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Fat Princess
Release Date: July 30, 2009
Reviewed On: PlayStation 3
Also Available On: N/A
Developer: Titan Studios
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment
ESRB Rating: Teen - Blood and gore, cartoon violence
PEGI Rating: 16+
OFLC Rating: RP
Titan Studios new game Fat Princess is a blast; featuring single and multiplayer, the biggest draw for this title are the head-to-head battles with other players. Supporting up to 32 combatants per map, players can choose between five different player classes including the worker, warrior, ranger, priest, and mage, each of which have their own unique abilities, strengths and weaknesses. Teams will have work to together to overcome enemies and obstacles to rescue their princess.
Don’t let its innocent looks deceive you. Underneath a cute and cuddly exterior, Fat Princess is a strategic team-based game and delivers a ton of bloody mischief. Pick up this title and start indulging in some cake.
Cake or Death?
Story:
Decide to “Play with Yourself” in Fat Princess and players will play through the game’s story told in storybook format over the course of seven chapters. One day, two princesses headed out to the forest and encountered a mysterious cake. Curious, they take a bite and develop an insatiable appetite for the dessert and eventually grow to enormous proportions. In an effort to find a remedy for the princess’s “curse,” the blue and red kingdom plunge into battle as they compete for the cure.
The story mode serves as a tutorial for players, and although the story is absolutely silly, it works.
They may look adorable but they mean serious business.
Gameplay:
If you’re going to win a match in this game, it’s going to take teamwork. Fat Princess emphasizes communication and coordination among players in order to eliminate the enemy in game modes including snatch n’ grab (capture the flag), team deathmatch, invasion, and soccer.
Players start off as peons in Fat Princess and can select from five different classes by picking up the classes hat from the hat machines located in your team’s base. Each class begins with a basic move that can be upgradable as the workers collect wood and ore located throughout the map. These resources are then used to increase defensive and offensive capabilities such as building a gate or catapult. Additionally the hat machines can also be upgraded to unlock an ability for each class.
Working with your team is integral, especially in the first few minutes of the game as ore is often located in a central location which quickly becomes a choke point as opposing teams vie for control of the resource to gain the upper hand. Strategies are always adjusting and with a five second time between spawns, they’re also fast paced. In one of my favorite maps, Black Forest, our team would often catapult rush the opposing team and land inside their base, dropping a bomb to open a path for us to escape with the Princess. Players have multiple objects they can use to give them an edge including a chicken potion that transforms enemies, secret passageways, bombs etc.
Use the map to develop strategies with your team.
Fat Princess has four game modes that span nine different maps. “Capture the Flag” is self explanatory, except in this case you’ll be lugging back your Princess back to base. In “Invasion” players will fight to control fifty percent of the outposts on the map and hold them for a period of time and in team deathmatch teams will fight to eliminate the opposing team. The game also has a “Soccer” mode which is a bloody good time as teams wildly fight to score goals. On average games will take players 30-45 minutes to complete.
Graphics:
Sitting back to play a match on Fat Princess is like playing a cartoon, albeit a bloody one. The animation is smooth, the characters are detailed and the colors are rich. The title looks great on a big 1080p screen.
Audio:
The ambient music in Fat Princess is good and compliments the visuals. Add to that the squeaky male and female character voices as they battle their way across the map and it adds to the sheer silliness of the title. Standing by the castle in snatch n’ grab matches and you’ll hear the princess’s voice drop an octave or two as she packs on more bulk and calls for more cake. The only complaint I will make is that the narrator’s voice can become repetitive after you’ve heard him announce for the 20th time that an outpost has been captured, although he does deliver useful information to help rally the forces and send troops where they are needed.
"Oh no, we're being ganked!"
Multiplayer:
Sony has released a patch that corrected many of the issues that troubled multiplayer matches in Fat Princess; in the first week of launch it wasn’t unheard of to spend five minutes or more attempting to connect to a game, now players should be able to connect on their first try. There are some outstanding issues that do remain, including lag and glitches, and in one game it didn’t register that we had won the bout and continued on until players became bored and quit. Additionally there are some instances where game hosts will leave and players may be booted out of the game.
The game does need work to help improve team balance; bots will play in the event that there aren’t enough players to fill a match and in some maps I’ve seen entire teams composed of 16 players vs. 7 players on the opposing teams.
Summary:
Available for download on PSN, there’s nothing wrong with indulging in some cake; Fat Princess delivers a great experience for a good value, do yourself a favor and pick up this title today.
Story: 9/10
Gameplay: 9/10
Graphics: 9/10
Audio: 8/10
Multiplayer: 7/10
Total Gaming Network Rating: 8/10
Gameplay: 9/10
Graphics: 9/10
Audio: 8/10
Multiplayer: 7/10
Total Gaming Network Rating: 8/10
~BawdyJane