Monsters (Probably) Stole my Princess is a distillation of the platforming genre into a focused couple hours of gaming. The Duke’s princess has been stolen and this nefarious deed was (probably) committed by monsters, so The Duke heads off to their towers, one by one, to bring them down (since monsters would never admit to stealing princesses so their denial can’t be trusted).

Once it’s clear that his awesomeness means business the monsters flee up into their towers. You must now (as the player controlling the Duke himself) ascend up their tower by jumping from platform to platform, and once you catch up with the monster you must double jump into them. Do this three times and the monster will be taken down (literally, to the ground). That’s pretty much the game in a nutshell, but where it gains a solid amount of replay value is in the scoring system and the drive to take down monsters with just a little more style each time.

The platforming controls are tight and feel just right. The only button you have is the jump button, and the only movement controls are left and right, but the timing of your double-jumps and the fine control over the Duke’s movements are vitally important. As you land on each platform your combo-counter goes up by one, and it continues going up as long as you never land on the same platform twice. This means one mistake costs a huge amount in terms of points so it makes precision of ultimate importance if you’re to earn the coveted gold medal.

What makes it even more difficult is that hitting the monster with your double jump can sometimes knock you in an unexpected direction, leading to a restart (since if you’re combo’s messed up you might as well restart the level). It’s the type of gaming where you repeat yourself over and over and over again until you get it right. That is, if you want to get any value out of the game – the story mode will only take you about half an hour to complete, the rest of the time will be spent repeating story mode levels to try get a gold medal or taking on the score attack levels.

Monsters (Probably) Stole my Princess has a great sense of humour and obviously doesn’t take itself too seriously. During the strangely long load times it will give you tips like: “Attract Princesses by being awesome and wearing a cape.” This kind of advice is priceless and greatly increases the value of the game. I won’t give away all the tips or the game creators will be coming after me.

The game is essentially a one trick pony: jump from platform to platform as well as you can. That’s not a bad thing because it doesn’t outstay its welcome, being a PSP Mini that can be played on the PS3 and priced accordingly. However, if you’re not the type to challenge for high scores and in-game trophies then I can’t recommend it. It’s also unforgiving and requires a lot of repetition to pull off the perfect execution and score high, but it is rewarding when the planets align and you score that gold medal.

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