Fat Princess Beta Hands-On

By Guy Cocker, GameSpot UKPosted May 2, 2009 5:34 am PT

Sony offered GameSpot users 500 Fat Princess beta keys, and we joined them in this feeding-based strategy game.

In the history of video games, there has never been a title quite as bold as Fat Princess. On paper, it seems designed to lambast political correctness, because you must feed cake to a young princess and make her so fat that she can't be abducted by the opposing team. In reality, though, it's just a charming and humourous twist on traditional multiplayer team-based gameplay. Not only that, but it has plenty of depth to offer anyone who really wants to get into it. We found ourselves playing many hours of the beta, since we were lucky enough to play the game early alongside many GameSpot community members.

Cute cel-shaded graphics and ultraviolence combine in Fat Princess.

The beta offers support for up to 32 players online, which makes for some fairly hectic battles. At the beginning of each round, you start out in a castle that houses your princess, and it's your job to protect her while also trying to steal the enemy's princess. You can make your princess fatter by feeding her cake, and a fatter princess means more people are required to carry her. You can play the game just as you like, running around and attacking people at random, but this is a strategy game at heart, and it works best when you have many different classes working together towards a common goal.

The class system is interesting because you can constantly switch between five different classes just by picking up different hats. You can be a swordsman, an archer, a wizard, a worker, or a priest, and each of them has strengths and weaknesses. The swordsman, for example, has a shield that protects him from arrows fired by the archer, but he needs to get close to his enemies to attack. The priest is pretty rubbish in combat, but he can go around and heal other units, making him indispensable in battle. Perhaps the most interesting class is the worker, who is very weak but can run around chopping trees down for resources to make the rest of the squad more powerful. The great thing is that you can constantly change classes in the field by collecting hats from the machines in your castles or hats left behind from people who have been slain in battle.

The combat itself is very simple. You use the circle button to perform a basic attack, and you can hold it down for a charged attack. Holding the L1 button lets you lock on to enemies or objects, while the triangle button lets you change weapons, if your class offers multiple options. If there aren't any priests around, you can recharge your energy by sitting down somewhere quiet, at which point your character pulls out some cake to eat. Fat Princess may boast cute cel-shaded visuals, but it also features some hardcore images: blood splatters everywhere, body parts fall to the ground, and your princess grows ever more humongous.

With support for up to 32 players, there aren't many places to hide.

The beta is sadly limited to the one map called Black Forest, but we were able to play both the Rescue the Princess and the Team Deathmatch modes. The former is essentially capture the flag with a cake-eating twist, while Team Deathmatch is all-out mayhem. Another feature of Fat Princess is that you can customise your character by choosing a hairstyle, beard, and eye colour. There's not much of a tutorial in the beta, just a written guide to the different classes, but the game is simple enough that you'll get the hang of the basics once you start playing. That said, there's also plenty to learn as you play, and we had the most success wearing a headset and working out tactics with other members of our team.

Fat Princess is yet another highly original game for the PlayStation Network, and we love what we've played so far. The game still has a release date of "TBA," but with such a polished beta, we hope the finished game will be reaching us soon. Keep an eye out for more information as we get it.

61 Comments

  • The_Exculpator

    Posted Aug 1, 2009 11:24 pm PT

    why does this game look so exciting? i want it

  • sebastempo

    Posted Jul 29, 2009 10:47 pm PT

    I'm getting this today, if it's released today...

  • Cheaterx51

    Posted Jul 24, 2009 6:38 am PT

    it will be available as a downloadable game on the PlayStation Store.

  • scottishboy

    Posted Jul 12, 2009 7:15 am PT

    is this a real game or ps store thing because. Even though it looks like brilliant fun, i wont be shelling out 50 quid 4 it. Its a bit small

  • Noctobum

    Posted May 11, 2009 10:59 am PT

    For those still interested, I'll try to answer more questions that have arisen.

    @Gelugon_baat
    I'm not certain of which contraption you are referring to. The grinder-like gears you are talking about on the Red Team's base might be the Worker Hat Building. The gears represent the house is creating the hats for players to pick up and wear to change into that specific class. If it seems that someone is stuck in the building, it most likely is a bug, as the game is still in beta. No contraptions so far that I have seen contains a person/character purposely embedded inside for the actual look.

