Come On Down To South Park… | South Park: The Stick of Truth Review

After a multitude of delays, South Park: The Stick of Truth is finally here. The South Park franchise has a variety of different games including racers, platformers, and tower defense games. With South Park: The Stick of Truth being a more traditional RPG; does it hold up to other games in the genre or does this stand alone? For some, this is the first big release in the year. So don’t forget to bring a towel, because here’s the review.

Friendly Faces Everywhere, Humble Folk Without Temptation

South Park: The Stick of Truth is just about what any fan of South Park would want in a game. The plot of the game revolves around the new kid in town, the silent protagonist played and created by the player. The new kid is introduces himself to the neighborhood after he’s ordered by his parents to make new friends around town. He is soon introduced to the Wizard King, Eric Cartman and the boys’ make-believe role-playing game of Elves vs. Humans. Here the player chooses one of four classes, Fighter, Mage, Thief, and the unorthodox class of Jew. Over the course of the game, the new kid gets involved in the conflict over the Stick of Truth, meets Al Gore, gets shrunken by the underwear elves, and abducted by aliens…And these are the some of the more normal things that happen to him. He’s sent off on mission after mission around the town of South Park, and even an 8-Bit version of Canada.

One of the nice things about the game is creation of your character. Although slightly limited at the beginning, collecting items such as facial hair, wigs, or getting a makeover to look like a girl will allow the character to look like a South Park version of yourself…Or anyone you so desire. The gender of the character is only male, as the girls of South Park have their own part to play in the conflict. Still, as the new kid it might be more fitting to some gamers if they had a true female South Park version of themselves running along side the boys.

Don’t ask why Kenny wanted to be a chick, its just how he’s rolling right now.

As far as gameplay, South Park: The Stick of Truth plays out much like a traditional turned-based role-playing game. Each character gets one attack using either melee, ranged, or special attacks. Each class and companion have their own special attacks, with every attack involving a set of commands to make the attack more powerful. Timing is everything with the attacks, so if the player hits the wrong button or if the timing is off, the attack or block isn’t as powerful or effective at all. It’s all very simple system in place, especially to those that are completely new or unfamiliar with the genre.

Magic attacks are basically special farts the player uses to destroy environments or distract other characters in the player’s way. Abilities such as shooting, the probe teleport, dwarf dust, and buddy commands are given or earned throughout the game. Each ability helps the player solve puzzles, or access areas the player can’t reach by normal means. Each ability and magic also helps kill or defeat enemies before combat is initiated, to either avoid the conflict or make it easier on the player. For more skilled players, the normal difficulty setting isn’t all that harsh on players either. Sure the players might die a few times, but carrying enough health potions or healing items goes a long way in surviving longer fights.

Lets Fighting Love

South Park: The Stick of Truth is about as close to being a representation to the television show as you can get. From the in-game animation (which looks like an actual episode), to the very strange scenarios that play out through the course of the story. It is hard to resist singing along or at least smiling to the songs from episodes’ past playing in the buildings of the business district. The open world will allow the player to prolong the near 10-12 hour story mode to explore to pick up random collectables, fight off enemies, make Facebook friends, and just explore from the boys’ homes and other areas.

Where South Park: The Stick of Truth shines is also where some gamers might find some faults. The biggest being that if you are not a fan of the show or raunchy, gross-out humor; this game is definitely not for you. Again, getting abducted by aliens might be one of the more tame things to happen in a game where a battle happens on the bed of the in-game parents, while they’re having sex. Those looking for a hardcore RPG won’t find much here, considering the map in the game is considerably smaller than other games they’ve grown accustomed to seeing and exploring. If you’ve never watched an episode of the show, some call backs to the show will definitely go over your head.

TIMMY!

The game is a tribute to the show and is something of a tribute for the longtime fans of the show; and some fans that tune in for a few seasons at a time, but recognize the classic moments. It does all this while creating new moments that will make the player laugh or cringe with disgust…Sometimes both at the same time. The Stick of Truth is filled with the raunchy, gross-out humor one would expect from the creators of the show. So if you’re a fan of the game, you’ll feel right at home here.

To be honest, South Park: The Stick of Truth is a fun game. While the combat is simple, the most rewarding part of it is all the animations and the sweet sense of relief knowing you timed a special attack just right, adding extra damage to a tough enemy. The humor in the game might turn some away, but if it’s your kind of humor, The Stick of Truth is one of the funniest (and strangest) games you’ll play. Though it isn’t a 300 some odd hour experience of bigger games, players might feel compelled to go back and try it again under a different class to see their strengths, weaknesses, and special attacks play out. In the end South Park: The Stick of Truth is a great game from the novice to the most experienced RPG fans, that happen to love the South Park show.

Final Verdict: South Park: The Stick of Truth gets 8 thrown farts out of 10

This review is based on a retail copy of the Playstation 3 version of South Park: The Stick of Truth by Obsidian Entertainment distributed by Ubisoft.