Code of Princess

It brings many great ideas, but not all of them are successfully applied. Anyway, it's entertaining and addictive, and will have you playing for a long time if you like the genre.

While solid as a brawler in the tradition of Guardian Heroes with added roleplaying elements Code of Princess shines when it comes to the absurd, funny and sometimes plain silly characters and story.

Code of Princess is a good beat 'em up that focuses all his attention towards the Campaign mode. The lack of an intriguing storyline and some multiplayer problems make this buy an interesting one but only for die-hards of the genre.

Code of Princess is a good brawler game which resembles the iconic Guardian Heroes from Treasure. The combat system is both easy and interesting and grants enough fun to entertain any kind of player. Few issues with the multiplayer modes ruin the experience, but the final result is still good enough.

Code of Princess is a fun and funny fantasy brawler that's unfortunately hampered by technical issues.

Code of Princess provides an excellent means of satisfying the reptile-brain impulses within me, and like many other games in this genre it will be there whenever I need a sudden adrenaline boost. That makes it a difficult game to recommend for anyone without a reptilian brain that sometimes demands relief, but it satisfies the urge to concuss everything in sight splendidly.

Code of Princess is a fun and frantic action adventure for the 3DS, one that often provides plenty of excitement-but which, at other times, feels limited either in design or by the hardware it calls home.

Code of Princess is still a solid game for the 3DS. Its marriage of role-playing and fighting elements with the traditional beat-'em-up framework adds a satisfying layer of depth to the genre, and the ability to play co-operatively or competitively with your friends helps stave off some of the repetition of its missions. It may not be the biggest release of the year, but that doesn't mean it's any less worthy of your attention.

Beyond the winning localization and expert voice acting, though, playing through this adventure just felt lacking – its various unique ideas and innovations never came together to create a real sense of fun.

There's some playability at the core of the game for those who enjoy mindless, droll beat 'em ups, so Code of Princess isn't the worst game out there for the 3DS, but for $40 you can do a lot better.

On the surface this game seems to have it all. Good graphics, a nice soundtrack and awesome gameplay. On the other hand the framerate is not constant and the game offers no deep storyline. Still it is a nice game to play in between of the big titles.

Code of Princess is flawed by annoying technical and gameplay issues that don't really live up to the Guardian Heroes legacy everyone was hoping for.

This could have been good, but the visual chaos on-screen is really a shame.

Code of Princess looks and sounds brill, but the shallow nature of its hack 'n' slash action lets it down greatly.

It's a tribute act: one that initially delights through recognition, but ultimately feels hollow and counterfeit.

As a spiritual successor to Guardian Heroes this somehow manages to copy all of the flaws and leave out half of the positives, but it's still a fun beat 'em-up all the same.

Its presentation is good, but its shallow gameplay is boring. Apparently, even the dev team knew that, as they decided to cover up the mess with fake RPG elements.

A high-quality localization and a wealth of content, however, can't make up for a gameplay experience that quickly grows stale.

Like Lady Zozo, its heart is in the right place, but its arms and legs are on backwards and inside out. Too monotonous to be entertaining.

A royal pain in the ass. [June 2013, p.83]