South Park: The Stick of Truth Review

 We're going down to South Park to have ourselves a time with Obsidian Entertainment's South Park: The Stick of Truth for the Playstation 3, Xbox 360 and PC. This game has certainly been a long time coming with its multiple delays and the loss of the original publisher, delaying it even further. But ultimately, the long awaited South Park video game has come full circle into a well written, thought out game to give us the South Park game fans deserve. But even if you're not a fan of the show, this game asks the question, "Does South Park: The Stick of Truth offer something more than raunchy humor?" 

Well let's start with the story of our quest.

Behold the Stick of Truth.

The epic quest to become cool starts with the creation of your very own South Park character, a new kid who just moved into town. After moving in your new home, your parents tell you to go outside and start making friends with the other kids of the neighborhood. Stepping outside, you instantly hear Paladin Butters calling for help. After the battle, he'll become your friend through Facebook and show you over to Grand Wizard Cartman's  house and the Kupa Keep Kingdom (Cartmans backyard). Here you'll be introduced to its many residents like Ranger Scott Malkinson and Princess Kenny and of course you'll be shown the mightiest weapon in all the land, The Stick of Truth. It is said whoever controls the stick, controls the universe. It is at that point when the town's druid elves suddenly attack, and attempt to steal the almighty Stick. After defending Kupa Keep against the attack, it's discovered the Stick of Truth was stolen during the fight and now it's up to you to reclaim the Stick of Truth and discover who the culprit was. Of course the mysteries around the fated weapon may also lead to other secrets even bigger than the Stick of Truth itself.

From left to right: Princess Kenny, Paladin Butters, Grand Wizard Cartman, Warrior Stan and Jimmy the Bard.

The video game unfolds much like the episodes "Imaginationland" or "Console Wars" where one episode plays only a single part within a stronger trilogy. What this narrative does so well, besides its over-the-top scenarios, is making the player feel like the most important person in this digital world. South Park: The Stick of Truth immerses players into the make believe world. It's a symphony of nostalgia when a game can bring you back to an age where knights stood bold in hand-me-down football equipment; cardboard armor and flatware became mighty weapons and catalysts for epic battles with your friends. South Park: The Stick of Truth exemplifies Trey Parker and Matt Stone's writing prowess. But a video game, despite how strong its narrative may be, also rests with its game mechanics. And I bet you're wondering how those mechanics work in this turn-based action RPG, poop-throwing game.

He's super cereal.

Gameplay may be broken down in several ways. First, players venture through the overworld of South Park much like a point and click adventure (think Secret on Monkey Island where players are able to interact with many of the citizens and other objects of the town.) This may lead players to explore every nook and cranny just to see how the world reacts. While knocking over a snowman may make the kid building it plenty sad, interacting with a tree that holds one of the many collectible Chinpokomon figures is incredibly satisfying. Also, players can unlock perks for their protagonist by talking to the residents of South Park and adding them on Facebook. Interacting with some of the objects can even help defeat a group of enemies. For example, you might see an ash tray with a lighted cigarette just above a box full of fireworks; players may knock over the ash tray causing the fireworks to explode and simultaneously taking out a room full of enemies. But let's say you skip the theatrics of fireworks and find your party forced to fight a group of enemies. Combat is handled in the style of turn-based, action gameplay with cues for timed attacks that can deal more damage or block enemy attacks, similar to Paper Mario. 

Which will you choose?

Upon being introduced to Cartman, you are given a choice of which class of you want to play. There are four classes to choose from: Fighter, Mage, Thief and, it wouldn't be South Park if Cartman didn't make fun of this, the Jew class. Each class has their own play style. The fighter can hold heavy armor and strong weapons. The mage can use a array of special magic-based attacks. The thief is able to debuff enemies and apply status effects and the Jew can utilize powerful abilities dealing multiple hits to all the enemies on the field.

You will also have an ally following you throughout South Park. Butters is able to transform into Professor Chaos, Kenny rides a unicorn but can be killed if the corresponding button isn't pressed, Jimmy can weaken enemies through song, Kyle can kick his baby brother, Ike, at an enemy, Stan releases his dog Sparky to piss on enemies, and Cartman, using the curse word chip from the movie, shocks enemies in a flurry of tantrum-induced expletives. Players can switch between any of them to make use of their unique abilities. There are also summons that you can get by finding certain characters or finishing certain sidequests. The summons, while not effective in a boss battle, are all very powerful. Summons can wipe away all enemies but can only be used once per day.

Sorcerer Hanky the Christmas Poo! 

As raunchy as this game is (and this is South Park so be prepared for a lot of adult content), the graphics are perfect. Being based on the South Park franchise, it uses the same art style and animation software used to make the episodes thus making it look just like the show. The presentation is top notch. Obsidian really used the South Park license effectively to include as many references to the show as possible and many of the citizens that live in the small town of Colorado. If you're a fan of South Park, you'll see many jokes used from the seventeen seasons like the Okama Gamesphere to the Jennifer Lopez "Taco-Flavored Kisses" from a radio. It's all there for anyone who is a seasonal fan of South Park.

Now there were a few problems with The Stick of Truth that I've encountered. For one, upon installing the game in my PS3 the file was immediately corrupted forcing me to re-install the game. The game also froze during the tutorials, forcing me reload the file again. However, after those incidents this problem never came up again. My playthroughs were littered with a few audio hiccups too. The dialogue would cut out while character mouths continued to move during some cutscenes. There seems to be an issue with dropping framerates. Upon travelling into a new area,  the framerate would drop for only a few seconds and then immediately pick back up to normal. South Park: The Stick of Truth is also a very easy game. I put about a good twelve to thirteen hours into this game and that includes accomplishing many of the sidequests and looking for everything. I only had about five or so game over screens that popped up from bosses that caught me off guard the first try, so players might not get that real challenge one expects from an RPG like Bravely Default.

South Park: The Stick of Truth will keep you smiling and laughing with its crude jokes and raunchy humor. Trey Parker and Matt Stone crafted a narrative that's as over the top as any episode from the television series. The Stick of Truth is the South Park game fans have been waiting for. But even if players aren't amused by its sometimes offensive and absurd jokes, the in-depth RPG mechanics structures around the game, consequently leading to to strategic battles with fun abilities. The make-believe world of the South Park kids brings that nostalgia of childhood exploration and  imagination to a contemporary and raunchy medium that is both fun and hilarious. And who knows, you might even become a fan of the show while playing.

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