Ahh Fairytale Fights, it definitely wasn't as bad of a game to me as commonly reviewed. What you see is pretty much what you get…a few hours of butchering enemies as well known fairytale characters.
It appears to have been designed with mindless fun in mind (if that makes any sense?) instead of something with a lot of creative depth or technical sophistication. Depth in gameplay goes as far as by which method would you like to kill your foes…a blunt object, a sharp object, a ranged weapon, "magical" potions, or good old fashion fist to face conflict resolution. With that said however, boss battles and a few of the latter level layouts are surprisingly creatively done. Most of the end level bosses interact with the environment somehow during the fights and do have a bit of a creative appeal to them. They do implement quick time button mashing events especially when it comes to finishing the bosses off. The same can be said with some of the levels in the latter portion of the game…the environments become very interactive and deviate a bit from the usual "run n' kill" theme used throughout most of the game. Fairytale Fights does offer local and online co-op multiplayer as well as competitive. However, this is limited to 2 players at a time across the board despite there being 4 playable fairytale characters in-game (8 with the DLC) . On the competitive end, the game doesn't offer much else beyond the usual head to head face off where the stipulations for victory change depending on the mode or match settings. Co-op plays mostly like your traditional arcade beat'em up. So some attempt at multiplayer was made on the part of Playlogic but it's nothing deep or what I would consider one of its strong points.
Visually, Fairytale Fights looks like something from gaming generations of yesteryear. As stated before there is nothing really sophisticated about the graphics, especially in-game. During the majority of the game, it's a straightforward horizontal playing field to beat, hack, and/or fight your way through. This along with when Fairytale Fights makes an attempt to use other camera angles, tend to really get in the way far more than the actual enemies. Sometimes there will be so many enemies and objects on the screen at once where it becomes very difficult to see your character…the camera make no attempt to angle itself to show your current location in the midst of the chaos. Other rare times, when the camera does switch up the angle on you, it can be very unclear which way to go or to once again even see yourself on screen. As you can tell, the camera was my major issue with this game. However besides this, the blood and gore is done charmingly well (if that is your type of thing of course). Testing each weapon to see which type of way it can potentially butcher and mangle the enemies or trying to chain together combos in the triple digits from the hordes of enemies on screen was pretty fun. My personal favorite was the chainsaw…I loved using that weapon, lol! Music: Went along with the fairytale theme and less with the hardcore feel of the gameplay. Sound effects: mostly on point especially when it came to the use and effects of sharp weapons.
The story was…well...there. Snow White, The Naked Prince, Little Red Riding Hood, and Beanstalk Jack have in all someway fell victim to The Little Tailor's spotlight hogging ways. As a consequence, their stories are at risk of being burned by The Giant and to forever be forgotten by children everywhere. The 4 characters team up to exact revenge on The Little Tailor (who has been paying their enemies and friends alike for assistance) and to stop The Giant from burning their stories. You would think with a plot like this that there would be branching storylines or at least different endings but disappointingly there aren't. There are just certain levels designed with each character in mind and a few trophies encourage their use on these levels. I think Playlogic missed a huge opportunity here to make this game a bit bigger than it was or to encourage replayability by going this route. I guess there is some replay value in that the loot you collect contributes to an account which you can use to constantly upgrade a statue in the center of Fairytale Town (an area in the game where you can check stats, change characters, enter multiplayer and view game progress). This just wasn't enough for me to revisit the game after one playthrough. There is ZERO voice acting in the game. The best you'll get is a few reactionary screams or grunts here and there.
My Breakdown:
What's Good:
• Blood and Gore was nicely done. Goes well with the graphic nature the game was going for
• Many different weapon varieties and they are very fun to use
• Boss battles are creativity designed and fun to playthrough
• Latter level designs were creatively done
• Local and online support for competitive and co-op multiplayer
• Well done sound effects especially for sharp weapons
What's Not-So-Good:
• No voice acting – Seriously?
• Very dry humor
• Multiplayer could have been a bit more elaborate
What's Bad:
• A stubbornly stationery camera
• 4 different playable characters but no branching storylines or different endings
• Visuals are generations behind
• The story could have been delivered better
• More variety in the overall gameplay
In all, the best way to enjoy Fairytale Fights is to go into it with the intent to have mindless fun. It's not that intellectually deep, sophisticated, pretty girl you dream of bringing home to your parents and potentially settling down with…no…it's definitely the cheap "butter faced" easy lay you look to just have a few moments of fun with. It basically boils down to just how shallow you are as a gamer…which I guess means that I'm not too difficult to please, lol.
2.5