[E3 2008] Fat Princess
Let them eat cake! We examine one of the most talked about titles of Sony's booth at this year's E3.
Published: July 20, 2008
Fat Princess came out of nowhere. The game has only been in development for a very short time, and the demo was sporting a large "Work In Progress" watermark on the bottom right to remind us of that fact. Even though that's the nature of the beast at E3, Sony was unsure of whether or not to throw it out there for all the world to see.
The concept behind Fat Princess is simple. Take the standard of capture the flag, and change the flag into a living, breathing person. Why is this noteworthy, you ask? Well, when people eat a lot, they get fat, and a fat princess is much harder to kidnap across a village countryside than a skinny one. Being tasked with protecting your princess, you've got only one option: feed her cake. Lots of it. Thankfully, it's abundant in the world of Fat Princess. Slices are scattered along the ground and often found resting against tree trunks. Feed it to your princess and she'll increase in girth, and take more manpower to hoist out of your castle. But your job isn't done yet. Although she won't be hopping on a stairmaster anytime soon, her metabolism will take care of those excess calories if you don't keep funneling the cake down her throat.
So you've got your princess all fat and heavy, but what else? Oh, right. You've got to steal the other team's princess. It's not an easy job, but with up to 16 people on each team, your friends (or AI) will be happy to lend a helping hand. On the surface, Fat Princess looks deceptively simple, but there are actually tech trees and gameplay nuances that keep things from getting stale (ha!) quickly. One tool that was shown to us, which takes a lot of time to research, was a trampoline looking device that catapults you instantly into the opposing castle. Such a tool will certainly makes your job a bit easier. Just be sure to stick to the cobblestone path on your way back: it's faster than walking on grass. But you better hope the other team hasn't blocked off a path, because if you're forced to jump in the water you're gonna be slowly walking through a patch of dangerous pirannahas who are eager for some delicious cake. The cake that you ate earlier in the day. The cake that is inside your stomach. Your stomach that they are going to rip open.
You can choose your "class" by equipping different hats, which will determine your role during the game. Wizards have fireballs, ice shards which will slow down enemies, and AOE attacks. Priests will be able to heal team mates or curse foes which will slowly drain their health. If you've got some arrows on you, well, why not dip them in some fire? You can do it, provided you've got some burning goblets nearby.
Although the build we saw had plenty of depth, the team is planning to add things like battering rams and siege tools for the final build. Fat Princess will be PSN exclusive and arrive sometime early next year with 10 maps to choose from.
The concept behind Fat Princess is simple. Take the standard of capture the flag, and change the flag into a living, breathing person. Why is this noteworthy, you ask? Well, when people eat a lot, they get fat, and a fat princess is much harder to kidnap across a village countryside than a skinny one. Being tasked with protecting your princess, you've got only one option: feed her cake. Lots of it. Thankfully, it's abundant in the world of Fat Princess. Slices are scattered along the ground and often found resting against tree trunks. Feed it to your princess and she'll increase in girth, and take more manpower to hoist out of your castle. But your job isn't done yet. Although she won't be hopping on a stairmaster anytime soon, her metabolism will take care of those excess calories if you don't keep funneling the cake down her throat.
So you've got your princess all fat and heavy, but what else? Oh, right. You've got to steal the other team's princess. It's not an easy job, but with up to 16 people on each team, your friends (or AI) will be happy to lend a helping hand. On the surface, Fat Princess looks deceptively simple, but there are actually tech trees and gameplay nuances that keep things from getting stale (ha!) quickly. One tool that was shown to us, which takes a lot of time to research, was a trampoline looking device that catapults you instantly into the opposing castle. Such a tool will certainly makes your job a bit easier. Just be sure to stick to the cobblestone path on your way back: it's faster than walking on grass. But you better hope the other team hasn't blocked off a path, because if you're forced to jump in the water you're gonna be slowly walking through a patch of dangerous pirannahas who are eager for some delicious cake. The cake that you ate earlier in the day. The cake that is inside your stomach. Your stomach that they are going to rip open.
You can choose your "class" by equipping different hats, which will determine your role during the game. Wizards have fireballs, ice shards which will slow down enemies, and AOE attacks. Priests will be able to heal team mates or curse foes which will slowly drain their health. If you've got some arrows on you, well, why not dip them in some fire? You can do it, provided you've got some burning goblets nearby.
Although the build we saw had plenty of depth, the team is planning to add things like battering rams and siege tools for the final build. Fat Princess will be PSN exclusive and arrive sometime early next year with 10 maps to choose from.
