If you missed out on Fat Princess, the action RTS from Titan Studios on the PlayStation 3, you’ve made a grave mis-cake. That game was a delightfully charming take on the RTS genre and capture-the-flag modes, that had players vying to feed princesses to make them larger and harder for the opposing team to carry, all while trying to whisk the other princess away to their own home base. It sounds like a digital excuse to fat shame, but it pulled off its mechanics with charm and grace.

It was with equal amounts of trepidation and excitement then, that I jumped in to Fat Princess Adventures. While it has the same amount of saccharine charm, it dispenses with all of the strategy, giving us instead a light-hearted hack-and-slash aRPG, a sort of cartoon take on Diablo – and it does this with varying success.

Stay awhile and listen

FatPrincessAdventures1

There’s not too much in the way of weighty narrative, Fat Princess Adventures has you and up to 3 friend (online or off, with seamless drop-in and drop-out) hacking, slashing, conjuring, shooting and smashing their way to victory. Their goal? To save the plump, perpetually fed princesses from a bitter Queen who’d prefer if everything was covered in sodium chloride. That’s…really all there is to it – and the seven main story quests and handful of side quests you’ll do will fill in the details.

A touch of class

FatPrincessAdventures2

To help said princesses, players will have to take on the role of one of the game’s four classes; mage, archer, warrior and engineer, each with their own sets of attacks. What makes it a little interesting is that you’ll be able to switch classes on the fly at one of the game’s liberally doled out checkpoints. Tired of being a magic user? Rely on your brute for as the Warrior. The constant chopping and changing of classes ensures that you’ll never really get bored of doing the same rote thing, over and over again.

Each class has its own set of attacks. The mage and archer are ranged attackers, with the wizardly sort flinging off fireballs and other spells, with a force push spell to keep nasty enemies at bay. The archer, as its name implies, fires off long-range arrows and is equipped with a powerful dagger for stabbing those who get in too close. The Warrior and Engineer are your melee sort; the warrior utilising a sword for offense, and a shield for defensive attacks, while the engineer uses a great big hammer, and bombs to disperse those who’re being pestering nuisance.

Cake or death

FatPrincessAdventures3

As you’d expect with games of this sort, the primary focus is on loot – and the stuff drops hard and fast. Some of it’s pretty fun stuff – like a fish on s tick for your engineer, which not only deals massive damage, but also adds a dash of poison damage. There are slots for headgear and armour too, adding elemental effects, or the chance to turn enemies in to delicious cake – which serves as a healing item. That cake, which is dropped by defeated enemies not only heals; when you eat the stuff and you’re already on full health, you’re temporarily transformed in to a giant, pudgy, nearly indestructible version of your self.

Pork Grinds

FatPrincessAdventures6

Each of the items you’ll loot is upgradeable, adding to its damage or defense. In this regard, the game becomes a little too much like Diablo. You’ll need to finish it to unlock its toughest difficulties – and only then can you earn the gems requires to upgrade items to their maximum levels. So yes, it become a bit of a grindfest.

To that end, there’s a mode that helps you do just that. Called the Grindhouse, you and your party can replay the levels you’ve done, adding modifiers to increase the challenge and earn you more god and loot. It’s a great co-operative romp for when you’re not up for anything serious. I spent the weekend playing through the game with the wife, and once we were finished, we fired it up again on a harder difficulty so we could grind for gems.

Overall, the combat’s not especially deep and the bosses are generally a tad simplistic, but the fun writing, great voice cast (including the likes of Nolan North, Tara Strong and Fred Tatasciore) help elevate this light and fluffy, frivolous diablo-esque game beyond its lot.

 

Last Updated: December 14, 2015

Fat Princess Adventures
 Fat Princess Adventures dispenses with the strategy of the first game,  instead focusing on hacking and slashing. If you're looking for a light-hearted, casual Diablo-styled romp that's perfect for the whole family, Fat Princess Adventures is worth gobbling up.
7.5
Fat Princess Adventures was reviewed on PlayStation 4
63 / 100

16 Comments

  1. The Grand Admiral Chief

    December 14, 2015 at 14:33

    O_O

    Reply

  2. Original Heretic

    December 14, 2015 at 14:36

    Is it wrong that I’m laughing at the very non-PC title of this game? Should it not have been called “Horizontally challenged Princess”?

    Reply

  3. DragonSpirit009

    December 14, 2015 at 14:39

    I really like playing the Fat Princess game on the PS Vita. I makes me laugh a lot and curse! The eye patch chickens are evil! Wouldn’t mind playing this then!

    Reply

    • miaau

      December 14, 2015 at 15:03

      I would like to play fat prince. It is this game were I work 9 to 5, get paid massively well, come home, can play games. get awesome supper handed to me, dishes washed (by magic, of course), can rest over the weekends and NEVER EVER have anything in life to stress me out, all calm and good. Hmm. Good game, this Fat Prince. Yeah.

      Sigh. Must leave now. Floors do not wash themselves, nor chimneys themselves sweep. Food also, I am now reliably told, does not cook itself and I must also look into that. Sigh.

      Real word FTW.

      Reply

      • DragonSpirit009

        December 14, 2015 at 15:15

        Dude I feel your pain! And I wouldn’t mind playing that game myself XD

        Reply

  4. Ottokie

    December 14, 2015 at 14:41

    There is a whole world of gaming out there that I know nothing about O.o

    Reply

  5. Hammersteyn

    December 14, 2015 at 14:42

    • Jan Prins

      December 14, 2015 at 15:00

      Oy! Where’d you steal my shadow selfie from??

      Reply

      • Hammersteyn

        December 14, 2015 at 15:04

        I went up Table Mountain once and snapped a pic from up top

        Reply

  6. Alien Emperor Trevor

    December 14, 2015 at 14:42

    “grave mis-cake”. The beating shall be administered forthwith.

    Reply

  7. Geoffrey Tim

    December 14, 2015 at 14:44

    Wife and I sat on the couch and played this thing from beginning to end in one go. It was AWESOME. 😛

    Reply

    • Hammersteyn

      December 14, 2015 at 14:45

      Was there cake?

      Reply

      • Alien Emperor Trevor

        December 14, 2015 at 14:45

        Punettone.

        Reply

    • miaau

      December 14, 2015 at 14:48

      Wow, that sounds awesome!!!!

      thanks for sharing. (edit – no sarcasm meant)

      Reply

  8. RinceThis

    December 14, 2015 at 16:08

    Umm…

    Reply

  9. Lacerz

    December 14, 2015 at 16:48

    I was really hoping for a proper sequel. The first one was such fun!

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Check Also

Horizon Forbidden West features an entirely new skill tree and “free-climbing” system

You ever wonder if Nintendo paid the person who came up with “free-climbing” what they wer…