Fat Princess

The Good: Seemingly approachable gameplay that increases in difficulty as the users likes 
The Bad: All that eating can’t be good for your character
The Ugly: You can almost see the PC-brigade lining up to take aim at the title.

Although not having the most politically correct game title, Fat Princess does sum up a bit of the game it’s named for. However, the more accurate principle of the game has you playing as a member of a group of peasants feuding with one another. As a consequence of the feud your princess has been kidnapped by your enemies, and like good law-abiding folk you are intent on retrieving her.

To make things more interesting, you’ve managed to acquire your foes princess, so you have some collateral, but you’ll need to collect resources, fortify your own castle, increase your team’s skills and fatten up your hostage in order to attain victory.

Resource collecting revolves around mining and deforestation, which give rocks and wood respectfully. In turn this also helps you to fortify your castle, as to do that you’ll need combinations of wood and rock to create doors and other upgrades. You can also claim outposts as your own, allowing you to dump any amount of hoarded wood and rock as you please, as well as giving your team a place to regenerate health.

Speaking of your team, you’ll be able to take on one of five classes by wearing a certain cap during the action. You’ll have workers, rangers, warriors, priests, and wizards, each having their various pros and cons. Workers, for example, are essential for gathering wood and rock, yet couldn’t fight their way out of a paper bag, so they’ll need to run for cover if attacked.

Developer Darkstar promises 10 maps in the final game, and judging by trailers and screen shots they seem relatively balanced, and also include some sort of warp device. Capture the Princess clearly stands as the game’s signature mode, but expect to see additional game types including Team Deathmatch, Thwart the Invasion and an assortment of mini-games.

The initial pick-up-and-play simplicity in Fat Princess should give way to a title that will be accessible, yet challenging for a large portion of the gaming demographic, a skill which is being more targeted in the age of console strategy titles. Fat Princess is due for a release later in 2009 on PS3, and NZGamer will be sure to bring you any further news on this title as it comes to hand.