    As well, I believe adding new classes would be great, but it does rise a concern for balancing issues. Then again, having 5 classes with 2 different "specs" (thanks to upgrading the class) is a good amount, enough to have different classes to choose from while keeping the game simple.

    Finally, the blood in my opinion fits the game, as it shows what the developers are providing the players. They focused on creating a multiplayer game, based on action, fighting, and violence, in order to get your princess back. The blood helps to add on to the "violent" atmosphere.

  • mrbo69jangles

    Posted May 8, 2009 1:41 pm PT

    i think it would be sweet it they made it also for psp and then you could play on psp agianst other people with psps or people with ps3s

  • -Katsuri-

    Posted May 7, 2009 11:08 am PT

    What teenager in their right mind would really get the wrong message that you can get slim pretty quickly after getting fat? Other then that, I'm loving this game already!

  • protoroc

    Posted May 7, 2009 3:26 am PT

    What lesson does this teach our kids, if they get so fat they need a wheelbarrel to get around in it will be all the more difficult to kidnap.

  • Gelugon_baat

    Posted May 6, 2009 11:13 pm PT

    This game will benefit a LOT more from more classes of characters. Maybe a slow-moving brute with a wall-cracking cannon, a rogue who can camouflage and pull off one-hit kills and, say, a super-fast ranger that however hits like a wuss and can't carry anything heavier than a piece of cake.

    Oh wait, forget what I just stated. I am thinking too much of Team Fortress 2. Even as I am writing this, I can't stop thinking of the "Worker" class in this game as an Engineer wanna-be.

  • Gelugon_baat

    Posted May 6, 2009 11:02 pm PT

    At the castle of the Red Team, there is a strange grinder-like machine with someone stuck in it. May anyone who is playing the beta please elaborate on this odd and disturbing contraption?

  • Gelugon_baat posted May 6, 2009 11:00 pm PT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    Gelugon_baat

    Posted May 6, 2009 11:00 pm PT (hide)

    I still find the blood rather disconcerting though. The developers could have had other things popping out of players when they get hurt, like pieces of broken candy or shreds of cloth and such. For now, players look like they are made of tomatoes.

  • Gelugon_baat

    Posted May 6, 2009 10:59 pm PT

    Now I have figured why there is strange looking raspberry cordial-like blood in this game. This is to notify players that their attacks have connected with the body of their enemies. There is not any other sign or graphical hint that does this, or at least can do this such that it can be fully acknowledged by the player.

    Of course, you can have bruises and such other decals on the combatants' models, but a player would find it hard to see these at such a zoom level.

  • Noctobum

    Posted May 6, 2009 8:02 am PT

    Just to add for questions:

    Beta has already been released. GS has already provided the keys to those that inquired earlier in April.

    From beta, there is a single player mode, where you can play againts bots and the like. However, you still need to sign in on PSN.

    There are various other maps being developed, yet only 1 map and 2 modes were available during beta.

  • snakept69

    Posted May 6, 2009 3:32 am PT

    @GHOLY
    Kids? that falls in the "parental guidance" category for sure.
    'No son, its not blood its ketchup! for huh... the cake!'

    Anyway whats bad with a game thats not serious? is team fortress for kids too?

  • alzeer1

    Posted May 6, 2009 1:53 am PT

    i hope they put it on PC too

  • alzeer1

    Posted May 6, 2009 1:52 am PT

    nice am looking for these

  • GHOLY posted May 6, 2009 12:31 am PT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    GHOLY

    Posted May 6, 2009 12:31 am PT (hide)

    this game is for kids and casual gamers But not Hardcore Gamers and adults.

  • Tripwolf

    Posted May 5, 2009 11:28 pm PT

    Where do we go to get in on the beta?

  • Blavin

    Posted May 5, 2009 9:14 pm PT

    Can i still get into the beta on this?

  • Lisanoele

    Posted May 5, 2009 9:00 pm PT

    It's a great game so far. Has it's glitches that need to be fixed to prevent padding (yes, padding in Fat Princess), but other than that, it's really fun!

    I'm glad I was able to get in on the beta.

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