Review by: Meghan Watt

The twisted transformation of fairytale characters into blabbering, bloodthirsty terrors is a fine gimmick, trailing back to the days of Grimm but once the novelty wears off, knifing your way through waves of gingerbread villains in this brutal hack-and-slash platformer becomes surprisingly droll.

When I first learned of this sadistic wonder, I imagined that slashing apart Snow White's forest friends and skating across gooey puddles of blood as a bouncy little girl or butt-naked emperor would be oddly appealing, and it is. A few flicks of the thumbstick is all it takes to bash the enemy to a pulp, and there are countless weapons strewn about the levels with which to do it. Unfortunately, the funnier weapons, like the cuckoo clock or chicken on a stick, don't deal near as much damage as the more practical kind, say a sword or lance - a terrible lapse of judgment for Playlogic.

The ease of combat, however, is countered by countless enemy waves and a unique talent for dying – unseen since the days of NES. When you die, and you will at least two dozen times per chapter, you lose one of your two equipped weapons and a good portion of the wealth you collected from deceased foes. You will then respawn exactly where you died, which is most likely in the center of twenty axe-wielding lumberjacks or directly over a pit of spikes. Die again, and you lose your other weapon and another pile of gold. Now you get to fight with your tiny princess fists. Good luck.

Add this to the challenges of platforming and the oft-askew field of depth, and you get Playlogic's version of a “storybook ending.” With very lengthy levels and the same repetitive gameplay from one fairytale landscape to the next, either you'll call it quits before the fourth chapter or your right thumb will break off.

Perhaps worst of all, the game doesn't reward you with anything but Xbox Achievements or PS3 Trophies. Ironically, there's hardly any storytelling, the wealth you collect during levels can be used only to build a statue in Taleville – a graphical representation of the main menu – and there are no unlocks. With only four playable fairytale characters, I would have imagined you could perhaps unlock Cinderella or Goldilocks for the online arena battles. But seeing as there have been literally zero people in matchmaking every time I've checked, it doesn't really matter anyhow.

As a hack-and-slash platformer, Fairytale Fights could have been a success. On top of a consistent and admittedly appealing theme, it has all the right ingredients to fit the genre: countless weapons, challenging levels and 4-player co-op. But with repetitive gameplay and unrewarding challenges, this title falls very, very short of becoming the next Castle Crashers.