In the cel-shaded world of Fat Princess a double kidnapping has taken place. While in our reality this might be somewhat of a rare occurrence, in the medieval lands of Blue and Red this sort of thing happens all the time. With both sides lacking the proper leverage to negotiate the release of their heiress, the situation quickly escalates into full on conflict. Your goal as a plebeian of either the mighty Red or the stalwart Blue is to rescue your princess from the clutches of the enemy while simultaneously making sure that the forces of your opposition do not accomplish the same. A peaceful trade would not allow you the needed leverage to resolve whatever border dispute or trade negotiation that started this whole cartoonish conflict.

Fat Princess is a delightful dish, consisting of one part World of Warcraft's class system, one part action RPG hack and slash added for pick up and play simplicity, and then, to finish it off, a dash of capture the flag. The flag, of course, is the Fat Princess.

Fat Princess' name comes from your ability to feed your captive princess cake thus making her fatter and harder to rescue. This cake, an indigenous local fauna, that I've named Esculentus Laganum Sero, is more commonly known as cake.

Before I move on, I think it is important to at least acknowledge the outcry that the cake eating mechanic has caused on the Internet. While I don't feel qualified to give my opinion on this matter due to my weight - a hefty 135 pounds - I think that the discussion has merit and should be taken seriously. For those still in doubt, let Jason Wilson to weigh in on the subject. Pun intended.

Aside from the moral implications of possibly exploiting obesity, Titan has made a very compelling product. The class system implemented has largely avoided the rock-paper-scissors trappings that tend to plague its contemporaries while allowing each class to have individuality. Fat Princess' combat, while very easy to understand, when first introduced does allow for players the ability to feel like they are growing more proficient. I'm not suggesting that people are going to become better at pressing the square button then their enemy, but rather, this proficiency comes from understanding your current class and reading the ebb and flow of the combat environment around you. Greater ability comes from knowing when to retreat, when to fight, understanding what targets of opportunity are available, exploiting weaknesses in the the enemies position, and upgrading your own position through the use of workers. This understanding connotes higher levels of play. What all of these have in common is that they all benefit exponentially from teamwork. And this is where Titan has seriously failed its audience.

Titan has designed an experience that hinges so much of its value on the ability to communicate and strategize with your teammates, and yet, they have put no tools in place to facilitate teamwork. The only tool available to rectify this is using a Blue Tooth headset, and the fact is, not many people on PSN have access to them currently. While a group of silent, well trained players can negotiate this obstacle, they are still working independently without any real overall strategy. The best and only form of teamwork I have experienced thus far has been situational and momentary.

Allow me an example, I was using the Ranger class trying to assassinate targets of opportunity as stealthily as possible, and I was blindsided by some rogue Warrior that understood my tactic. Just then, like some hero from a badly written fantasy novel, I was suddenly being healed. This fact enraged my would be ganker, sending him quickly careening towards my helpful, new friend. This allowed me the time needed to dispatch him while he tried to impede my healer. This sort of impromptu corroboration, while emergent, can hardly be truly considered anything but fleeting.

So, why did Titan create a game that's core principals depend so heavily upon cooperation and yet add no cooperative functionality? If you expect some sort of enlightened single sentence answer to this quandary, look elsewhere, because I am simply dumbfounded.

Personally, I find this a glaring missed opportunity on Titan's part that could have been very easily remedied. Why not have any of the unused buttons allocated to bringing up a simple wheel interface that would allow you to say or emote commonly used directions or phrases?

That said, here is the last paragraph from Dan Whitehead's review at Eurogamer:

“Much like the cakes that the princesses so greedily scoff down, the game is delicious at first, an overwhelming confection of bright colours and varied flavours, but the sugar rush wears off much too quickly, leaving you bloated and exhausted. There's the basis of a really enjoyable and original multiplayer experience here, but it's simply too chaotic to encourage the co-operation required to keep the gameplay moving. Packed with lovely ideas, yet lacking focus, balance and pacing, it's little more than a guilty snack.”

In his closing statement, and aside from Dan's crazy European ways of spelling words like color and flavor, I can only come to one conclusion. If Titan would have thought about Fat Princess in ways beyond its gameplay aspirations and its vague claims of “deep cooperative play”, they might have been able to avoid such harsh clincher.

~Aaron Rivers

www.SophistGames.com