Syn Sophia. This review is about my feelings on the game and the aspects I liked and disliked about the game.

When you first begin the game and are greeted by your eccentric uncle Tim, you are given the option to customise your in-game character. There is a variety of features that you can customise and it was a great that the developers added in the option to have single or double eyelids. When designing my character, I tend to stick to the same looking character in each game. I found it difficult to pick the eyes as some of them look a bit scary/empty looking and the new game graphics make some of them too shiny. 

Now we'll talk about the story line of the game. The franchise took a new direction and focus on a idol/pop star story this time round. At first I was sceptical of this as I thought the entire game would be about the songs rather than fashion. I was proved wrong when the actual story line focuses on helping three girls achieve their dreams of becoming idols with your assistance as their stylist. The three idol girls (Rosie, Yolanda and Alina) come to your boutique asking for your assistance in picking outfits for their debuts and performances. Their company NIN10 Productions pays you in return for your work. There is another idol in the game, the famous Angelique, and you do get to interact with her as well plus many other main characters. All the characters are endearing and have unique personalities. My favourite character from the main story line would have to be Camilla as I found her personality and story line amusing. The story line does drag on for a long time however. It took myself about 42 hours of gameplay to just play the full main story line. There was points were nothing much happened in the game and you just have to keep working on getting Stylist Points whilst waiting for the next story event to occur. 

Camilla would have to be my favourite character in the game.

The developers decided to go with a in-game clock system in this game rather than the real-time one used in Fashion Forward. I'm not sure which one I prefer really. I like the real-time clock (based off the 3DS clock) as you would always know what time it was in the game and could play for hours on end. But with the in-game clock, time moves quicker and you can pass more days easily to obtain new items. The main part I don't like about the in-game clock is that the days sometimes go too quick and customers barely appear (more on that in the next paragraph).

The customer request system has changed in Styling Star. In the previous game Fashion Forward, you would normally get the same style customers visiting your boutique all the time and there was always a constant stream of customers. With Styling Star, customers will either ask for a particular item with usually no set theme or an outfit based off a theme. I prefer the outfit one as you get to be more creative with your choices and you make more money. I wish the developers would create a mix between the two so you can make a substantial amount of money from items. The number one thing I hate about customers at the boutique in Styling Star is the frequency. In one day, I reckon you'll have tops 10 customers. I find I just never have enough visiting my boutique and some times during the day, I'll have none! I have to often exit and reenter to trigger at least one customer. You can message people to visit but you can only send three requests per day. I miss the old system from Fashion Forward with the floor display on the bottom screen and it would always be full of customers no matter what time it was.

This red trousers in one try request is a bizarre one that happens often.

Once you finish the main story line, there isn't really much to do in the game. The developers decided to remove all the challenging aspects such as unlocking things and fashion shows. Oh how I miss fashion shows! It was always a fun challenge to try and find five star outfits and work out what make-up and hairstyle matched the theme. Watching the fashion show was fun as well and taking photos was always a favourite of mine. Now all that's gone and unfortunately nothing has replaced it. Modelling jobs were also removed so no chance of doing those. I think the developers really failed with content in Styling Star. They took out so many fun features and replaced them with nothing. Once you finish the main story, there's nothing to do besides getting the awards and collecting items. Which you don't really get anything valuable from, at least with fashion shows and modelling jobs you had fun designing concepts. You don't get invited to attend locations or events with NPC's anymore. It was always fun visiting places like the Meadows or Maple Crescent with characters. Nothing like that is in Styling Star. The only time you visit locations is in the main story line but it's all pre-programmed with what happens. After the main story line, there are a few little events with siblings of certain characters, but nothing as exciting as say the Five Sisters from Fashion Forward.


I'm just bitter about the lack of content in the game really. Fashion Forward was so amazing with it's content and those should've been left in and combined with new features like the online ones in Styling Star. For example, I really miss the Caprice Chalet and decorating different themed rooms. Plus the rent money! Omg how I miss that sweet rent money you used to get from renting rooms. Yes I know you can decorate your boutique like the Caprice Chalet, but that's only one room and you're limited with what you can do. I've got to a point where it won't let me place anymore items in the room! It's so limiting with the decorating there and with the apartment. I wish I could remove some of those items as I really hate the stupid table and chairs set as none of them match anything.

My current boutique layout. This apparently is the maximum amount of miniatures you can use.

Miniatures are still a thing in the game and it was nice to add in new locations to vary the selection of miniatures. It's cute that you need to visit the Florist to buy flower themed ones and the Cake Shop for food ones. At least you don't have to unlock miniatures at the Exhibition Hall now. I absolutely hated trying to get those special ones from brand representatives as it was random at which one they gave you and I could never get all ten from each brand. Now you just buy them from the Lifestyle Shop which is way easier.

