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Fairytale Fights: Bright and bloody with an irritating aftertaste
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Cute and cuddly, but don't get too close
Picture a serene wooded scene filled with lumberjacks sectioning fallen trees. Suddenly, Snow White appears and hacks them all to pieces with a cleaver. Sound odd? Welcome to Fairytale Fights. Developed by Playlogic, Fairytale Fights takes tales of yore like Hansel and Gretel and Snow White back to their roots. Before Walt Disney, most of these stories featured good amounts of gore and death. Fairytale Fights reclaims that bloody past, and does it with fair success. Unfortunately, several issues with the game tarnish the attempt.
The game opens with cutscenes that introduce each character. These back stories are flimsy, and do not give much of a reason for the upcoming adventure other than Red Riding Hood, Beanstalk Jack, the Naked Emporer and Snow White all want to reclaim their notoriety. Fair enough; everyone wants to be famous. So we head to Storyville where the Narrator gives me all the information I need to navigate the town and find things to do.
As I head to the Inn where I can start the quest or play against friends in “Arena” mode, I check out the different options in town. Everything is accessible by the big glowing books in front of each building. You can change your character, adjust music and lighting, see the large statue built in your honor or check your progress in the game. I was hoping for a beefier line-up of features, such as a way to upgrade weapons or a new outfit, but Fairytale Fights doesn’t include any real reward system other than unlocking trophies and getting that statue built.
I begin the first chapter in the story and quickly learn just how funky the game will be. A bunch of crazed lumberjacks (and Lumber Bobs, and Lumber Bills) stole a kettle from the three bears and it’s up to me to get it back. I enter the first chapter and the narrator helps me through the action tutorial-style. A volumetric liquid system ensures there is plenty of blood spatter, and real-time dynamic slicing means all my combat options are controlled with the right analog stick.
Forget remembering complicated button combos; just twist the knob in any direction and your character swings their weapon at your command. This makes the gameplay easy and a bit sloppy when combined with the volumetric liquid system. Sure, it was great just slashing away, but once I got going it was hard to stop. I slid all over the place, and at times I fought myself right off a cliff.
Apart from the issues with movement, I found the weapons in the game quite amusing. My favorite was any sort of blade weapon, specifically the iron saw. Other weapons included acid potions, a wooden chainsaw, marshmallow on a stick and a tiny gnome. Cute, right? Despite the initial charm, don’t get too attached to your favorite pitchfork.
Death after death claimed most of my weapons, and I never spent much of the game well-armed. My first boss battle against a gigantic beaver was a fistfight. Wishing wells located around the game offer mystery weapons for cash, however since it’s impossible to hang on to anything this feature becomes useless.
My least favorite part of the game is the fixed camera that follows the player around. The view often pulls too far away from the action, and there were many times when I couldn’t see what was going on in the background because there was something in the foreground blocking my view. Occasionally during combat, half of the screen turned into a closeup of the damage I was causing. It felt like being force-fed violence, and it became incredibly distracting.
Another issue occurred when the game froze. This only happened once, but I did notice other buggy things such as weapons sticking in the air and the unnecessarily soapy ground. I understand slipping around in a blood puddle, but when walking on bare grass is like trying to cross a polished floor, this unique feature becomes an incredible nuisance.
Multiplayer options are where Fairytale Fights really shines. The simple controls and drop-in, drop-out accessibility make it a great game to share with friends. Online, it was easy for me to find games to join, or create my own. My husband and I faced off against each other in “Arena” mode, but I really enjoyed cooperating in “Quest” mode. Together, we hacked our way through tons of gingerbread men and tin soldiers.
Honestly I had higher hopes for Fairytale Fights. The shallow back story and short list of features as well as wonky camera angles and bugs leave something to be desired. However, the ease of gameplay, gratuitous violence and volume of bloodshed are definitely reasons to check it out; even if it’s only for a night.
More Info: Fairytale Fights-Playlogic
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