I'm a sucker for Asian style. At this very moment, for instance, I've got a huge manga book sitting on my desk that I'm using to try and teach myself how to draw. Given my leanings towards everything Asian, I instantly jumped at the chance to spend some time with a preview build of Zen Fashion, a soon to be released casual game that bridges the majestic nature of the Oriental with some flower matching fun. If only I could get my own hairdo to give me the power to slow down time.

Zen Fashion tells the story of a young girl who decides she wants to be the greatest designer around, and so she sets off on an adventure through Asia to learn about her heritage and learn to make some truly amazing clothes in the process. She'll learn how to make clothes by completing level after level, moving on from one level to the next once all the tiles on the board have been cleared away. Like other games in the same casual game genre, you'll clear these tiles by making matches over the tiles that haven't yet had a match created over them. Though matches have to be at least three of the same type (or including a Zen number or either a powerup along the chain) you can theoretically go way beyond that number, as my personal best chain was linking 15 flowers together. Unlike some games in the genre where you only switch pieces to make combos or either can only chain pieces together by scrolling over them horizontally or vertically, in Zen Fashion you can also use the pieces that touch diagonally, opening up the board considerably for some extraordinarily long matches.

Zen Fashion starts out easily enough, usually giving you wide-open boards where it's easy to string together at least a "match three" combo. As you move through the levels, however, the game will start throwing out more complex boards whose designs don't allow for easy matches (especially the far corners). Beyond the designs, the game will also start placing locked tiles in your way, which are only removed once a match has been made that touches it on either the top, bottom, left, or right side. The game is hard enough already when you only have one of those obstacles in your way, but when the game starts mixing and matching those together, you better make sure you have the right powerups to help make your life a bit easier.

Anytime you make a match over three pieces long, the level will throw onto the board a Zen number, which is placed inside the traditional Yin-Yang symbol. The Zen number will represent the length of the chain you created, which will help power your Zen abilities. You see, as you complete levels, you'll be given the chance to pick one of three design pieces, which will either be a new hairdo, shirt, or pants/skirts combo. Each fashion article you choose will have two powerups attached to it, ranging from clocks to slow down the time meter of the game, the all-seeing eye to change a tile you can't manage to reach by yourself, and things like flowers that will auto color an area all the same color so you have an easy chain right at your fingertips. Depending on the selections you pick, you can have up to six different powers for use on any given level. If, however, you find some abilities help you more than others, you can change fashion pieces so you have two pieces that both have the watch as a powerup, doubling up its power and effectiveness anytime you use it. Strengthening powerups in this way does things like increase the amount of time the timer will be stopped, let you automatically unlock more than one tile at one time, or affect the area you change or explode by expanding the blast radius. The downside to having these more powerful abilities, however, comes from the fact that they require more Zen numbers than they would need normally if their effectiveness weren't either being doubled or tripled.

Zen Fashion is a very vibrant game, featuring some truly exotic looking backgrounds filled with mostly bright greens and the scattered decaying statue here and there, and the board itself is easy on the eyes and there's no problem at all distinguishing one type of match piece with another. Given the game's Asian styling, it's only fitting that the background music would feature the same flavor as the graphics, as it sounds like the traditional music you'd expect from the more quiet and reflective scenes in a movie like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

It shouldn't be long now until Zen Fashion is finished and ready to go, letting all wannabe fashion designers have the chance to create some truly memorable fashion pieces, empowering you with superpower abilities in the process. If you're looking for an easy to get into casual game that will keep you busy for quite a few hours, then Zen Fashion looks like it will be just the ticket when it is released.

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