If you are curious as to how similar South Park: The Stick of Truth is to the show that spawned it, I have some anecdotal evidence that seems to say ‘very’. Before I begin a big thank you to Xbox who provided the game for a review on AbsoluteGaming. One of the first notable things I did in the game was to explore the bathroom, whereby I was able to sit upon the toilet and mash ‘A’ to poop, after which I was able to collect my waste to sell later on. Suffice to say, TSoT lives and dies on its humour; if you’re not already a fan of the long-running cartoon, you won’t find anything here to convince you otherwise. For those already sold, feel free to read on…
TSoT threatened to never be released – it suffered a protracted development period and had enough delays that would have crippled many a game. Perhaps it was due to the South Park creators’ hands-on approach that kept its head above waters. Matt Parker and Trey Stone wrote the story for the game and were involved from the early stages of development, which is clear upon seeing the attention to detail throughout the game. The world is lovingly recreated and fans of the series will no doubt find great pleasure in exploring the town and visiting all the locations, including the houses of all the most popular characters. The voice acting is all present, and I found myself going from smiling to genuine laughter on hearing Cartman explaining the rules to this fantasy world.
For TSoT is an RPG, and an old-school one at that. The kids – including Stan, Kyle, Butters, Tweek and many others – having taken the worlds of the Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones to heart, pitting themselves in a war between humans and elves over the titular Stick of Truth, an item which allows the wielder to control the universe. As the new kid on the block, you get to pick between 4 classes: Warrior, Mage, Thief, and of course, Jew (with Cartman adding that should you pick the latter class, the two of you cannot be friends). Fighting is turn based, allowing you to use an item followed by your attack. It’s a familiar system for anyone who has played older instalments of the Final Fantasy series, with the possibility of increasing damage and defence with well-timed button presses. Though combat can take a few fights to adjust to, it’s more a case of not being afraid to use all the potions and buffs you have at your disposal to make each fight as easy as possible.
The story and the side missions that accompany it take in many of the events that are immediately recognisable from the series. You’ll help the owner of the City Wok defeat a horde of Mongols, escape from an anal probing alongside loveable oaf Randy (note: this portion of the game, along with an abortion scene later on, were two of the parts banned from the European part of the game) and fight Nazis before you reach the end. The game is knowingly self-aware and revels in poking fun at RPG tropes and games in general: in one section, you find audio logs where the narrator questions why he is even recording himself when he’s in perilous danger.
With the visuals expertly matching that of the show, along with a hilarious script, Obsidian and South Park’s co-creators have done a fantastic job of effectively dropping you into an interactive episode. Yet this is more than the what, say, TellTale have done with the Walking Dead game: the fighting, combined with the customisations options regarding weapons and armour, and the shades of gameplay that are actually part platformer and action/adventure, all point to a real desire for this licence to be used to its full potential. While the main missions’ story may feel short, clocking in at under 15 hours, it’s testament to the game that you won’t even be concerned, such is the enjoyment to be had while you explore and interact with a host of your most loved South Park creations.
