Fashion Police Squad review for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation, Xbox, PC

Given that the first DOOM came out thirty years ago, at this point if you call a game ?a DOOM clone? it?s safe to say people will know what you mean: first person shooter, lots of earthy colours, probably plenty of demons.

However, in the case of Fashion Police Squad, the descriptor ?DOOM clone? doesn?t entirely work. While it was undoubtedly inspired by that seminal shooter, and borrows quite a bit from it, in practice it?s a very different game than any other DOOM clone I?ve ever seen.

I mean, just look at its name and its premise. You?re playing as Sergeant Des, a fashionable cop out to rid the streets of crimes against fashion. While you have firearms, they?re far from your usual weaponry: rather than bullets, you?re firing splashes of colour at drab grey suits, or shooting sewing needles that take in baggy suits, or, uh, firing gnomes at tourists wearing socks and sandals. The whole game could almost be described as a parody of first-person shooters ? but it?s not, not when it works on its own as well as Fashion Police Squad does.

Don?t get me wrong, in a lot of ways it feels like a parody of the genre. If the sock gnomes didn?t tip you off that Fashion Police Squad doesn?t take itself totally seriously, then maybe the level-ending fashion shows will do it. Or the enemies who fly around powered by their own flatulence. Or the voice shouting things like ?Seductive? and ?Fabulous? every time you transform someone?s outfit.

But just because Fashion Police Squad isn?t afraid to poke fun at itself and its genre doesn?t mean that it?s not a well-made game. On top of the inventive weaponry, the levels are laid out very well, managing to be fairly linear without it feeling like you?re just being funneled along. The enemies, too, are spaced out well, with a few difficulty spikes here and there to ensure it never feels too easy, even at the easiest difficulty level.

And, of course, I?d be remiss if I didn?t mention the swinging. If you?re looking for one area where Fashion Police Squad looked beyond its obvious influences and into a different genre, it?s clear that someone on the development team loved Spider-Man and wanted to incorporate that love into the game. As a result, you can swing through some levels, and it?s some of the most enjoyable web-slinging ? er, belt-slinging? ? that I?ve played outside of some Spider-Man games.

To be sure, Fashion Police Squad isn?t going to make you forget the games it?s borrowing from. But part of why it?s so fun is because it?s poking fun at a genre that can sometimes feel like it hasn?t evolved much since the original DOOM, and showing that there?s still room for it to grow and evolve. As Fashion Police Squad shows, there?s still some life ? and some room to innovate ? in the old genre yet.

No More Robots provided us with a Fashion Police Squad Switch code for review purposes.