E3 09: Fairytale Fights

What do you get when you take four fairytale has-beens trying to reclaim their glory days, throw in some Ren & Stimpy humor, add a bit of Happy Tree Friends animation and gore, and a dash of Castle Crasher gameplay? The answer is that you get Fairytale Fights, and a whole new meaning to "happily ever after".

The game itself is a wondferful mix of the childhood fairytales many of us know, mixed with the horrors and gore of most adult videogames. As the player, you get to take four fairytale characters who used to be big, but are now forgotten, and go out and try to reclaim some honor. The two characters they were able to show us at E3 were little red riding hood and snow white. These characters hack, slash, and bludgeon their way through a variety of levels available to play. I got to see the two make their way through a lumberjack level, a gaint's home, and a candy castle. All of the levels had vibrant colors and whimsical enemies, as well as Grimm twists on your normal fairytales.

The gameplay is that of a hack and slash multiplayer co-op 3D platformer, much like Castle Crashers. You use the left analog stick to move your characters around and the right analog stick to brandish whichever of the many weapons you are holding. The game takes the precise movements of the right analog stick, and beats your enemies in a corresponding manner. Perhaps one of the coolest things they showcased is the close-up you get when you cut up and decapitate an enemy opponent, each time a in-game replication of your movements on the control stick. Add on top of that the fact that enemies squirt large amounts of blood, which has the physics properties of any liquid in the game, and you soon find yourself slipping and sliding all across the screen.

As for the multi-player, you can play with up to four friends on the same console, or you can play 2-player online co-op. You can also play three players on the same box with one online if you really want to. Watch out, however, since there is friendly fire in this game, so it's just as easy to hack up your best friend as it is the baddie attacking him if you aren't careful (or better yet if you are carefully exacting revenge for your partner's foible earlier in the level). Overall Fairytale Fights looks great and will be dropping some time near the holidays on the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PC. Hopefully we'll get an announcement soon as to who the other playable characters are, but until then enjoy the game footage and interview above.