I think above all console digital distribution platforms, the PSN continues to be at the forefront of leading innovation and amazingly fun original titles. The latest being Fat Princess from Darkstar Industries. The concept is simple; two teams of medieval soldiers battle it out to try and get your princess back from the opposing team’s clutches. The gameplay, however, is surprisingly deep, comical, and full of fun. I’d heard a good deal regarding Fat Princess previously but had never gotten my hands on, so I was skeptical of all the hype. After playing it at Sony’s PlayStation.Blog Lounge at GDC, I cannot wait for its release this summer on the PSN.

The game employs a cell shaded look, which is popular right now in various titles. You are among either the red or blue team trying to rescue your princess and prevent the other team from doing the same. As the title suggests, you can continuously feed the princess cake to make her rather portly. The purpose of this insanely funny act is to make it harder for the opposing team to carry her out of your castle. Instead of just one person needed to carry a skinny princess, it’s harder for the other team to get a hefty girl out of the castle without rushing multiple people.

You can select from one of five classes to play: Worker, Warrior, Archer, Mage and Priest, each of which can be upgraded to have stronger and better abilities. Class switching is on the fly by picking up a different hat (literally). Walk over the hat and press the circle button and you’re off to the races. My personal favorite is the Archer, who gets a giant elephant gun as his upgraded weapon.

You can play through the single player campaign to unlock various features, but multiplayer is where it’s at with Fat Princess. Games can be played with up to 32 players (16 on each side) in battles to try and capture the other team’s fatty flag. The game will ship with 8-10 maps, so a nice variety will be there to get between the two castles. Teamwork is important, although running into the massive blood splatters like Rambo is just as fun as catapulting your way from one castle to another.

In the matches I got to play with other journalists and the game’s Producer, Deborah Mars, things could wrap up in 10 minutes or last upwards of 30 minutes or more, depending on how well everyone works together. Either way, you’ll have an absolute blast beating people down. Fat Princess is now easily one of my most anticipated titles of the summer.