Fat Princess created quite a buzz when it was first unveiled at E3 2008, its charismatic cartoon visuals piquing the interest of gamers and its controversial title drawing criticism from feminist groups. Nine months on and we’ve had the opportunity to spend some time getting to explore its flabby charms in the Beta, and we’re happy to report that it’s looking very promising indeed.

Fat Princess’s core concept is fairly simple: two teams declare war against one another and attempt to rescue their Princess from the clutches of the opposition. But from this, Titan has spun a complex yet hugely accessible game that offers a refreshing respite from the usual online shenanigans. The one map we’ve been able to play (The Black Forest) demonstrates a confident mix of gameplay traits from across a variety of genres, which come together to create a unique and satisfying whole.

Initial impressions are that it’s a game built around chaos. Charging out of your castle gates and leaping into combat with a steady pounding of the buttons, it seems to be nothing more than a pretty team-based reimagining of Atari arcade classic, Gauntlet. However, while it does remain consistently riotous, a far more nuanced game unfolds as you get to grips with the game’s many subtleties.

Fat Princess’s depth undoubtedly lies in its character classes, which you can change on the fly by picking up a corresponding hat. For example, grab a horned helmet and you’ll become a Warrior, a Bishop’s mitre transforms you into a Priest and a natty Robin Hood-esque cap allows you to become a bow and arrow wielding Ranger. In all there are five classes available (Mage, Priest, Warrior, Worker and Ranger), each with their own skills and demanding of a very different approach to play. Each class can also be levelled up with resources which are collected by Workers, fuelling their development. Collect enough resources and the Rangers’ bows, for example, are replaced by more powerful blunderbusses; the Workers gain bombs and the Warriors a devastating lunge attack.

Like the best real-time strategy games, the number of options available to each team is vast: do you focus on collecting resources to build stronger characters, or do you go on the offensive and attempt to overwhelm your enemy? Or, do you simply just embrace the game’s fiendish sense of humour and focus on stuffing cake into your prisoner Princess, making her much more difficult for the opposition to carry should they manage to breach your castle wars? Or, of course, do you pursue a combination of all of these options? The ebb and flow of play and the shifting of tactics can be genuinely enthralling, with the yelps and whoops of the characters adding an irresistible charm to the proceedings.

Of course, unlike the best real-time strategy games, there’s no one person issuing orders, so pursuing any of these tactics to any degree of competency is dependent on working as a team. When everything comes together and your team completes a textbook Princess rescue, a genuine sense of camaraderie can follow, and it’s here that Fat Princess shines.

In its current state, our main criticism is that the combat could feel a little more satisfying, as the connection between your button presses and the ensuing on-screen action can feel a little vague at times. While certainly not game-breaking, with any luck this will be tightened up for launch day.

But needless to say, the sheer amount of time we’ve spent playing just one of Fat Princess’s maps suggests that Titan Studios might have something very special on their hands. Just giving in to the vibrant bloody cartoon carnage is a lot of fun, but the game’s slickly implemented teamwork mechanics and snappy production values should also give it enough depth to gain a considerable following. On this occasion, there’s every possibility that PlayStation 3 owners will be able to have their cake and eat it, after all.

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