Fat Princess

Fat Princess
Fat Princess logo
Developer(s)	Titan Studios Fun Bits Interactive SuperVillain Studios (PSP)
Publisher(s)	Sony Computer Entertainment
Platform(s)	PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable
Release date(s)	PlayStation 3 AUS: July 30, 2009 EU: July 30, 2009 NA: July 30, 2009 PlayStation Portable AUS: March 11, 2010 EU: March 12, 2010 NA: May 4, 2010
Genre(s)	Action real-time strategy
Mode(s)	Single-player, multiplayer

Fat Princess is an action real-time strategy video game for the PlayStation 3, developed by Titan Studios and published by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was released in North America and Europe on July 30, 2009,^[1] and in Japan on December 25, 2009. It was included on the "Best of PlayStation Network Vol. 1" compilation disc, released June 18, 2013.^[2] A PSP version called Fat Princess: Fistful of Cake was released in 2010.

Fat Princess is a multiplayer game for up to 32 players, with the basic goal of rescuing the Princess and bringing her back to the team's base. The players pick up and carry cakes to feed the Princess, which makes her heavier and harder for the enemy to carry back to their own castle. The game contains six character classes (Villager, Worker, Priest, Ranger, Mage, and Warrior) and three downloadable classes (Pirate, Ninja and Giant) each of which contributes to the team's task of capturing the princess in a unique way.

A sequel, titled Fat Princess Adventures, was released in December 2015 for PlayStation 4.

An email sent by PlayStation indicating:Online features for Fat Princess: Piece of Cake will be discontinued on 1 January 2017 at 19:00 AEDT.

From that point you will no longer be able to:

• Spend any earned or purchased gold on in-game items.

• Earn access to a pack of 30 gold coins for escorting your princess past Level 15.

• Download the game from your library, but you may continue to play the game in offline mode until it is removed from your PS Vita system.

In-game purchases have also now been disabled.

Gameplay

Feeding the enemy princess pieces of cake makes her harder to carry.

In Fat Princess, players play as team members. There are two teams, red and blue, with up to 16 members each (32 players at total). To make their opponents' task more difficult, players can feed the captive princess cake slices. With each slice, she becomes heavier and harder to carry back to her respective castle. Over time, the effect of the cake wears off.^[3]

Players can change their character classes and abilities by picking up hats that are generated by the hat machines at their team's castle. Hats can also be found on the warzone where enemies have fallen. The game's six classes are the Villager, Priest, Mage, Warrior, Ranger, and Worker with three additional classes (Pirate, Ninja, and Giant) from Fat Roles add-on pack. Each class has its own unique set of abilities and skills, and different amount of health. When damage is taken, the health level is reduced and all classes except giant can sit to eat cake in order to restore health. The three classes from Fat Roles add-on pack do not come from hat machines, instead they come from a magic hat. Players can pick up this hat and press ('Triangle') to switch between the three classes.

Players can also upgrade hat machines, and construct fortifications and siege equipment using resources like woods and ores, which can be gathered from various locations on each map. Upgrades provide alternative weapons or attacks to each class. The three classes that do not come from hat machines cannot be upgraded, but they have magic points that will accumulate as time goes and once the bar is full, they can use special abilities. Pirates can fire cannonballs, Ninjas can turn invisible, and Giants can eat enemies.

Other interactive objects are bombs, potions that turn players into chickens when thrown, and torches that most classes can use to ignite their weapons to do additional damage.

There are several modes featured in this game:

• Legend of the Fat Princess

This is the story mode. It contains seven chapters and six levels, comprising all the other modes.

• Rescue the Princess

This is the main mode of the game. The main objective is to rescue the princess from the opposing team's castle, while simultaneously keeping the enemy's princess imprisoned in their own castle.

• Team Deathmatch

The objective is to kill members of the opposing team. The first team to reduce the opposing team's life to zero is the winner. No princess to rescue in this mode.

• Invasion

The objective of this mode is to capture outposts. As soon as a team controls 50% of all outposts, the opposing team's counter will start to count down. The first team to have their counter reach zero, loses.

• Snatch 'n Grab

This mode is very similar to Rescue the Princess. However, instead of rescuing the princess, both teams already have their princesses in their castle at the beginning of the game. The objective is to kidnap the opposing team's princess and imprison her. As soon as the enemy's princess is put in the dungeon, she will disappear and re-spawn in her castle. The first team to kidnap and imprison the opposing team's princess three times is the winner.

• Queen's Rule

This is a special mode that is only available in soccer map. As soon as this map is selected, the game mode will automatically switch to this mode. There is no princess and hat machines in this mode. Occasionally, hats, bombs, and resources will drop from the sky. The objective of this mode is to put the soccer ball into the opposing team's goal post. The team with more goals at the end of the game wins.

• Gladiate

In this mode, the player plays solo instead of being in a team most of the time. The player choose a hat at the beginning and they will stay in that class throughout the game. There are 12 rounds to win, and some rounds introduce new enemies.

Development

A private beta for the game was held in June 2009.^[4]

There were several supporting reports dealing with the game's release date before it was confirmed for release on July 30, 2009. While some sources presently indicate the game should be ready by "late August",^[5] it was later revealed by the SCEE PlayStation Store team that, while the game will have a simultaneous local release, its release window could only be told as "[at] some point this century".

PlayStation Home

In PlayStation Home from 30 July 2009 to 10 September 2009, Sony launched a new event in PlayStation Home, which involved the player embarking on a "very special confectionery quest."^[6] The event was called "Fat Princess: Quest for Cake". In this quest the users had to hunt down eight pieces of cake locked in cages and when they managed to do this successfully they were rewarded with a "Fat Princess: Throne" for their personal apartment. This event was being held in the European and North American versions of PlayStation Home in a specially decorated PlayStation Events Space. The spaces used were Events Landing and The Gallery. The event was also held in the Asian version of Home but began on 27 August 2009 and ended on 10 September 2009. An interesting note about this event is that the redesigning of the Events Landing and The Gallery spaces and the event were done by nDreams, the company behind the world's first console-based alternate reality game, Xi, which was also based in Home.^[7]

Fat Roles

On June 19, 2010 an add-on pack named "Fat Roles" was released, adding three new character classes: Pirate, Ninja and Giant. A free patch released alongside the DLC added support for same-screen co-op, clan tags and password-protected private games.^[8]

PSP version

PSP port called Fat Princess: Fistful of Cake was made by SuperVillain Studios and published by Sony Computer Entertainment in March 2010. There are four new multiplayer modes exclusive to the PSP version: Castle siege, Dilapidated, Demolition, and Jailbreak. There are also six more levels than the original, and an expanded single player story mode with the new modes added into the storyline.

Reception

Reception
Aggregate scores Aggregator Score GameRankings 80.91% Metacritic 79/100 Review scores Publication Score 1UP.com B+[9] GameSpy [10] GameTrailers 8.4/10 IGN 9/10

Fat Princess has an aggregate score of 79 out of 100 on Metacritic based on 54 reviews.^[11] GameRankings averaged a score of 80.91% based on 41 reviews.^[12] IGN gave the game a 9/10 score, praising the game's versatility and charm. GameTrailers gave the title an 8.4/10 along with naming it the Best Downloadable Game of 2009.^[13][14] Some feminist groups criticized the game's premise, accusing it of reinforcing stereotypes and promoting prejudice against overweight women.^[15][16] Titan Studios' art director, James Green, responded to the criticism with an email: "Does it make it better or worse that the concept artist (who designed the look, characters, everything) is a girl?"

See also

• List of downloadable PlayStation 3 games

References

External links

• Fat Princess at PlayStation.com