On Wednesday, Glu Games released its latest celebrity doll adventure game, Britney Spears: American Dream, and in the short amount of time I’ve spent playing it, I’ve found a surprising amount of depth that could make this the best one Glu’s made so far.
While I’m somewhat ambivalent about how successful the game will be, since Britney Spears doesn’t hold the same intrigue for younger audiences that the Jenner girls and Kim Kardashian do, nonetheless, for fans of the celebrity adventure genre, this game should not be ignored.
We’ve put together an overview of the gameplay elements and features, stacking them up against Glu’s previous three celebrity games to show the similarities and differences between them and give you a better idea of whether you should invest your time and energy into it.
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Britney Spears: American Dream Gameplay and Storyline
Similar to Glu’s previous celebrity adventure games, your character is an aspiring young singer, hoping to climb the ranks and perhaps achieve the level of success his/her mentor, Britney Spears has enjoyed. The game starts at some point in the future when you’ve already reached pop star status. You and Britney are finishing up a concert at Planet Hollywood where she commends your talent and hard work, and then asks if you remember the day you first met. The game flashes back to a time when your character was a simple Microbe Music store sales clerk with a dream of becoming the next Britney Spears.
One day, as you are restocking new CDs, you get a call from a friend at the coffee shop next door. She excitedly informs you that Britney Spears is there and that you should try to meet her. Begging to leave early, your boss Wallace gives you a free pass – just this once – and you head over with your hopes high. Sara convinces you to ask the barista if you can steal the open mic stage long enough to make an impression on Britney, and impress her you do. She invites you to a party at The String in Beverly Hills, hosted by a major entertainment company, StarCore Media. At the party, Britney connects you with a self-important and impatient agent, Anne Means. You’re nervous, but Britney swears by her. Anne won’t take the time to let you audition but says if you get a show at the Venom Room in Burbank, and the reviews are good, she’ll consider adding you to her client list. You book the show and the reviews afterward are pure fire, at which point, you gain Anne as an agent, but also meet your nemesis, Aston Cole.
Anyone who’s played Glu’s earlier celebrity offering knows how the rest of the storyline goes. You must complete quests, develop relationships and work your way to the top of a social media or record hits list. You’re constantly working to remain relevant while building and maintaining both romantic and professional relationships. All the while your nemesis does his or her best to destroy everything you’ve built, spreading rumors and trying to dig up anything scandal-worthy on you.
What Sets Britney Spears: American Dream Apart From The Others
Though the Britney game’s storyline and objectives are quite similar to others the company has produced, the game shows a level of development maturity that clearly comes with practice. The graphics and music are superior to those found in the Kim Kardashian Hollywood and Katy Perry Pop games. Movement is smooth and there is a delightful lack of “glitchiness,” in its initial release -- unlike the early days of Kendall and Kylie. It basically feels like Glu has taken all the attractiveness and genius of the Kendall and Kylie game and done a complete makeover of Katy Perry Pop, which let’s face it, was just damn weird.
Britney’s game has a lot going on and I particularly like the customization features for new singles you record. You get to choose the genre, song title and custom cover art in a similar way that you could customize selfies in Kendall and Kylie.
The game adds complexity by reintroducing the need to maintain strong relationships, which was missing in Kendall and Kylie. The better your relationships, the more those contacts will promote your songs. There’s an interesting twist added to the contacts menu which I imagine may be a moneymaker for this game. In previous games, you could add as many contacts as you wanted, but in Britney Spears you only have 7 slots available. To gain more, you must purchase them with B-Gems. In addition, there is a cooldown period for how frequently you can use a contact as support during a show. Using contacts in a show increases the sales potential of your singles, but the combination of contact cooldown and limits will make you work a lot harder and longer to reach your goals.
Though the game hasn’t exactly taken off yet, it already has a strong reputation in the Apple App Store. It’s been out two days and has 500 reviews with an average 5-star rating (Kendall and Kylie has 594 reviews after 3 months on the app store).
So, is Britney Spears: American Dream worth your time? I’d say yes. Currently, the doll customization options are a bit limited and much of the clothing looks the same, but I’m sure new updates will bring more options. If you’ve enjoyed any of Glu’s previous celebrity adventure games, this one is sure to be a satisfying diversion as well. Go ahead an check it out and keep an eye out for our upcoming tips, tricks and location guide for Glu's new Britney Spears game.