Now for some things new things in the game that I like. Nails was something I wanted in the new game and was surprised when they actually included them! The designs are great and there's a good variety of designs available. Watches and bracelets are another great addition. So happy they were included as they are an essential clothing item. Hopefully we can get rings in the next game! The headphones are a fun addition, but the selection is limited to collect.

The developers did a great job adding new clothing items into the game. Some of the designs are stunning and I'm happy they added new styles of items into the game. It was getting boring with the selection of outers available and thankfully now the jackets come in different lengths. And the new dresses! They are one of my favourite new features. Some of them are just so beautiful.

Some new items that I quite like.

In regards to hairstyles, not sure why they removed ones. You can't get cute ones like sausage curls anymore. I never understand why developers feel the need to remove content from a game. We should be getting new content! Which we did get some new hairstyles which are quite nice. Also thank heavens they got rid of that stupid question system when doing customer requests! That was always such a pain trying to guess from incredibly vague questions.

The make-up sets are a bit boring in Styling Star. There aren't that many to collect and the make-up included in the set isn't too flashy. I haven't worn any yet because most just look awful on my character. I tend to just stick to picking my own colours. It's a shame you can no longer design your own sets as that was a great feature to use to try out different looks. 

Onto the online content now. First thing, why on earth did Nintendo region lock the online content? Like why!? It's the dumbest thing ever. It worked in Fashion Forward but now in Styling Star, we are forbidden from visiting other players in different regions. I feel that really affected the game as you cannot interact with other players. I really want to visit my online friend's boutiques and download their items, but I can't because I live in Australia and have the PAL version. It was like one step forward with the great Shopdo and Designer Centre features, but two steps back with limiting them to regions.

Shopdo is a fun feature and I've sold quite a few outfits through it. I love how you can like and favourite other players and show your love for their ideas. Shopdo (same with Designer Lounge) can be a bit slow sometimes to load up new ones onto the screen, but I feel Miiverse was often the same so maybe it's an online thing with Nintendo. I haven't used Designer Lounge much but it's interesting to see the designs other players come up with. They are some questionable prices on there. I saw something for like $20,000 once for just a bag.

It's fun to great outfits in Shopdo.

Talking about designing items, the design feature wasn't improved a huge amount. Yes it's great that you can design shopping bags and emblems now. But why did they remove so many of the design patterns and types? I miss being able to design tights as they were like the only designer item I ever wore (RIP super cute bear tights). Also the special ones like school uniforms are gone too. From what I've noticed, most players stick to the stage costumes and dress designs.

Stage outfits I created during the main story line.

Amiibos were one feature I was super pumped for in Styling Star. I collected all the amiibo items in Fashion Forward with the help of friends and members of my Nintendo club. They were some of my favourite items in the game and were incredibly well designed. Styling Star comes along and amiibos have been changed to just unlock designs and emblems. At first I confused and thought maybe there are more available. Nope. The selection is limited to certain amiibos and cool ones like Wii Fit Trainer and Samus are gone. At least you can buy amiibo items from the previous game at Purple Moon now, but the colours are limited. No more beautiful pink ones like the samus boots :(

At least the yoshi t-shirt design is cute.

Mens fashion has returned and I'd admit it was never a feature I used much in the game, but I've used it a fair bit in Styling Star. At first, I thought you didn't earn money working there but it seems you do! It just doesn't show up as an amount and just adds to your money without telling you. Thank you to the anon that pointed that out, I was too silly to notice myself. Sometimes I work at the Menswear Shop when I have no customers to build up money quicker. Male customers seem to spend more than the customers at the boutique.

One thing I was surprised about was the removal of Streetflow. It was a weird thing to remove as the brand didn't really clash with any of the others and sporty fashion is quite a unique concept. The items were moved and whilst most match their new homes, some kinda look out of place. I'm just perplexed at why the developers removed another brand (Miss Ribbon was taken out previously). I feel at the fourth version of the game, they should be adding in new ones and not taking ones out. The game could really do with a new brand or two.

Big thankful to whoever designed this gorgeous dress!

Overall, Styling Star is a great game graphics wise and the developers stepped up their game adding in new item designs, better online features and nails! However fun aspects of the previous game were removed or limited in Styling Star. If only we could get an amazing game that combines both Styling Star and Fashion Forward. No clue on whether Nintendo will bring out Style Boutique 4 (Style Savvy 5) as I feel this game was a quick cash in to get one last game out on the 3DS since the console is dying down (apparently). I will make a post in the future on features I'd like to see in the next game as there's lots of content and things I'd like to see in the game. Hopefully all this review makes sense, I just wrote out what I thought and some may sound negative as there were features in the game I just wasn't happy about. But I've enjoyed the game and are currently working on collecting all the items in the game which is a fun task. Once I've completed that, not sure what else lies in the game for me. 

I have to say though that I've had a fun and amazing time connecting with other players of the game through social media. I follow some Japanese players on instagram who make the most gorgeous outfits and such an stunning sense of fashion. And on blogger itself, I've met some amazing people who love the franchise like me and I love reading about their adventures in the game.