GameLight Review - Code of Princess

Official Site: http://www.atlus.com/codeofprincess/
Source: Youtube Channel insidegamesjp

Developer: Agatsuma Entertainment, Bones
Publisher: Atlus
Platforms: Nintendo 3DS
Release Date: October 9, 2012
Genre: Beat-em-up, RPG

Pros:
+ Story is light-hearted and humorous
+ Gameplay is simple, but can be challenging at times
+ RPG elements include switching equipment and stat building
+ Lots of replay value with over 50 characters to choose from
+ An amazing music score throughout the game
+ Online cooperative/competitive play
+ Memorable characters, moments and boss battles

Cons:
- The skills sets are rather limited and combos don't have that much depth
- There could've been a lot more character and story development
- Graphics lag when 3D is on, but doesn't look that great when 3D is off
- A lot of the equipment is junk while only a select few are useful
- Competitive arena is only for multiplayer, no customizable solo play

Recommended: Yes, fans of Action games and Beat-em-ups should check it out

It's difficult to talk about the game and not compare or even mention Guardian Heroes as the game's mechanics are essentially the same with the three rail planes, beat-em-up action, and stat building RPG elements.  The game is developed by Agatsuma Entertainment and Bones, Inc. (The animé cutscenes) with two members who worked on Guardian Heroes (the director and lead programmer).  Many would say that it's Guardian Heroes stripped down by a lot.  Unlike Guardian Heroes, it doesn't have branching story paths (there's 2 different endings though), combos and skills are a lot more limited, and there isn't a difficulty setting.  Despite those missing aspects, the game turned out to be incredibly entertaining and a lot of fun.  Even with a limited amount of attacks and skills, they chain into each other pretty well for some interesting combos.  The dialog is funny, the combat is hectic but satisfying, and the aesthetics is just absolutely mesmerizing.  This is a game I wouldn't mind going back to play again once in a while.

Aesthetics
Art-Style: 2D-Animé Style graphics with cartoon-ish 3D characters/enemies.
+ Light-hearted story of protecting a kingdom and magic
+ Animé-style cinematics thoughout the game
+ Unique and memorable characters both on protagonists and antagonists sides
+ Catchy and memorable music
+ 3D usage makes it easy to tell which plane an enemy is on
+ Flashy and destructive effects for attacks and spells
+ Some pretty good dialogue lines in some of the conversations

- Story could've been expanded into so much more than what was told
- Lots of lag and frame skipping with 3D on but graphics don't look good without it
- Lag in the graphics also causes delays in button commands
- A lot of the voice acting is pretty painful, but some are absolutely golden
Aesthetics: 8/10

Buttons
Controller: Analog and buttons
+ Easy to understand combat mechanics
+ Skills are simple commands and can be accessed on the bottom screen
+ Combos are fairly easy to pull off
+ Both analog and digital pad can be used to move

- Some commands will be delayed or won't execute entirely when lagging
- A limited amount of skills and combos for each character
Buttons: 7/10

Concept & Content
Core Concept: Kill all enemies or boss enemy to progress
+ A quirky cast of characters with fun personalities
+ The use of animé cut-scenes is effective and appropriate
+ Combat can be hectic, but has a satisfying, chaotic action sort of feeling
+ Aside from the main campaign, there's free mode, bonus quests, and multiplayer
+ Lots of characters to use in free-mode and bonus quests
+ Multiplayer allows cooperative play as well as competitive play
+ A shop and equipment system offers different builds and advantages
+ The player is free to build on any stat for all sorts of play styles

- I wish the story and character's were more in-depth and fully developed
- 3D graphics are effective, but gameplay suffers from laggy graphics
- Other than certain bosses and later bonus quests, the game is very easy
- A lot of the equipment found and bought are useless, only a select few are good
- Unlike Guardian Heroes, competitive play can't be played solo
Concept and Content: 8/10

Duration
+ The game keeps me wanting more
+ Campaign is chopped up into lots of tiny sections, perfect for on-the-go play
+ Progression is a nice and steady flow fed to the player little by little
+ Tons of modes, characters, equipment, and builds for replay value
+ Despite a very short campaign, I played the game up to 20 hours

- Very short campaign
- The game can feel repetitive after a while
Duration: 8/10

Fun
+ The opening cinematic is amazing, it really set the whole theme of the game
+ I can't get over how much I love the music within the game
+ It's a great feeling when I take on a dozen enemies at once and destroy them all
+ As bad as some of the voice acting are, I really liked all the characters
+ I was really impressed with the boss battles
+ A great deal of the time played was spent in Bonus quests, they were hard
+ Getting to play as a Dragon was a treat when no other character could win

- I really wanted to see the story and characters develop, but then the game ends
- The lag in graphics was a huge issue when fighting against a boss
- Some of the Bonus quests were incredibly frustrating/irritating/dumb (Dragon time!)
Fun: 9/10

Overall
Code of Princess is far from perfect, but ironically I would consider it a classic for the Nintendo 3DS.  Overlooking a somewhat shallow storyline, laggy graphics, and a limited list of skills and attacks, the gameplay turned out to be really fun, characters were memorable, and the art and music stands out as a prominent factor to the game's wonderful experience.  This will be one of those games I'll remember and talk about while many others will probably forget or never hear about the game.  The game is not for everyone, but those who enjoy beat-em-up games like Double Dragon, Guardian Heroes, or Dungeon Fighters Online will find an enjoyable experience with Code of Princess.  Overall: 8/10

P.S. They should totally make an animé expanding on the story and characters!