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First Impressions: Fat Princess
by Conor Duggan
31.7.09


The long awaited PSN title Fat Princess hit the store today, and like many others I couldn't wait to get my hands on it. The download is a nice little 329MB so it didn't take too long, even on my prehistoric connection. After installation I booted the game up and after a few screens I was in the main menu. The menu screen is cute and not too clustered which goes well with the theme of the game.

After a quick glance at the 'How To Play' section, I hit the hilariously titled 'Play With Yourself' mode. You have three options here: Legend of The Fat Princess, Mess About and Gladiator. Legend of The Fat Princess is presented as a story book, taking you through the "story" of the game. It guides you through the basic game modes and maps in a user friendly fashion. I won't spoil the entire campaign for you though as it includes some very funny moments. Mess About is basically just an offline skirmish mode with AI bots and Gladiator is a constant onslaught of enemies.

The gameplay itself is alot of fun. You spawn in the middle of your team's castle (or pirate ship, respectively) and from there you choose your class by means of obtaining a hat from the various dispensers. There are six classes to choose from:


-Villager: Fastest carrier of the princess, very little health
-Mage: A wizard that can cast fire and ice magic
-Priest: The healer of the game, but can be upgraded to drain enemies
-Warrior: Your standard sword wealing brute
-Worker: The manual labour class that collects resources to upgrade buildings
-Ranger: The archer that fires arrows

The class all have their different strengths and weaknesses, but it is usually up to the entire makeup of your team rather than your individual class choice as to how the battle unfolds. Controls are easy to grasp as only a few buttons are used. However, the online play can become a little too hectic in 32 player games, and the occasional lag spike is irratating. The maps are well designed though and beautifully presented by the cell shaded graphics, as is the high level of gore. Online play seems robust from the short time I played it, however I did have problems using the Jump In option to enter a game, but I'll assume this is just teething problems which every online game goes through. Stats are very detailed and the friends system works a treat.

The humour in Fat Princess is one of the main things that give it its charm. I frequently laughed out loud (see: LOL'ed) during my short time playing it. My highlight so far has to be the first time I used a magic potion in the middle of a battle, turning everyone including myself into chickens. I was a little shocked to see a pentagram appearing under the dark priest as he charges his evil attack, but I guess it is just to create a strong distinction between the standard priest and the dark upgrade. The developers also threw in a little tongue in cheek humour in the customisation menu with the skin colours "Milky" and "Chocolate", alongside other food related names in a light hearted manner.

Many were annoyed to learn that Fat Princess would be costing a steep £11.99, but for a PSN title it is alot of fun and in my opinion well worth the money. The few server issues should be sorted soon and I'm sure people will be playing this online for quite a while.

Conor

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- Conor Duggan

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