Fat Princess

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 in 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.[7]

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 and regain health.

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:

• 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.

A private beta for the game was held in June 2009.[8]

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",[9] 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".

The original Fat Princess received "generally favorable reviews", while Fistful of Cake received "average" reviews, according to the review aggregation website Metacritic.[13][14] IGN praised the PS3 version's versatility and charm.[24] GameTrailers gave the same console version the award of Best Downloadable Game of 2009.[30] Some feminist groups criticized the game's premise, accusing it of reinforcing stereotypes and promoting prejudice against overweight women.[31][32] 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?"

411Mania gave the PS3 version 8.5 out of 10 and called it "a breath of fresh air: A good multiplayer game that is not another generic shooter, with an excellent art style, quirky charm and well-balanced units. Two thumbs up for Fat Princess."[33] However, The A.V. Club gave it a B− and said that "the core design, which seems so elegant at first, leads either to quick decisions between teams of unmatched skill, or long slogs worthy of a Russian winter campaign. When the action drags on, the not-inconsiderable cute factor starts to wear away. Fat princesses need love, sure, but they also need more complex characters to earn it."[28] Teletext GameCentral gave it six out of ten and said, "The princess may have bitten off more than she can chew with her clever but confused multiplayer melees."[29]

• Fat Princess at PlayStation.com
• Fat Princess at MobyGames
• Fat Princess: Fistful of Cake at MobyGames