This dress-up game scratched my brain in the best way back in my web-surfing days as a kid. I loved the base model for the game because she looks fabulous, and it has the intrigue of learning about mythology as well. Yes, I was also a Percy Jackson kid.
This game is from Hulabunny.com, which is still up with the other archived flash dress-up games from the website!
Next in the online games that made my childhood we have Totally Spies: Mall Brawl, a game that was on Cartoonnetwork.com (also known as the location of my favorite after school extracurricular). It's one of the most fabulous platformer games where you defeat an evil m*n named Tim Scam and his robot lackeys from their nefarious plans to ruin the shopping experience forever.
Oh. So that's his evil plan? Huh.........
I don't have the bandwidth to poke this further.
I do love the touch of the coffee being the healing mechanism, because same.
I love this robot lackey so much because it does not have a long-range weapon to use against me. It is literally just those little scissorhands that are close-range. Whenever I got double-teamed by the robots and this one was present, I knew I could chillax a bit and defeat the one with a real weapon first.
Something neat about this game is that you can change out which spy you play as each level, so Clover gets L*ndon. This level also gives you the ~conundrum~ of the character not being able to jump over the 3 potted plants in a row.
So this is the solution
Exploding bomb earrings.....
This is more convenient than just....jumping over the plants.
Now presenting: the least useful tool in the entire game. Didn't use it once aside from getting this screenshot. I'll be fair, if you have twinkle-fingers and can whip this out quickly before switching back to the blow dryer then this will be useful. I just prefer to go on the offensive the entire time because it is 500x more efficient.
For the final level set in Paris, we have this to spice up the gameplay.
There is another cracked wall to bomb, which will lead you to this. Clearing out the waterfall will display secret elevator behind it, which will take you to the boss fight with Tim Scam himself.
I risked my (actually Sam's) life to get this screenshot!
Be-Bratz.com was MCA's attempt at getting in on the "virtual world" craze in the mid-to-late 2000s to early 2010s, similar to Mattel's attempt with BarbieGirls. Another similarity with BarbieGirls was that the corresponding toy collection came with a little plug-in device which would provide access to the site once you plugged it into the computer.
The collection itself was just three dolls who were unnamed, but resembled 3 out of 4 of the main Bratz girls (Sasha, Yasmin, and Chloe respectively). I was a Yasmin girl, so my parents bought me the middle one.
I honestly don't recall ever using that mouse. I don't even know what I did with it after I had opened the package
As with all virtual worlds, Be-Bratz had some minigames that provided more reason to spend time on the website, and potentially help with accumulating points for leveling up your character or in-game currency. Whichever one of the two. Or both. Or none. I don't remember to be completely honest. Whatever it may be, virtual worlds typically have some extra games for you to play (although not all, some are purely for socializing but now I'm babbling and digressing too much).
Without further adieu...
Now that's what I'm talking about. This shit had me hype as fuck to be a skater grrrl (never materialized, but my 8 year old self thought it would be so cool to be one).
You could choose between Sasha, Bryce (token guy option, RIP Jade), Yasmin, or Chloe to play as. Naturally I chose my fav, but sometimes Sasha as well since they frequently made her skin tone light to the point she may as well have been Yasmin's twin.
When I started playing again, I forgot that the way to build up momentum was just to let the character go back and forth on the rink to "get more air." I tried to jump the gun and go for the spins as soon as possible, which led to moments like this:
Eventually, I got the hang of it again and got a good rhythm down.
This is the "X-treme" trick. Definitely going to be an X-pensive hospital stay as well.
I think this is a perfect place to end on.
Medical school has been kicking my ass per usual, but I have been nostalgic all the same. Since my third year is somewhat winding down, I have *some* room to make posts here and there. Definitely not the longform deep dives that I did for Cake Mania, but certainly some other stuff...
A break from my normal content, but I'm studying for board exams and doing practice questions, and this is what one question bank recommends I use to memorize bactericidal drugs
That sure sounds like something Sephiroth would do
Remember Risha's Boutique from Cake Mania: Lights, Camera, Action? You know how it was only 25 levels? Well, how about we take that 25 levels and expand into 60. Why? Because, that's why.
❝𝐏𝐥𝐨𝐭❞
Risha was never meant for the small-town life. She has been a very supportive friend to Jill and been present for all her wacky adventures since Cake Mania 2, but by golly it is time for Risha to follow her passions and move to L.A to open up a boutique! She arrives to L.A. with good spirits and light in her eyes, but gets quickly challenged by a pretty powerful enemy--the diet culture and body-shaming of the 2000s (represented by a character named Andrea). She doesn't let this stop her, and she is determined to help band together likeminded people to start a body-inclusive fashion revolution!
The plot was more based and cool than the actual game, unfortunately.
