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I always thought the Code of Princess was up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right,
another castle. According to Atlus, I’m wrong. So let me try to get this straight.
It’s like an RPG, because there’s equipment to collect and stats to allocate and a princess
wielding a 7-foot-long sword or so while wearing armored gauntlets, a thong, and two postage
stamps. But it’s not an RPG, because the combat is a full-action, side-scrolling beat-’em-up
reminiscent of a Final Fight or even Guilty Gear Judgement. But rather than a completely
open isometric view, fighting is limited to three distinct planes in the fore-, mid-,
and background, like a Fatal Fury or Guilty Gear Isuka. And, using the characters, items,
and EXP gained through the main story campaign and optional bonus quests, you can pit your
favorites against opponents in local or online head-to-head matches, or even team up for
co-op missions. I’ve dropped a lot of names here, but here’s the most important: Think
Star Ocean, with better battle controls, and without that problem of swinging your sword
one pixel behind your opponent. So I guess it is an RPG after all.
That might’ve been confusing, so let’s lay it out. You’re a princess, the monsters
are attacking your kingdom, Pops realizes the gravity of the situation and instructs
you to pull the DeLuxcalibur (I can’t make this up) from the altar in the church. Which
explodes. A thief finds you in the rubble, considers making off with the sword, but eventually
becomes an ally out of sheer boredom. How kind. More allies follow, including a wanna-be
rockstar bard sage elf punk and a necromanceress in a body made of spare parts (but don’t
use the z-word). These four will be your player characters for the main campaign, though in
Free Play mode these story missions are also open to the ancillary members of your party.
And the Bonus Quests and online content? Use whomever you like. Main heroes, ancillary
heroes, boss monsters, story NPCs like the bartender lady, heck, even this little orphan
girl. Who can apparently SHOUT UNDEAD TO REDEATH.
Mechanically, the game’s intriguing enough, with combos to be found, secret attacks to
use (some by quartercircling, but THIS IS AN RPG RIGHT?!?) and a lock-on system that
doubles damage to a chosen foe and makes all your projectile attacks hone in on it. There’s
also an MP-draining Burst mode, which doubles your overall damage output (thus quadrupling
it against your locked-on target) and providing some breathing room if you need to get a swarm
of foes off your back. While the graphical effects are attractive and the sprite work
holds up well on the 3DS, the action can get hot and heavy, making it easy to lose your
character in the scrum and dragging the speed of the game down to Odin Sphere-levels. This
was my only real issue with the game, especially where it popped up in online play. Still,
for a first attempt at something this unique, I’m willing to offer some leeway. I’m
not sure what it is with the strange melding of RPGs and fighters that started with Persona
4 Arena, but if this is where it’s going, I’m fine with it. Especially if they keep
the Scanty and Kneesocks references.