Sally’s Studio

Having recently reviewed ‘Sally’s Spa’, let’s take a look at the next offering, which I believe is the third in the series. This time Sally is inspired to open a yoga studio, and she proceeds to do so at various locations around the world, much as before.

The basic gameplay sticks to the original time-management formula; the studio has several different stations (in this case a warm up zone, a yoga pose area, aerobics, dance etc), and you/Sally have to guide customers around in a timely manner to meet their requests. Different customers have different levels of patience (and generosity when it comes to tipping), but all will leave in a huff if they have to wait too long.

The use of mini games at most of these stations will be familiar to anyone who has played earlier version; in this instance you have to do things like flicking through a (small) catalogue of yoga positions to find the one that matches the customer has in mind. I suggested the mini games in Sally’s Spa were on the easy side, and it’s the same in Sally’s Studio with the exception of the last mini-game to be unlocked; you have to ‘lift’ a jug of water and fill a cup to the right level, but I found it incredibly difficult to get the jug to move, and quickly resorted to not even trying (I had upgraded that station to the point that customers got full hearts anyway).

The upgrades are my main gripe with Sally’s Studio; they’re too affordable (i.e, I was able to buy everything of use before I was event 75% of the way through), and that upgrade on the last station that automatically gives full hearts just undermines everything else you’ve done up to that point. — Grumble over —

There are no products for sale on the side like there were in Sally’s Spa (which is a shame if you ask me), but we do have one new feature; a CD player, which you can buy CDs for in the upgrade shop. CDs are effectively boost items; one freezes time, one speeds Sally and her assistants up, another gives an extra heart to all customers etc. It’s a nice idea, but I found it was a bit distracting from the main gameplay, and tended to leave it alone.

For me, the big question Sally’s Studio had to answer was this: is it more challenging than Sally’s Spa? The answer is yes, slightly. I still haven’t failed a level, but I did have more customers walk out, which was a step in the right direction.

To be perfectly honest though, I had stopped playing by the penultimate level of the final location. The jug/pour mini-game was just too irritating (if you don’t try three times in a row, it forces you to do the tutorial again, which was never any help).

Alright, final verdict: Sally’s Studio will kill a few hours for you. As time management games go in my experience, this is a good one. I wouldn’t rate it as high as it’s predecessor though; while it is slightly harder, this is undone by the too-readily-available-upgrades, and I didn’t like the features as much this time around.

Final score: 6/10