South Park The Stick of Truth Review.
Developer Obsidian
Publisher Ubisoft
Platform PS3, Xbox360 & PC.
Release Date Out Now.
When a South Park game was first announced it was met with equal measures of excitement and trepidation. Not only have previous South Park game not been ground breaking but generally licensed games are quite poor. Those fears started to subside when we learnt that Trey Parker and Matt Stone would be heavily involved and Obsidian who have pedigree with RPG’s would be developing it.
Happily we can report that South Park the Stick of Truth is very good, not only does it bring the hilarity of a South Park episode but it is a very enjoyable game too. Perhaps it does get an easier ride because it is South Park and they recognize and acknowledge the areas that don’t work with typical humor.
You can expect all the well-known jokes from the long running series to make an appearance, Al Gore is back with Man Bear Pig. Mr. Slave, anal Probes, Mr Hanky all mixed with a lot of jokes aimed at gamers. Both Parker and Stone are gamers themselves and this allows them to poke fun at games and gamers alike. This is all mixed with the endless charm of allowing kids imaginations run wild.
You begin your journey as the New Kid, you have just arrived in town and your first quest is to go out and meet some Friends. Butters is playing outside his house and is the first of the main character you run into. He invites you to visit with the Wizard King (Cartman) and from here you adventure begins. He explains that there is an epic battle ongoing between the humans and the Elves over the “Stick of Truth”, this powerful artifact allows its holder ultimate power over the universe.
Taking much from the Black Friday trilogy this premise works and more importantly allows the story to work in a game setting. The game is an RPG with turn based combat, and even though turn based combat is terrible they manage to get away with it because it suits the characters and gameplay.
There is plenty to collect and unlock throughout the town with the majority of the show’s characters making it into the game at some point. The town itself allows for a lot of exploring for collectables for the completionists or just for the fans to be able to walk around South Park town as this is the first time it has been laid out in this manner. You can visit well known locations and each and everyone of them is stuffed with hilarity.
Visually the game looks just like an episode, there is no need for a graphical options as it looks perfect even on last gen machines or PC. The controls are simple and intuitive and generally the game is just nice to play.
The main selling point is the game is hilarious and not just the old jokes from the show as they have created a lot of new content. You will smile when Timmy collects you in his cart or when Butters offers his healing touch and pats you on the back, and laugh out loud at the more outrageous jokes that are not for the faint hearted.
Overall: A really good game that is made even better by the South Park license, many of the short comings such as turn based combat can be forgiven simply because it is so much fun to play, something other games would not get away with. The game took around 20 hours to complete and with further collecting that could be pushed out by another 5 hours and the whole time I played with a huge dumb smile on my face.
Score 4.5/5
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