South Park: The Stick of Truth

PUBLISHER: Ubisoft

DEVELOPER: Obsidian/SPS
Played on: PS3
Initial impression: Sweet...

Liked:
- Story
- Visuals
- Music

Disliked:
- Repetition
- Overall 'Rushed' Feeling
- Thematic Breakdown

On The Fence:
- DLC?

"Maybe we started to rely on Microsoft and Sony so much that we forgot that all we need to play are the simplest things. Like, like this. [grabs a stick from the ground] We could just play with this. Screw video games, dude! Who fuckin' needs them?!" 

-Eric Cartman

Episode 246: Titties And Dragons

In the best viral marketing I've seen in a long time, South Park creators Matt & Trey had a three-part Game of Thrones/Console Wars parody that ended with an advertisement for this game. Years in the making (I want to believe it started with the LOTR parody episode), they finally had it ready... and it was SWEET.

This is totally what it's like, you guys...

Likes
The tale has you, the new kid in town, learning who your neighbors and new friends are, all through an extended Live-Action Role Playing game of which apparently all the boys in town are taking part. Doesn't matter what you look like or what your name is (but, let's be clear, you're a boy... no girls allowed), they'll take you in because you're one of them. You gather friends on Facebook (that's what the menu and inventory screen is based on!) and there's even an achievement or two for getting popular. Like any other standard RPG, you have a 'party' of friends traveling with you, but in combat you can only use one of them (2 on your side, up to 4 on the enemy side). Each 'buddy' has special abilities that tie to them - Butters can invoke his Professor Chaos persona, while Kyle has a lot of Jewish-themed moves. The gameplay, visuals and dialog are as if you're watching a multiple part episode story arc on Comedy Central. Everything in the world looks, sounds and feels like it does on the show. The medieval fantasy inspired music interjected with familiar pieces from the beginning of the show's existence remind me of the old LucasArts IMUSE system.

Your first friend is Butters. This isn't even a spoiler as it happens about 2 minutes into the game.

Dislikes
The few things I didn't like seem a little nit-picky. Dialog in fights are incredibly repetitious, especially when you're using the same supporting characters and their special abilities often. I swear if I hear the Professor Chaos intro again I'm going to be ill.

I felt at one point that I was being rushed from plot point to plot point, and as a result I was missing out on some of the more subtle things happening in the game universe. I learned to just ignore my main quest line on the second play through (I'm about half-way through that). It's not really a race to the end, and the game is short enough without running straight to the main quest points.

Then there's thematic breakdown of equipment. "What is thematic breakdown?," you might ask. It's when a game is created with a very specific theme, but then factors are introduced that chip away at the set theme in a way that makes it lose the original spark. This game suffers from it in that the gear you use quickly becomes unthematic. At first, you are dressed appropriately for a kid's interpretation of medieval fantasy, but as you level up and outgrow the usefulness of that equipment, you can only replace it with stuff like SWAT gear. I think they should have had a system in place where you take the 'found' items (i.e. SWAT gear) to the kid playing an armorer to alter it into the appropriate style. The only other system I think they should have introduced as an alternative is to have a 'gear' loadout and a 'cosmetic' loadout, like what LOTRO has. This way your cosmetic could look right, but your stats are coming from your actual gear.

On The Fence
This DLC rant involves two things: Pre-order DLC and the dangling carrot of more content. Dangling carrot first: I'll say it. This game was short. Really short. Arkham City short. inFamous 2 short. So short that you might not feel pleased for spending $60 on it. But never fear - They claim that DLC is on the way, including more quests! Hordes of people online are bitching about it being content that was supposed to be in the game that they removed to offer as DLC. Some speculate that it's unfinished levels, and that Obsidian wanted to see how the game was received before bothering with polishing them. Whatever. Just give me more to do and I'll be happy.

Now the Pre-Order DLC. I'll admit it. I pre-ordered to get the three exclusive costumes, and they were great. They looked awesome and weren't too overpowered for the level in which I was using them. That said, I really wish I could have used them for more than a level or two. I out-leveled their usefulness in about a half hour.

This is what I got. The Fellowship Pack is thematic and great, while the other set is silly but fits SP.

In Conclusion
If you're a South Park super fan, you already have this game. If you're a slightly more casual fan (like me) you should totally check this game out. If it's been a while since you've watched South Park, do yourself a favor and catch up on the episodes before firing this game up. The amount of in-jokes that span the entire rub of the show is ridiculous and hilarious.

I'm hoping they listen to fans and come out with DLC or a new game that changes the Fantasy RP to the Super Hero (Coon & Friends) RP. That would be awesome.

PARENT WARNING: This game is crude in both visuals and dialog. It's NOT SAFE to play around kids, nor is it safe for kids to play. I don't care if they have watched the show. This is the equivalent of the raunchiest Tarantino-written R rated film, except it's now in interactive format.