Fat Princess: Fistful of Cake Impressions

It might not be so surprising that Fat Princess is coming to the PSP because, from all indications, the PSN version seemed like it might be well suited for a handheld platform--particularly its multiplayer functionality. Fortunately, we got to see the PSP version of Fat Princess in action, and it looks and functions almost identically to its PSN counterpart in terms of gameplay, but there are a few differences. For starters, the PSP version goes into some greater depth in setting up the Fat Princess universe, featuring a storybook-style presentation that explains how the princesses went into the Black Forest and discovered delicious pieces of cake. But perhaps the biggest difference between the PSP and PSN versions of the game, aside from six new maps, is the number of players supported in its multiplayer mode. The single-player supports up to 24 players while the multiplayer mode supports up to 16 players with any variation of eight human-controlled characters and eight AI-controlled characters.

Otherwise, the rest of the game looks pretty similar to its PSN counterpart, at least from the PSP version of the Black Forest level that we saw on display. All of the classes that you can use to combat the enemy--such as the warrior, priest, archer, and engineer classes--in this strategy action game are all intact in the PSP version. Additionally, you can still upgrade these classes, as well as different aspects of your castle, to make it easier to retrieve the princess from the enemy castle and return her to the throne. That is provided the enemy hasn't weighed her down with pieces of cake. Even from a visual perspective, the two versions of Fat Princess look very similar, but of course, the PSP version doesn't look quite as smooth as the PSN version and seems to chug just a little bit when there's too much action going on at once. Fat Princess: Fistful of Cake is scheduled for release later this year.