Fat Princess Review

Animal Crossing + Capture the Flag + Fat Chicks = Fun!

Overview

        The concept of the game is simple: two teams of sixteen players battle it out in attempt to capture and bring back the princess.  The strategy is where the game takes life.

        Each team spawns in his or here respective castle as a simple villager.  Throughout the castle are various small buildings that spew out hats which can be worn by the player.  Each hat gives the wearer various weapons, tools, and abilities, as well as an expected job in your kingdom.  The worker for examples uses his axe to collect stone crystals and wood to upgrade hat buildings and fortify the castle.  The priest on the other hand is the healer of the bunch.  The remaining three classes are the warrior, archer, and wizard.  All of which are basically straight up defensive/offensive fighters, each with their own abilities of course.

        In my opinion the unique one of the bunch is the worker, whose abilities not only allow him to collect resources, but spend them on fortifying the castle and upgrading the classes.  The Worker can build gates on the front castle, upgrade hat buildings to give the wearers new weapons and abilities, or with enough resources he can even build a catapult to launch his teammates across the map into the opposing castle.  The catch of course is that all of these upgrades cost resources that would be nearly impossible to gather alone, but with the help of other workers groves of trees will be leveled in no time.

        Sprung around the map are also large pieces of cake that can be fed to your captive princess.  The advantage of stuffing her gullet is of course to make her so large the other team will have troubles carrying her away.  To capture a large princess teams will need multiple players to team up and carry their own weight.  The princess will burn those calories over time as well though, meaning she needs a constant flow of cake to keep the nice attributes of her large size.

*Weight gain may be slightly exaggerated...

Gameplay

        The fighting in Fat Princess is somewhat less strategic compared to other parts of the game, but it can still hold its own.  In large battles the gameplay excels with each class doing its part.  Warriors are hacking and slashing as archers, wizards, and priests shoot projectiles into the heart of the large battle.  Often choke points are on the field such as bridges that force players to battle past each other in small openings.  Workers can help by building spring boards or ladders for their teammates to use to bypass the area, but the battle will usual come down to a few deciding factors including the skill of the players or whether or not they are using an upgraded class.  Once again the role of the worker plays an important rule here as his work gives classes like wizards new spells and warriors/archers new weapons.

        Unfortunately the smaller scale battles are less fun as you don’t feel like the outcome depends on your skill so much, but on who has the class with the advantage.  Ultimately the game depends on teamwork, so if you end up on a team that mindlessly spawns and runs you will quickly become frustrated that your skill in the game no longer seems to matter. 

The larger, more fun battles, tend to get messy.

         The game does feature a few other modes like one involving capturing towers and the standard team death match, but these won’t hold your attention as they take the strategy out of a match.  With strategy out the window you’re left with a mindless lock on and jam a button style of gameplay, where skill plays no role.  One notable mode however is a twisted game of soccer where players spawn on a small field and beat the crap out of each other to try and score a goal, it is quite entertaining and a nice break from the other intense and often long rescue the princess matches.

        The game does offer a short story mode with a comical story,  but it is truly a simple introduction to the mechanics of the game.  It is more of a tutorial and skill builder for the online mode then anything.

Presentation

        The game features cell-shaded graphics very similar to Animal Crossing that really bring the world to life.  The characters run around their vibrant world with their diproportionate bodies doing whatever need be.  Even more satisfying is watching them do battle as their blood stains the grass and dismembered limbs fall to the ground.  Fat Princess truly is a stunner in the visual department.

The short, comical story is presented like an old children's book.

        The menus are slick as well with funny titles for the different options.  You can choose to “Play with others” online, or, if you’d rather, you can “Play with yourself.”  Another prominent feature here is the “Get Fabulous” area, where you can fully customize your character with parts you’ve unlocked by playing the game.

Overall

        Fat Princess is a fantastic addition to anyone’s downloadable library.  It offers a quick fix of fun whenever you need it, even if the fighting can become a little skill-less and cause some monotony at times.  A large amount of online maps with great variety, unlockable features for your avatar, and a couple of worthy game modes will definitely warrant a purchase here.  Not to mention some already rumored DLC, as well as frequent patches to ensure balance among the classes and gameplay.  At 15 bucks, don’t pass this one up.