We got one of the 5,000 slots for the current round of the Fat Princess beta, because we’re just that important of an editorial voice for video games.

Ok, so we got it because we know someone who works at 1up.com. Same difference. We get to tell you about it either way.

With lots of little units, resources to gather and structures to upgrade, I was expecting Fat Princess to be something like a real-time strategy game, which I dread playing. RTSes to me always feel like an exercise in discipline than an opportunity for fun, creative play.

Instead, Fat Princess is something more like Team Fortress 2, which I love playing. Hooray!

The map included in the beta is a 16 vs. 16 game. You start as a mook in your castle and go grab a hat to decide your class. Warriors fight, archers shoot, priests heal and workers build. Get killed, and you eventually pop up back at your base. Fairly standard stuff.

Workers are the backbone of the game, gathering resources on the map to upgrade the hat-making machines of all the classes, building siege ladders and trampolines into the other team’s castle and destroying siege devices outside your own base.

Instead of a flag, your macguffin is the princess imprisoned in the enemy team’s castle. Any class can carry cake off the battlefield and into the mouth of the princess, who will happily gobble it up, becoming obese and more difficult for the other team to carry off for a rescue.

So far, I like how Fat Princess feels low-stress without necessarily sacrificing complexity. There’s plenty of ways to contribute to your team’s efforts, and you’re one guy in a big army, so if you strike out on a lark to try something risky, you won’t feel like you’re hindering your comrades too much if you fail.

I found the hat thing to be an interesting twist on the class-based teamplay model. You can pick up the hats of fallen enemies or allies out on the field to change roles on the fly. It gives it some interesting flexibility. The game is all about teamwork, but you could theoretically start as a worker, build a ladder into the castle, pick up a warrior hat and start to carry your own princess out.

Since this is a small beta, there hasn’t been anyone online yet for multiplayer game, but I should be able to find one tonight for a more solid review tomorrow.

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