Christmas may have been and gone, leaving the January blues in it's wake, but Sony, being the kind-hearted souls they are, have a little surprise for Vita owners everywhere - a free game! Technically a "Free To Play" (*obligatory shudder*) game, Fat Princess: Piece of Cake is a match three puzzle game with over 55 levels to boot, and some thirteen trophies too.
With the screen divided up into two halves, on the left hand side of the screen, you'll find your loyal red army troops walking along a road, and on the right, a load of gems. By matching gems of the same colour, you can help your brave soldiers attack any of the dastardly blue team that get in your way, as they walk their way towards their goal. Each colour of gem corresponds to a different type of attack, whether its sword strikes, bombs that take out multiple enemies at once or blue hearts that heal your troops, while matching cake icons lets you unleash your Fat Princess special - where she hurls herself at the group of enemies for massive damage. You and your opponent take it in turns to attack, and the whole thing reminds us very much of our beloved Puzzle Quest, only with more cake.
Princess bomb - incoming!
The elephant, or should we say Princess, in the room, of course, is the in-app purchases. Being billed as a 'Free To Play' game sets alarm bells ringing, as that usually translates into a game that gimps your progress unless you pay real world money. Fat Princess takes the standard match three route of giving you a certain number of free goes, which take around 20 minutes to recharge, unless you fork over cash for extra stamina. You can also buy various boosts and power ups - including bonuses to increase the damage dealt, a revival item or the ability to destroy a pesky line of gems - and while these can be earned in game through hard graft, those looking for the lazy route can pay. Lastly, the diamonds you match in each level work as a currency, letting you upgrade your troops - and of course, you can fast track these too with a little real-life cash. Personally, we'll just stick to the freebies.
Perhaps most interesting though is a little rumour we heard on the internet (so take that as you will), which says that apparently, if you make it to level 15, you can earn yourself a totally free code to download the original Fat Princess game on the PS3. Whether this was only in earlier phone versions, or whether that's still the case remains to be seen, but as soon as we get to the aforementioned level, we'll make sure to update the story with our findings!
A free game is never bad, and we love how Sony keep bringing out these little puzzle games for the PS Vita, totally free of charge. Of course, we'd prefer it without the whole Free To Play faffery, but beggars can't be choosers! By the way - those of you who like match three games might want to get Treasures of Montezuma Blitz, Treasures of Montezuma Arena and No Heroes Allowed: No Puzzles Either! too, if you haven't already, as they're also totally free.
Either way - what are you waiting for? Best get downloading now!
UPDATE: Apparently, you need to login with your Facebook account and beat level 15 before you can claim your free code for Fat Princess on the PS3 - but we have yet to receive our code, despite doing both. We'll keep trying, but let us know in the comments if you have any success in the meantime!
