Fat Princess brings the fun of class-based capture-the-flag multiplayer to those of us intimidated by the likes of Team Fortress 2. The design's deceptively welcoming for a 32-person game. A 3rd-person isometric view provides a broad look of the battlefield. The children's book aesthetic makes the aforementioned Valve title cartoon-ish art appear, in comparison, rough and grimy. Even the software itself, downloadable off PSN this summer, will be ideal for quick play sessions, since you can quickly launch it from the console's XMB.
But underneath the hood's a more strategic beast, tailored for the hardcore.
Players have 5 class options-Swordsmen, Mage, Builder, Priest and Arrowmen-to help them secure their barracks, cross the map and kidnap the opposing team's princess. Naturally, you can expect many great multiplayer tropes. For example, the Swordsmen and Priest's bruiser/healer relationship is similar to the Heavy and the Medic from TF2. And the aesthetic, while fairy tale, contains buckets of blood-they'll be optional, so no worries if you want to play online with your younger brother or sister.
Fat Princess is best at its mot unique. The titular princess and stand-in for the flag, can be fattened by cake strewn across the battlefield. Builders can collect resources like ore and timber from rocks and trees to construct catapults or upgrade stations. The latter option is particularly useful, since station upgrades improve the classes' attacks. The Arrowmen's useful with his bow, but dominates with his upgraded alternate fire, an Elmer Fudd-like shotgun.
Even a small weapon we noticed, a potion that when thrown on enemies or teammates turns them into chickens-essentially neutralizing them-filled our little hearts with joy. The game's simply jammed packed with creativity.
Fat Princess is scheduled to hit PSN this summer with 6 maps, additional modes like Team Deathmatch and a few unannounced surprises. We look forward to playing online with both our casual and hardcore gamer pals.
In the words of the Wonder Pets, "What's gonna work? Team work!"
