South Park: The Stick of Truth

By: Robert Murphy

This game is absolutely ridiculous. I just had to get that out there before I even start this review as I’ve been playing through South Park: The Stick of Truth. Despite the shows 17 yearlong span, South Park to this day still makes me laugh and proves to be sharp and as messed up as ever, this also carries over into the RPG style gameplay of Stick of Truth. From the very beginning it will feel like you are playing right through an episode of the show making your own character and traveling through the colorful town of South Park. From Al Gore to Mr.Slave, everybody makes an appearance in the game and they all don’t rehash old glories and humor but make new witty situations and fun to be had, you will undoubtedly be on the floor with just how far the game will go.

The story follows your character who is the new kid to town and almost immediately digs into the action once you step out the door. All the kids in town are taking place in a LARPing event that references the Game of Thrones parody episodes some of you may have seen this past season and lets you join in on the fun either on the human side with Cartman or the elven side with Kyle. The childish and imaginative game for control of The Stick of Truth though quickly escalates as it often does in South Park with Aliens, government agencies with snukes and Nazi zombies eating people in the streets. You will travel all around the town and Canada as well battling the various different enemies that pop up in a turn based style with an iconic member such as Kyle, Stan and more as your secondary companion. The game really does a great job of adding classic role playing elements like health potions and PP powers and making them regular things such as drinking a Red Bull to gain PP for your special attacks. Also we see hilarious moments from the show come up in combat such as one of Butters special moves turns him into Professor Chaos and allows him to unleash devastating attacks. It is a fairly simple mechanic to get use to but allows for some tactics to be involved in the gameplay especially with some of the tougher boss fights you’ll face in the game.

Players get to choose from four different types of classes, Fighter, Thief, Mage and the *ahem* Jew class each coming with their own set of special skills but each class offers very little in the way of different ways to play the game. The special abilities that you’ll use your PP for will vary but other than that there are no limitations in the classes or unique weapons that players can choose from when they are when class and not the other and this may prevent you from playing the game over again. Whatever race you do choose though does get to have a selection of customizable outfits and colorful and fun weapons to choose from such as the ManBearPig Club which I thoroughly enjoyed using. The number of ways you can customize your character is something that I don’t usually go for but was fun here with things like the Goth clothes and facial features like the ball chin and others. Your clothing and weaponry can be advanced even further by using patches that can be gained throughout the game and add various perks to your weapons and gear such as stealing health when an opponent is bleeding or gaining PP for a perfect attack.

What really is a charming element to The Stick of Truth though are the references that the game has to its shows 17 yearlong span. Everywhere through South Park you will find references to something that has happened in the shows past whether it be the junk you collect or visiting characters homes and seeing things like Cartman’s A.W.E.S.O.M.E-O robot outfit, there are hundreds of classic reference riddled through the game and it’s great to relive and remember all of those moments. You may spend hours exploring around the town if you’re a hardcore fan of the show and almost every spot in town has something to do in with a side quest featuring some character such Mr.Hankey and more. Oh and if you’re worried about getting around town and constantly drudging about trying to get everywhere there’s no need to worry because the game features a nice and easy fast travel system where Timmy can take you to a spot you need to be or close enough to it.

It’s been a long time since I’ve laid my hands on a South Park game and initially I neither had high hopes for the game nor an interest in even picking it up but I am very pleased that I did once I started playing The Stick of Truth. The entire game feels like one long crazy episode of the show and doesn’t try and use the tired lines that you know but makes a great story to follow while still adding all those past elements to the game as well. Although you may feel the need to only play through the game once, you will have a great time doing so with the same off color and outrageous humor that South Park is legendarily known for.

Good:

-A simple but enjoyable RPG style gameplay

-Hardcore fans of the show will absolutely love the game for the old and the new humor

-Feels like one long crazy episode that you get to play through

-Character customization is vast and fun to use

Bad:

-A onetime play through sadly due to not a big class difference or limitation

Scully Rating: 9.0 out of 10