You’d think putting a bunch of classic fairytale characters with blood, quests and multiplayer capabilities sounds like a sweet game, or at the very least interesting. But, as past gravestones of video games can attest, a good idea does not guarantee a good game.
In Fairytale Fights, you can play as either Little Red Riding Hood, the Naked Emperor, Snow White, or Jack (from Jack & the Bean Stock). You see, now days, fairytales are just old stories. No one cares anymore. So, each character has his/her own set of quests to complete, each with the goal of raising enough money to erect a supposedly awe-inspiring statue of yourself in the town square, the purpose of which is to restore honor and fame to your character’s name.
It all comes down to money and fame.
Although the story is REALLY simple, I think it actually works in this scenario because fairytales ARE simple and single-minded. They usually have one tale or moral lesson to tell. So that works. And the premise itself is pretty funny: “We aren’t popular anymore! Let’s kill stuff so we can make money to get famous again!” All I have to say is “Cash Rules Everything Around Me, C.R.E.A.M., dolla dolla bill ya’ll.
Ok, onto the presentation. Soundtrack was nothing memorable, nor were there little squeaks and sound effects your characters made. There is no spoken dialogue, only grunts and squeals, remeniscent of Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker. It wasn’t annoying or anything, but emotions weren’t sparking either.
Blood everywhere!
The biggest selling point (cough* gimmick *cough) for Fairytale Fights was the gore and the blood. When you hack and slash your enemies, naturally, they bleed…a lot. We’re talking gallons of blood. After you face off a wave of enemies, you’re left in a huge pool of blood, in which you can actually slide around in (cough* gimmick* cough). However, the visuals was one of the reasons I didn’t like it. In a true storybook fashion, every enchanted tree, cloud, townsfolk, and animal looks like they were in injected to the extreme with color, bulky shapes and bulgy eyes. The main characters and henchmen are short, stocky and rectangular, which I guess has a certain charm as they shuffle around chopping each other to bloody bits. And the bosses; they look like they’ve been pumped with a dangerous experimental cocktail of botox, silly putty and all the colors of the neon rainbow. Well, on the bright side, the designs are interesting enough to be called unique and visually it ran smooth without any framerate issues.
Ah. And now we arrive at gameplay, the crux of any good video game. Needless to say, it was a bit lacking in this section. First of all, the controls were annoying and as messy as the bright red blood showers all over the screen. While it was fun to slide and skate around in the pools of red plasm, it gets old, and the slipping didn’t end there. The controls are very loose, making maneuvers like jumping from one log to another, dodging razor blades, or fighting enemies a frustrating task.
Funny and wrong, in many different levels.
Attacking is performed by moving the right stick in certain directions. The game also provides you with a whole slew of weapons, ranging from axes and clubs to rulers and compasses, to lollipops and bratwursts. Each weapon has a certain value, representing how powerful that weapon is. But to be honest, you really can’t tell in game. The controls are so sloppy that for the most part, you’re just wiggling the right stick every which way. Like the blood-skating, its fun in the beginning, but very quickly loses its appeal.
Another issues we had with this game is the camera. Usually, camera is no issue for as side-scrolling beat’em-ups. However, impressive enough, Fairytale Fights managed to make an issue. Often times, the camera pans out so far away that its really difficult to see what’s going on in the stage, let alone try to maneuver past traps and fight enemies.
You want blood? Is that what you want? You got 'em!
The boss fights were nothing special either. In fact, despite their predictable attacks, the boss fights are very difficult and down right frustrating.
So, all in all, this game might be worthy of busting out if it’s a rainy or boring day and you want to see alot of cartoony gore and slide around in it with no real objective. This game does provide multiplayer options, locally and online and cooperative and pvp, but because of the above mentioned factors, this option doesn’t do much to help. You’ll soon find your mind drowning in a pool of cartoony blood. Save this one for Gamefly or better yet, borrow it from a friend.
