When Fat Princess was released on the PlayStation Network title, it seemed to scream "Put me on the PSP!" Well, Sony Santa Monica and SuperVillain Studios have heard the squalling little title and brought it to the PSP. Fat Princess: Fistful of Cake brings capture-the-gluttonous-princess action to the handheld in all its cakey sugary nummy glory. Fistful of Cake is a bit too flawed to be considered a must-buy, but fans of both action strategy and cartoony aesthetics may find something to like here.

Fistful of Cake boasts a clean presentation, but tries to be a little too cute with regards to game options. Instead of "Host a Game," there is "Control Freaks." Instead of "Options," there is "Twiddly Knobs." Call me cynical, but I'm not sure everyone will know what to do with all that. Still, I'll admit that I like "Who's Your Daddy?" in the place of "Credits."

In terms of raw graphical power, Fistful of Cake isn't impressive. However, this game shouldn't be judged by its technical prowess. Here, it's all about style and attention to detail, and luckily, Fistful of Cake nails both of them. Several of the environments are well-designed, and many of the pitfalls and hazards add some welcome distractions to all the action. From a quaint rural landscape to what looks like the inside of a volcano to an impressive number of different locales, Fistful of Cake will certainly take you places. The animation work doesn't leave much room for complaint; in fact, my only qualm is that the willy-nilly combat animations keep the gameplay from being as satisfying as it could be. The character customization options aren't half bad, though.

I may have one problem with Fistful of Cake's visuals, but I have absolutely no problems with the sound. The fast-paced harpsichord-heavy soundtrack fits both the regal theme and the on-screen chaos at the same time, and your soldiers sound like the warmongering annelids from Worms. Of course, the fact that everyone tends to spout ancient internet memes ("BOOM! HEADSHOT!" and "All your base are belong to us") is also a huge part of what makes this game so charming.

It's difficult to pin down exactly how Fat Princess: Fistful of Cake plays, because there are a ton of different game modes. However, the setup is constant; you control one unit on a battlefield (seen from a low-flying bird's eye perspective) and help the other units carry out objectives. More often than not, this deals with capturing flags -- and by flags, I mean people. The best of these games revolves around rescuing your own princess, mainly because of the hilarious strategy that is involved. Your job mainly revolves around rescuing and capturing princesses. Since both armies are indisposed, not everyone can just stand near their designated princess, killing anyone who comes by. However, there's a difference between "defend the princess" and "make sure the enemy doesn't capture the princess." Here's where the title of the game comes into play. You see, the princesses love (L-O-V-E) cake. They also have metabolisms that can only be described as "WTF?" By that, I mean a few slices of cake will transform them into ::insert obese celebrity of your choice:: and make them incredibly difficult to carry back to a base... at least, by one person. Give the swollen princesses a few minutes, and their bodies will revert to their original shapes (jealous?), making them far easier to carry.

There's an impressive array of challenges, and while each of them is unique in its own way, not all of them are that great. The fifteen-level single player campaign, titled Legend of the Fat Princess, is disappointing. The scenarios aren't particularly bad, but they are inconsistent, and it's over long before you'd even expect to reach the halfway mark. Standard modes aside, you've got great modes like Grim Reaper, Jailbreak, and Queen's Rules. However, when the modes eschew the objectives and focus on the combat, they tend to be on the weak side. Team Deathmatch and Gladiate get boring pretty quickly.

Fat Princess: Fistful of Cake can be overwhelming at first, even if you choose to go through the tutorial. There's an awful lot to take in, and it will take some time before you feel comfortable with the game's mechanics. However, as long as you spend enough time with the game, it will eventually click. You'll just have to learn how to adapt to all the different scenarios that are thrown at you. Another hurdle you'll need to get past in order to enjoy Fistful of Cake has to do with the level design. The map serves as a much-needed assist, but each level has a number of shortcuts and exploits that you'll need to learn to use if you want to achieve victory quickly.

At this point, Fistful of Cake's replay value is still to be determined. If the online community is enthused with the game, I can see it lasting a while. However, if nobody takes the game online, it'll be a tough one to recommend; the single player content is decent while it lasts, but it's the kind of stuff that most people won't return to very often. Of course, this doesn't really apply to gamers who really like bot matches.

Hats have more power than you think. In just about every game type, you'll have access to a number of Hat Machines. Your character starts off as a nobody, but once he's got a hat, he's got a purpose. Warriors, Mages, Priests, and Archers are but a few of these classes, and they all have their own abilities. Whether you're running as a frontal assault type, healing your comrades, or scouring the land for resources, there's always something your abilities can do for your team.

This game was pretty much designed with multiplayer in mind. Provided everything works the way it should and server issues are kept to a minimum, the multiplayer may have a chance at survival. During the session I attended, there were hardly any latency issues; considering how bad my network is, that's saying something. There's one key problem with the multiplayer. The lack of a voice chat option nearly reduces each match to an exercise in unfettered chaos. If you're on the cusp of securing an objective, you can put a giant "!" over your character's head. However, you're not going to get anyone's attention unless they're really paying attention to the announcer. Occasionally, you'll have kind of a psynergy thing going with your teammates, where nothing needs to be said and everyone knows his/her part in the strategy. If there was a special hassle-free way to communicate without words in Fistful of Cake, it would make everyone's respective roles a lot easier to play. The class-based gameplay calls for a lot of communication and cooperation, and it's here where the title just can't deliver. There's an ad hoc mode, but it facilitates the verbal equivalent of screen watching.

You may end up in a love-hate relationship with Fat Princess: Fistful of Cake but here's one part of it that you'll love: it is a very inexpensive game. If it ended up costing $39.99, the score would probably be ten points lower. That being said, twenty dollars is a more-than-reasonable price for what you'll be getting. Fistful of Cake certainly isn't for everyone, but some gamers will absolutely fall in love with it. As to whether it will become a handheld online sensation, only time will tell.