By Andrew Street
Social Media Editor
The “Fat Princess” franchise has become somewhat of a hit among PlayStation gamers over the years. The original game, which launched on PlayStation 3, was jam-packed with charm and addicting gameplay. The popularity of the “Fat Princess” property first paved the way for a mobile spin-off title and now “Fat Princess Adventures,” a “Diablo”-style dungeon crawler set in the cake-filled universe we’ve come to expect.
Fans of the original “Fat Princess” may be in for a surprise if they expect to find more cake-filled, real-time action gameplay. Instead, “Fat Princess Adventures” is a simplistic action role playing game mixed with a watered-down dungeon crawler. Like video games “Diablo” and “Gauntlet,” players are given the option to choose different classes such as warrior, mage, archer or engineer. Each class offers different skills, attacks, weapons and armor, as well as its own downsides, such as lower health. While each class manages to offer its own unique method of attacking enemies, I found that they weren’t varied enough to make me want to switch between them. Instead, I simply found a class that I enjoyed and stuck with it, despite being able to change classes at any checkpoint.
With a class selected, players can begin to traverse the numerous levels in the world. Each new level offers slight variations over the previous, such as scenery changes, reskinned enemies, puzzle variations and different bosses. However, each one revolves around the same dungeon-crawling premise, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Fighting through dungeons with your character can be a real blast at times, but later in the game, it becomes tedious to progress without a second player coming to your aid. Once that player joins, the gameplay truly begins to shine. Playing with a friend made the later levels less tedious and added a layer of teamwork to the mix.
Now, as you destroy enemies and progress through each stage, you will begin to collect gold and encounter drops of loot in the form of armor and weapons. Weapons and armor can be swapped out on the fly and each new piece offers a variation in attributes and passive abilities. However, it becomes apparent that some characters, like the mage, have much more interesting weapons. The gold that you acquire throughout the game is used to upgrade your weapons and armor at upgrade stations scattered throughout the world. While the upgrades are basic stat increases, it does offer an incentive to hoard as much gold as you can.
In terms of storyline, “Fat Princess Adventures” is not a game from which you should expect a deep narrative. Unlike the layers of cake so prominently featured, you will not find layers of character development or plot depth. Instead, you’ll find a charming, and sometime irritating, story about saving princesses and ridding the world of evil. The plot is straightforward and has moments of immense charm, and even some moments of hilarity, but so much of it falls short. A decent portion of the jokes come off as immature or simply not funny. There were even times where characters began to grate on me due to their high-pitched voices and nonsensical dialogue.
Visually, “Fat Princess Adventures” really shines. While it doesn’t sport the highest end, most realistic graphics, it is easily one of the most visually enjoyable games out there. The cutesy aesthetic lends itself perfectly to the cake-filled fairytale theme and provides imagery worthy of its concept.
“Fat Princess Adventures” isn’t perfect. Its story and gameplay are simplistic and it becomes difficult to progress by yourself later in the game. If you plan on playing solo, this may be a title you want to wait on, but if you’re looking for a fun and relaxing game to play with friends, “Fat Princess Adventures” would be an excellent choice!
