Fairytale Fights – Fresh Look Review

Ever have one of those days?

Finally, the dust has settled, the spilled blood has congealed, and my faithful Wooden Chainsaw can slip from my fingers at last.  For me, the war is over and Fairytale Fights, is done.  To say that I’m not relieved would be a monstrous lie, but amongst the bitter, blurry eyed exhaustion, part of me is also a little sad.

In my original review, I found a lot to love about this twisted little oddity, with its great concept, twitchy characters, and dark sense of humour.  The good was, however, much outweighed by the bad, with an appalling glitch list marring an otherwise interesting title.  It was a great shame, though I felt enough of enjoyment of the game to persevere and to be honest, I’m glad that I did – though to anyone following in my footsteps, I warn you now that you’ll be drawing deep from your well of patience long before the end.

The idea of combining a warped view of traditional fairytales and the characters who inhabit them with blood spilling carnage and over the top, slashing mayhem was a good one, and with the vivid palette practically vomited in your face from a blend of Disney primary colours, it was always going to be a curious delight.  To their credit, Playlogic largely pulled it off, and with more replays that I care to count to knock down the various completion achievements (among grinding for cash, chests, and the until recently, unobtainable Autograph achievement), I have come to love the game, despite its flaws. And the flaws are still an issue, though not the great flatulent elephant in the room that they once were.  Whether or not this is down to the game or my becoming accustomed enough to gloss over them is still an open question however, but with the advent of the desperately needed patch, the game was made infinitely more playable.  No longer did it feel like an unwinnable war, with freezing lock ups and several achievements beyond mortal reach and it has made a difference.

While I can’t speak for the new state of the online multiplayer, not having played it again since its glitched days, local co-op is well behaved and the other bugs have, by and large, been squashed firmly beneath Playlogic’s bloody boot.  With these gone, the player now has an unfettered run at the game and we can finally see it as it was intended.  Does it now stand up on its own, without the screen of glitches to hide behind when negative barbs begin to fly?  Yes and no.  There are still occasional freezes (always heart tearingly at the end of long levels) and the controls can still be grating, but this can be overcome and believe me, I have now had plenty of practice.  Thanks to the camera, the hit and miss platforming remains the same and the enemy’s ability to rain attacks which destroy you in a few hits while you are stunned and unable to respond is still beyond infuriating. In fact, this has only become magnified on repeated plays and on the hard setting, this is such an issue that your controller and TV screen may well risk getting far better acquainted than is recommended.  This is mainly because you will be spending death after death trying to extract yourself from gingerbread scrums long enough to get in a few, paltry hits before kissing dirt once more.

Little Red: homicidal, psychotic, and loves the smell of dead fluffies in the morning

The game, despite its deceptive, cartoony and simplistic looks, is a tough cookie and perhaps my masochistic side was prickled by its Vampire gloves as I submitted myself repeatedly to its punishing hands.  More and more, I appreciated the level designs and backdrops, becoming oddly accustomed to the side-scrolling limitations that I had once bemoaned.  I noticed little extras in the back or foreground that I had missed, learned to appreciate the little innovations and took delight in discovering even more ridiculous weapons.  The final rescue attempt of the sleeping princess had a hilarious and very untraditional, laugh-out-loud outcome and even the credits were laced with some of the game’s, now familiar, warped humour.

So, now that I have dragged my weary bones over the finish line of 1000gs I can look back and say that Fairytale Fights, while not for everyone, was an enjoyable enough romp.  It will never be up there with the top games, but as a largely overlooked release, it deserves some snaps.  It will sap your time and lead to the ruination of your controller and remaining hair, and if you want that 1000gs, you’ll have to be prepared to slog for it.  This twisted master works you hard for its prizes but as someone who has graduated with honours, I can say that it was both satisfying and an almighty relief when it was over.  While some issues became fainter with time, others simply magnified, still leaving it very much a tricky one to recommend.  I may be seeing rolling gems every time I close my eyes, and will never see an incarnation of Snow White or Red Riding Hood again without smirking, but for a mindless, fun slash ‘em up platformer, it is worth a look. (though not, perhaps, at full retail whack.)  Anyone venturing a purchase and needing a co-op player, please note…for now I have hung up my Jawbreaker Candy Gun and Giant Scissors, so you’re on your own.  Maybe.

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