‘Code of Princess’ Bland but Funny

By JAMES DAWSON

Touted by the media as the successor to the popular Sega Saturn title, “Guardian Heroes,” “Code of Princess” is Atlus’s latest action role-playing game for the Nintendo 3DS. Filled with quirky characters, a ridiculous plot and satisfying gameplay, it has a lot going for it.
“Code of Princess” follows Solange Blanchefleur de Lux, the scantily clad princess of Deluxia, and her ragtag group of fellow adventurers as they struggle to stop Queen Distiny and her Distron army from stealing the legendary sword, DeLuxcalibur, and taking over the world.
If that doesn’t sound like the most engaging story to you, then you’d be right.
Luckily, however, the characters don’t take their plight too seriously, and their dialog reflects on that—allowing for some fairly clever and humorous cracks at the story and gaming culture in general.
As for the gameplay, “Code of Princess” plays as a fairly straightforward fighting game with simple RPG elements in which the only goal is to dispatch a designated number of enemies each mission while building your character’s stats.
Combat incorporates a simple combo system that gives the player a large number of attacks by entering a string of various commands. Additionally, each battle takes places on a field made up of three “action-rails” that allow you to move in-between the plain, as well as across it. This helps add a bit of strategy to the game, as the enemies tend to follow you across.
Sadly, pummeling enemy after enemy gets fairly repetitive after a while. The game doesn’t improve upon this as it progresses, despite the fact that it includes 50 playable characters, each with their own moveset.
The online and local multiplayer games for “Code of Princess” are also plagued with this problem, but it’s doubtful that you’ll ever be able to experience it. It’s nearly impossible to find a game online, and good luck finding a friend that also owns “Code of Princess” with whom you can play the local multiplayer game.
That said, fighting games have never been known for their variety, and repetitive gameplay seems to be a problem that plagues the entire genre rather than just “Code of Princess.”
As for fans of the fighting genre, there are few titles that offer as much content as “Code of Princess.” The game’s lengthy campaign and numerous bonus missions should be enough to keep most players occupied for a while. For a lucky few, the local multiplayer is sure to extend it for hours.