Fairytale Fights [PS3, Xbox 360]

Posted November 9, 2009 by Benjamin Blank in Featured, Featured Home, PS3, Reviews, Xbox 360.

Reviewed on the Xbox 360

Somewhere in our rush towards ultra realism something has been lost in translation. Sure, when I stepped off the boat in GTA IV or chainsawed my first Locust in Gears I was in awe of the graphical display before me. But it does make you wonder what happened to the glory days of Rare on the N64, of Jet Set Radio or Samba De Amigo on the Dreamcast, back when video games had colour, and lots of it.

Well if it’s one thing Fairytale Fights has, it’s colour — bright beautiful, colourful worlds. This, in a sea of games that seemingly use six different shades of grey and brown for their colour palette, is a sight for sore eyes to say the least.

Like most games I’ve found myself reviewing lately, Fairytale Fights is a hack ‘n’ slash/beat ‘em up affair, based around the idea of a fairy tale universe where all your favourites such as Red Riding Hood, The Little Mermaid, Sleeping Beauty and so forth live. The story goes that to survive in this world you need to be important, you need a story (or a Disney movie but that’s neither here, nor there).  Unfortunately, Snow White, Naked Emperor, Jack (from Jack and the Beanstalk) and Red Riding Hood just don’t cut it anymore.

A new hero comes into town and takes all the fame from the four familiar faces, leaving them to confront a series of quests that will win back the population of fairy tale land. There are really two aspects that change things up;  one is that they’ve put a Happy Tree Friends spin on things — there’s blood, decapitation, death and all sorts of horrors. And then there’s the narrative structure, which takes you through well known stories but twists them, with a great sense of humour and wit.

On paper this is a brilliant premise (if a little obvious), and everything comes together well due to the look of the title. Areas and levels look stunning, everything is bright and colourful with great attention to detail. As the game progresses you work through constantly changing areas that grow and build on top of each other.

Towards the end there’s a fantastic section inside the giant’s home that feels like the next step up from Mickey Mouse & Donald Duck In The World Of Illusion’s giant’s home level, or Fur Fighter’s dinosaur level. And throughout there are huge set pieces and brilliantly animated boss battles that add to an exhilarating atmosphere. Even the hub world is so wonderfully rendered and animated that it’s a treat to explore.

The replication of the classic fairy tales is however the game’s highlight, however, as the combat isn’t anything to write home about. Hack ‘n’ slash fans will find a lot to like here, the animations are nice, and there’s a large array of different weapons: bats, blades, potions and magic wands. As I mentioned earlier, there is a strong Happy Tree Friends vibe, and with that battles will cover the environment in blood, which can then be trailed along or even slid on.

The combat is let down by some major oversights. For one, you attack using the right stick, which takes away camera control. What was wrong with a button for attacking? Despite which direction you move the stick you attack in the direction you’re facing, rendering the whole thing pointless. However that’s only the beginning, as the combat is continually frustrating. Enemies will attack you when they’re off-screen, they’ll constantly knock you down when you’re on the floor trying to get up, they’ll surround you with no way to knock them back, except the one directly in front of you.

And worst of all, when you respawn you’re given no section of invincibility. There was one part where you’re walking along a race track. If anything that’s coming down the race track touches you, you die instantly and, with no invincibility, you’ll die as soon as you respawn, resulting in you dying between ten and twenty times in a row. While the race track part was by far the worst instance, this happens throughout the entire game.

Along with platforming sections that range from complete hit and miss to impossible, most of the game will see you dying repeatedly. And outside of unfair deaths the gameplay is quite repetitive. While hack ‘n’ slash fans won’t find anything wrong with the constant right stick waggling, anyone else will find the whole combat boring and frustrating.

It’s a shame because Fairytale Fights can be fun, but a large part of my experience with it was governed by frustration and annoyance. There’s a great multiplayer mode here for up to four players, which definately helps things, but to get the most out of Fairytale Fights you have to fight against it to make it work.

Fairytale Fights in the end is a great game, full of beautiful looking levels and a great sense of humour, but the core gameplay is just too frustrating to really enjoy. Hack ‘n’ slash fans will get a lot out of it, but everyone else will either find the ordeal too repetitive or unfair to push through.

Tagged as Fairytale Fights, hack 'n slash, Playlogic, Playstation 3, Xbox 360