PSP Review - Fat Princess: Fistful of Cake

Fat Princess garnered a lot of well deserved attention when it made its entrance onto the PlayStation Network last year. So, when fans knew Fat Princess: Fistful of Cake will was coming to the PSP, they baked a cake in celebration. The PlayStation Portable counterpart is quite impressive of a feat for the tiny platform, immensely improving upon its big (fat) sister, which really is an amazing nod to the PSP’s capabilities.

Once upon a time, in the land of Titania, two innocent princesses were peacefully walking through a forest, when they saw a humongous piece of cake growing from the ground. Like anyone would do, they ate their way through the whole cake, but they knew not of the circumstances they’d face for doing so. Now, each princess is stricken with a overwhelming yearning for more and more of the sweet sugary treat. It’s up to you to save your princess!

Sticking to the roots of its big sister, Fat Princess: Fistful of Cake delivers the fun and addictive gameplay mechanics from its console counterpart. There are plenty of classes available to play with, including the priest, archer, worker, engineer and warrior. Each class can be leveled up adding an extra depth to the game and additionally, you can switch between classes during gameplay. The way you go about carrying out your mission is entirely up to you, and there’s a lot of variation as to how to carry out a mission. The physics engine is excellent – walking through water slows you down, hacking a tree with an axe will inevitably chop it down and so on. The enjoyment you’ll find in the gameplay is ultimately a result of experimenting. A lot of things can be done easily, but it’s the way you do it which distinguishes Fat Princess: Fistful of Cake from other games.

Your main objective is to save your princess, while the enemies try to rescue theirs. It’s primarily a capture the flag mode, but instead of the flag, it’s the princess. To make it more difficult for the competition to regain their respective highness’ royal rumps, there’s plenty of cake lying around, which when feeding it to your own princess, will thus make it harder for the enemies to carry her back to captivity. Sublime.

It’s definitely a risk when moving a game from one paltform to another, which usually results to less content and a toned down game. However, this is certainly not the case with Fistful of Cake. In fact, it’s the exact opposite. The handheld title includes all the original levels from the original PSN game, as well as six brand new levels. New multiplayer modes have also been introduced including Grim Ripper, Dilapidated, Demolition and Jailbreak. Overall, I’d say that Fat Princess is a much better fit on the PSP.

The presentation in Fat Princess: Fistful of Cake truly excels beyond expectations. Not only does it retain the visuals from its big sister, but it’s got its own flare and sizzle which makes it stand out – especially for a handheld title. The visuals are detailed and spot on, and the bright colors shine through. Each character can also be customized to a players preferences – hair, skin color and voice – the amount of customization can really keep a player coming back for more. The same can also be said for the crisp sound effects, swords clanging, enemies shouting in pain as you deal a mortal blow, are the icing on the cake. The brilliant English voice over from its console counterpart is again used and it adds to the comical, cartoony feeling of the title. Even with all of this, the game’s humor is where it really shines. Capturing all of the outposts in a level will trigger the narrator to exclaim “All your base are belong to us”, another moment that gave me a good laugh was during a loading scene when I was provided with the tip: “No, no, no. She’s just big boned”

The game, of course, features an intriguing online multiplayer component including several modes. The game is limited to 8 players which may not please a few players. However, finding active players and an action-filled room is at times, fast and easy. Also included is an Ad-Hoc mode, also allowing 16 player mayhem with your friends. Team work is crucial upon playing both online and offline. Cooperation is the key into winning a game and ultimately adds to the fun factor of Fat Princess: Fistful of Cake. The replayability factor is also not lacking at all, with the career mode featuring 15 levels.

The nature of Fat Princess: Fistful of Cake is fun and each game mode will always make you smile – on the go. Its presentation stands out with colorful and bright cartoony visuals. Its simple yet innovative style, deep customization, tongue-in-cheek humor, along with a plethora of game modes makes Fat Princess: Fistful of Cake one of the best titles currently available on the PSP and indeed one of the best transitions from the PS3.

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