As much as Risha slays, I don' think 60 levels of Risha's Boutique makes for an interesting experience. It quite literally is just the 25-level experience we got in Cake Mania: LCA, but 60 levels. It is ironic, as monotony is a critique that Cake Mania gets a lot but I love it despite how monotonous it can get. However, I personally feel as if it takes a while for the monotony to kick in Cake Mania games. It truly doesn't become boring until you have every upgrade on the planet to the point it becomes a piece of cake (pun intended) to play. Here? That shit got old at like level 19.
❝𝐆𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲❞
With this game, you are the oven and the froster, so to speak, who is making the cakes (giving customers the clothes they are asking for). As you play the game, you can unlock more collections of clothing and there are separate male and female collections. Eventually, there got to a point where they would just re-color previous clothing items because the collections felt neverending. To the game dev's credit, it took a while and a lot of collections before they did that. Granted, I also only bought one collection per level. There really isn't much to do besides that.
Also the male model that is used to advertise the male collections looks Cabybara-eque, like Glen Powell.
There is at least the wrap-o-matic function of the game that I do appreciate. I think the game would have been more boring if this was automated because it at least adds a challenge and slows you down a bit. There are entire levels where everyone asks for a complicated wrap-pattern, so the game does attempt to up the ante.
There are also store upgrades that are there to help attempt to spice up the experience. Give you something to purchase besides new clothes collections.
You can purchase little decoration upgrades like a carpet, plant, and lights to spruce up the place to help extract more tips, and of course purchasing upgrades for the wrap-o-matic to add on some costs to customers. It feels a bit performative at times-- to where I feel like buying a plant has as much impact as opening up a new tab, but it still felt more useful than the TV and distraction dessert machine funnily enough.
And of course, this is another game where they had the mini-game function to get extra points and money. Naturally, I got annoyed with doing them so I neglected this part of gameplay
By the time I have finished these games I would have noted the TV preferences of all the customers, but truthfully I have not as of typing this shortly after completing the game. I didn't even buy either of these contraptions until super close to the end when I knew I just had to make the purchase to get some trophy out of it.
The game mechanics are so, so simple which is how you can get away with not needing either of those tools. Customers usually come in with multiple items they want, and you can immediately tend to their demands because all you have to do is click on an item and drop it onto their bubble. If they are incapacitated due to some Blue Bubble Customer shenanigans, you have even more time to look for an item after getting rid of the troublemaker customer. If you have kept them waiting for way too damn long and they do end up going crazy on you, just find one item and they'll be pacified for some time.
The aspect of this game that would make it difficult to keep the customers happy is the bonus money and points you get from delivering all the clothing at the same time to a customer that orders 3 items. Sometimes I feel like I would have massive success from doing the 3-item bonus, but other times I would just ditch it and focus on customer patience by doing one item at a time. It almost felt intuitive on when to use which strategy. At the end of the day, you wanna shuffle them out as quickly as they came in. If the 3-item bonus significantly slowed me down I would not use it.
❝𝐂𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐬❞
Asshole Actor
Cake Mania 2 throwback! He's with a different color scheme now
Rich Royalty Lady
Cake Mania 2 throwback! She's calmer than her first in-universe appearance. LA life has surprisingly slowed her down compared to when she would flip out at the aquarium-bakery
Doctor
Cake Mania 2 throwback!
Popstar
Cake Mania 2 throwback!
Buff Barnacle Boy
He's also a Cake Mania 2 throwback! Plus, he's one of those golden customers that orders multiple times.
Sad Sack Elephant
Is it a Cake Mania universe game without a Sad Sack appearance? I don't think it is.
Lola Fierreza
Cake Mania: LCA throwback! Looks like she had the same idea as the director she just worked with and decided to go to LA
Paris Hilton??? Idk
First Blue Bubble customer, she demands to be served first.
Walking Dead Extra
Just cause she's in a zombie apocalypse doesn't mean she can't look good!
Mad Scientist
He turns everyone into mimes
Corrupt Cop
He jails the adjacent customer!
Me in the Future
She's Thee Crazy Cat Lady and is prolly baked, cause you can give her whatever to shuffle her out.
Biker Dude
Teen Girl
Teen boy
They get a heart when the other comes in
Opera Singer
Reporters
❝𝐌𝐲 𝐎𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐨𝐧❞
This is very mid. I think it is very funny that there are many Cake Mania 2 "throwback" customers in this game, because the same monotony I felt playing Cake Mania 2 is what I felt playing this game. Granted, the Cake Mania 2 torture was somewhat self-imposed. However, what I felt playing Cake Mania 2 after the 4th run is how I felt playing this game once. The novelty of the new collections to sell to people didn't inspire much excitement. It was too straightforward of game that didn't need 60 levels and thus didn't really need to be made its own game if this is the *only* thing the game offers.
I give this game a 25/60. As in a concept like this deserves 25 levels max if it isn't going to add anything else.
tangentwithtanner
baratheonpilled
titsay
amandla
germansingergirl
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