Monsters (Probably) Stole Your PSP

London-based development studio Mediatonic will release their first game for Sony’s PSP and PS3 as a downloadable Minis title called: “Monsters (Probably) Stole My Princess!” (MPSMP), in February 2010

The title is a brand-new, original IP for the company and will first be released exclusively for Sony’s Playstation Portable (PSP) and Playstation 3 (PS3) as a download from Sony’s Playstation Network (PSN) Store.

In the game, the player takes control of a massively powerful (and slightly unhinged) aristocratic demon known only as “The Duke” who is woken up by the sound of his princess being stolen from her heavily barricaded room in his castle. Without a single clue to go on, he can only assume that monsters were (probably) responsible, and sets out to track down his missing princess by beating up monsters largely at random in the hope that it will (somehow) reunite him with his beloved princess.

The game is an upwards-scrolling platformer in which the player must chase down giant fleeing monsters and subdue them by crashing into them three times. As the player touches platforms on the way up they will build up a combo, delighting the Duke and increasing his speed and power to enable him to unleash increasingly over-the-top finishing moves when he defeats the monsters.

MPSMP will take the form of an over-95MB download, making it one of the largest Minis currently available on the PSN Store and pushing close to the 100MB size limit on Minis games.

Mediatonic’s co-founder and creative director Paul Croft said:

There is a lot of room for growth in the Minis section of the Playstation Store and we truly hope that MPSMP will stand out as the fresh, original and fun title that it is. It’s a massively exciting game for us and we hope that our players will enjoy playing it as much as we’ve enjoyed creating it. We’ve had a lot of experience in developing browser-based and iPhone titles, but this is the most ambitious game we’ve attempted.

Writer and designer Jim Griffiths said:

We’ve worked hard to integrate the story and game mechanic as deeply as we can to create the most fun and compelling experience for the player possible. We’ve also crammed as much genuine (if slightly dark) humour into the game as we could – we really want people to crack a grin when they play. That’s our aim.

Both Croft and Griffiths have previously been featured in Develop Magazine’s “30 under 30” feature on rising developers in the UK videogame industry.

“Monsters (Probably) Stole My Princess” is rated 12+ for “Violence”, “Sex” and “Bad Language” by the Pan-European Game Information (PEGI).

Game features summary: