Like the huge chunks of cake scattered around its maps, Fat Princess might look sweet, but it’s a bit naughty.
Appearances can be deceptive, and while Fat Princess's gorgeous fairytale graphics are adorable, it’s not long before the grass is covered with blood and your character is trying to lug the titular princess through a lake after she's indulged in one too many slices of Black Forest gateaux.
Another of the game's surprises is its complexity. Up to 32 players, either playing online or computer-controlled, are split into two teams of red and blue. At either end of the map is a castle containing the opposing team's princess and a variety of machines that generate hats, which allow you to choose one of the game's classes.
Selecting to be a Warrior, Mage, Priest, Ranger or the unnamed axe-wielding forester is as simple as donning the relevant hat. You can switch at any point to make use of their varied skills, such as the priest's healing power or the forester's ability to chop down trees and build ladders, catapults, bridges and more. The latter can also upgrade the hat-dispensing machines to unlock secondary abilities such as a shotgun to complement the Ranger's bow.
The winner, in Capture the Princess Mode at least, is the first team to have both princesses in their castle. To make things more difficult for the other team, you can stuff your captive princess with the huge slices of cake scattered around the map, filling her up and making her harder to carry, and therefore kidnap.
How you and your team go about the mission is limited only by your collective imagination. Fat Princess is deep and accessible because its world works so logically. Walking through water slows you down; hacking away at a tree with an axe will eventually chop it down; firing arrows through a flaming torch will set them alight; and you can force entry into a castle by bashing in the front door. Initially, gameplay is all about experimentation – wondering if you can do something and invariably discovering that you can.
As it's a team game, success is all about co-operation and online allies can communicate via voice chat. From there you can decide whether to gang up and siege the castle; take a smaller group, build a sneaky ladder and try to smuggle the princess through one of the many secret tunnels; or defend your own base while upgrading hat machines and ensuring your captive royal is too voluminous to transport.
The 13 maps include a forest, a city, a tropical beach and a snowy mountain, and all have their secrets to discover. There are also Outposts, the capture of which provides a platform on which to position an archer. These are the focus of Invasion mode, which is all about capturing Outposts before the enemy. The other two modes are Snatch 'n Grab, which is won by kidnapping the enemy princess three times, and Team Deathmatch. The Soccer map has its own Queen's Rules, although there aren't really any rules other than a scoreboard keeping track of goals.
Fat Princess is charming and mischievous, and even it's menu screens raise a smile – the personal statistics screen is titled Why I’m Awesome, while the online leaderboards are called Bragging Rights. However, beneath the cute art style and accessible controls lies the potential for complex strategy and it will be interesting to see, over time, which methods emerge as favourites.
Like a slab of cake the size of your head, Fat Princess will put a huge grin on your face, and is available for download from PlayStation Store later in 2009.
