Code of Princess Review

Code of princess is one in a long list of games produced by Atlus, renowned for producing very high quality games such as Shim Megami Tensei and Persona, on top of the sleeper hit Catherine. As with many publishers with such a quality pedegree behind them my initial anticipation for this game was relatively high.

The starts out with introducing us to a Bikini-Armour clad Princess called Solange Blanchefleur de Lux who is the heir to her fathers Kingdom of DeLuxia. Following typical JRPG trends the Kingdom eventually gets overrun with monsters from the Distron army. The Distron army have been tasked to search for and retrieve the blade DeLuxcalibur AT ANY COST, which has since been equipped by the ill fated princess. And so the journey begins.

My initial thoughts of the story were conflicted. A medieval tale of Kingdoms under seige and the promise of a powerful and mystical sword being the key to a villains plot is enthralling no matter the background, but at the same time I feel as though I have played this story before. The storyline I feel is there to continue and facilitate gameplay and it feels a little bit stale and repetitive, relying on old tropes and clichés in order to make a legible plot.

The gameplay is impressive, if not a little hard to control. It’s a blend of beat em up in the same style as the old D&D arcade games combined with an on rails aspect that seems more akin to something such as house of the dead.

I enjoyed playing with the on rails mechanic and there is an aspect of strategy to position yourself correctly in order to maximise your efficiency in combat, pulling off a combo on 4 enemies at once is incredibly satisfying and each of your attacks feel as though they have weight. Whilst rewarding the combat does initially feel clunky to start, and you will find yourself having trouble performing combos and being fluid with the swords you’re given, I feel this is equal parts game mechanics and human trial and error, and as such the problem is minimal.

The enemies in code of princess are varied at times, wildly, yet it still falls back onto old JRPG tropes. The enemies are a standard affair of tentacle and plant based monsters mixed in with some typical RPG and JRPG enemies to boot, along with the standard soldiers and officers affairs, the enemies are fun to fight against, although at times it feels like they can take too much punishment and arrive in bullet (Or sword) sponge territory, although when you grapple with the controls combos such as juggling can make them pay and make the gamer feel incredibly powerful.

There are other additional extras such as multiplayer which offers the chance to play as the characters from the game and fight against a friend or a bonus challenge style mode where you can replay areas and gain high scores, the games replay value is basic but still rewarding.

Overall I think Code of Princess is perfect for a quick fight on the commute to Uni or Work, easy to pick up and play and feel rewarded for your efforts, whilst the downsides of the game are limited and feel negligible when you play, with some very uninspired JRPG themes that give a very basic plot premise and a control and on rails gameplay and fight system that will leave you with a sense of wonder at a new way play an RPG.

REVIEW CODE: A complimentary Nintendo 3DS code was provided to Brash Games for this review. Please send all review code enquiries to editor@brashgames.co.uk.