She's Really Uhhhh... Fat, Man
Really? Eek the Cat would love Fat Princess. Luckily, so do we. New impressions inside.
Published: April 29, 2009
With all the multiplayer betas and recent showings at the Game Developers Conference of Fat Princess, we've been a bit… pre-occupied with the concept of shoveling delicious slices of baked goods down the gullets of our little ravenous royal, so you'll have to forgive us for not actually filling you in on the progress of the game. That stops now, of course, as we've had more time to delve into the particulars of things with a new map that hasn't yet been seen even by the beta participants (who are still playing the castle-themed Black Forest level first shown at E3 last year).
Sugar Cove, like nearly everything in Fat Princess, is adorable in everything from name to actual presentation -- even when the thick pools of blood start to form. The bright, cartoony environs that have shipwrecked twin galleons make for great little starting points (and the adorable thrones at the stern of the ship a nice return point), but the series of interconnected planks and elevated bridges are even better for corralling all the lovable combatants on either side into devilishly concentrated warzones.
Functionally, of course, it's still largely the same as the previous maps; mostly symmetrical with a hotly contested common middle ground that can aid in the delivery of resources, but the different layout shows that developer Titan Games knows a thing or two about mixing up the level designs. Things like the incoming tide that hides and reveals a shortcut or the build-your-own-catapult device for flinging enemies (or bombs, if you're especially insidious) mean there are ample ways to access things rather than taking the direct route, and bode well for the rest of the game's other levels.
If all of this is zooming over your head, you a) probably haven't been reading up on the game yet (and for shaaaame), and b) likely didn't click that link at the end of the first paragraph (double-shaaaaame!). Luckily, because we love you (and because we need more space to fill for this preview; hey, at least we're honest about it), let us explain. No, there's no time. Let us sum-up: Fat Princess is a game of capture the flag where the flag is actually a potentially corpulent princess. She starts out thin, but thanks to a penchant for munching on cake, can be essentially force-fed iced goods to fatten her up, thus making it impossible for one person to carry her back to their base. It's CTF with CAKE. Simple, no?
Ah, but like all good games, the easygoing premise (and cartoony look) belies something far more enthralling: class-based warfare. Specifically, a Warrior, a Mage, a Priest, a Ranger and a Worker, all of which have their own unique abilities and upgrades in addition to having a vanilla character that's mostly defenseless, but quick and can pick up stuff or slap other players around. By using the Worker to chop down trees and mine for ore, the five hat making machines scattered around a level can be upgraded (which we'll get to in a second), and more advanced means of locomotion like a bounce pad or trebuchet can be set up.
Warriors start with a simple sword that does solid damage and a shield that can block incoming attacks, but can be upgraded to a blade-tipped pike for better range and damage; the Mage can swap between default fire-based attacks or graduate to ice-based ones that freeze enemies in their tracks; the Priest can either run around healing at first or step up to becoming a Dark Mage to drain health instead; and Rangers grow from having a normal bow and arrow to carrying around a musket that does a wider, stronger blast o' damage. The beauty of all these classes is that they're simply hat-based. If you want to change to something else, you just scoop up a different hat and poof, you're a new class.
Though there are straight Deathmatch (and Team Deathmatch) modes, the balance of harvesting resources, upgrading classes and building means to get into the castle to steal the flag-errr, princess is where the game shows the most depth. It is, in a word, ingenious, and once the concept can be properly grasped, the bewitching power of the game takes hold at a startling rate. There's a reason why we were to smitten with the game almost a year ago, and it's because… well, just look at it, man! It's a game about shoveling cake down a girl's throat and running around an otherwise happy-go-lucky level while smearing it with the blood of your enemies.
The only real thing of note that we took away from our time with the game (beyond the fact that we love the new level) is that the game really does seem to be entering the polish phase. Though the framerate hasn't been bad in the past, it's now quite a bit smoother (at least in the build we played), and it does make a difference in keeping the whole thing adorably violent. At this point, we're just dying to actually digest the whole thing, and as soon as we do, we'll let you know.
Sugar Cove, like nearly everything in Fat Princess, is adorable in everything from name to actual presentation -- even when the thick pools of blood start to form. The bright, cartoony environs that have shipwrecked twin galleons make for great little starting points (and the adorable thrones at the stern of the ship a nice return point), but the series of interconnected planks and elevated bridges are even better for corralling all the lovable combatants on either side into devilishly concentrated warzones.
Functionally, of course, it's still largely the same as the previous maps; mostly symmetrical with a hotly contested common middle ground that can aid in the delivery of resources, but the different layout shows that developer Titan Games knows a thing or two about mixing up the level designs. Things like the incoming tide that hides and reveals a shortcut or the build-your-own-catapult device for flinging enemies (or bombs, if you're especially insidious) mean there are ample ways to access things rather than taking the direct route, and bode well for the rest of the game's other levels.
If all of this is zooming over your head, you a) probably haven't been reading up on the game yet (and for shaaaame), and b) likely didn't click that link at the end of the first paragraph (double-shaaaaame!). Luckily, because we love you (and because we need more space to fill for this preview; hey, at least we're honest about it), let us explain. No, there's no time. Let us sum-up: Fat Princess is a game of capture the flag where the flag is actually a potentially corpulent princess. She starts out thin, but thanks to a penchant for munching on cake, can be essentially force-fed iced goods to fatten her up, thus making it impossible for one person to carry her back to their base. It's CTF with CAKE. Simple, no?
Ah, but like all good games, the easygoing premise (and cartoony look) belies something far more enthralling: class-based warfare. Specifically, a Warrior, a Mage, a Priest, a Ranger and a Worker, all of which have their own unique abilities and upgrades in addition to having a vanilla character that's mostly defenseless, but quick and can pick up stuff or slap other players around. By using the Worker to chop down trees and mine for ore, the five hat making machines scattered around a level can be upgraded (which we'll get to in a second), and more advanced means of locomotion like a bounce pad or trebuchet can be set up.
Warriors start with a simple sword that does solid damage and a shield that can block incoming attacks, but can be upgraded to a blade-tipped pike for better range and damage; the Mage can swap between default fire-based attacks or graduate to ice-based ones that freeze enemies in their tracks; the Priest can either run around healing at first or step up to becoming a Dark Mage to drain health instead; and Rangers grow from having a normal bow and arrow to carrying around a musket that does a wider, stronger blast o' damage. The beauty of all these classes is that they're simply hat-based. If you want to change to something else, you just scoop up a different hat and poof, you're a new class.
Though there are straight Deathmatch (and Team Deathmatch) modes, the balance of harvesting resources, upgrading classes and building means to get into the castle to steal the flag-errr, princess is where the game shows the most depth. It is, in a word, ingenious, and once the concept can be properly grasped, the bewitching power of the game takes hold at a startling rate. There's a reason why we were to smitten with the game almost a year ago, and it's because… well, just look at it, man! It's a game about shoveling cake down a girl's throat and running around an otherwise happy-go-lucky level while smearing it with the blood of your enemies.
The only real thing of note that we took away from our time with the game (beyond the fact that we love the new level) is that the game really does seem to be entering the polish phase. Though the framerate hasn't been bad in the past, it's now quite a bit smoother (at least in the build we played), and it does make a difference in keeping the whole thing adorably violent. At this point, we're just dying to actually digest the whole thing, and as soon as we do, we'll let you know.
