South Park: The Stick of Truth Review (PC)

The one thing that anyone who is interested in South Park: The Stick of Truth should know is that this game does not sanitize any of the content shown in the animated television series on which it is based and manages to even up the stakes significantly in a few important areas.

Farts are common, there’s plenty of swearing, many of the characters lack any sort of morality, the quests include a lot of activities that could be considered illegal, and there are implications about even worse stuff that the residents of South Park are doing to one another.

This is an adult experience through and through, and even seasoned fans of the animated universe might wonder, at some point: have developer Obsidian and cartoon creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker gone too far?

The answer is no, and South Park: The Stick of Truth manages to deliver one of the funniest gaming experiences of the past few years, filled with language and visual gags, while also creating an interesting game framework that fits in the cartoon universe.

The title is not perfect by any measure and the gameplay mechanics suffer here and there but, overall, this is an experience that’s recommended for all those who have seen more than one season of South Park and loved it and for all those who want a crash course in what the series has to offer.

Story

Cartman, the South Park character I love best, is the narrator of South Park: The Stick of Truth early on, creating a parody of a fantasy experience into which the player is thrown.

Ostensibly, the game is about a childhood play experience, complete with all the nonsense and all the high stakes that come associated with it, but it is really about exploring the cartoon town in order to meet familiar characters, deal with some interesting problems, and experience a load of funny moments.

Initially it all seems very low stake, but about six hours in something happens and the crazy imagination of the developers just explodes with new ideas and enemies.

The quests are pretty varied and there’s clear self-awareness from Obsidian that they are using some of the video game tropes that they are actually mocking at times.

The characters are rounded and stick closely to their appearances on the TV show and the game has clearly benefited from the presence of Matt Stone and Trey Parker, who have crafted quick fire and funny dialog that I never wanted to skip when experiencing it for the first time.

We are LEGION

Brother Marcion, the usurper

A quick word about the scenes that have been censored for some versions of the game: the fact that the writers took them out but then actually replaced them with clear and humorous explanations about what players could have seen is in many ways an improvement to the overall experience because of the sheer absurdity it introduces.

South Park: The Stick of Truth is not a traditional role-playing game, because it does not offer the branching paths that most titles in the genre do, but the first playthrough is incredibly rewarding, especially for gamers who are already fans.

But the focus on being constantly funny, sometimes by doing crass jokes, sometimes by setting up elaborate spoofs, makes The Stick of Truth an important game, one that shows how well other universes can be replicated in games when the original creators are involved.

Gameplay

South Park: The Stick of Truth is a role-playing game with significant action elements and there’s at least one aspect of the title that disappointed me greatly: the combat.

It is turn-based, with the player controlling his character and one buddy while the enemies can bring in bigger numbers, but it is also focused a little too much on clicking or pushing a button in order to perform a successful attack, in the vein of Japanese RPGs.

The idea was to keep the player involved with the game but, in practice, the system can be frustrating, especially because the player has to learn the sweet stop for blocks and attacks instead of focusing on his tactics.

Combat is damage-heavy and a lot of emphasis is placed on status effects and special abilities which, combined with the previous observation, means that plenty of healing potions should always be kept on hand to get through the toughest battles.

A Mongolian Horde boss fight was so annoying initially that I had to play for another hour, get some new gear and skills, and then come back to finally complete it.

The map of South Park itself is easy to navigate and filled with all the landmarks fans are expecting and with a lot of the characters they love.

Play Video

The quest structure is also solid and allows the player to explore and fight without having to worry too much about objectives at any turn, and there’s a lot of content to search for, including Pokemon-like creatures.

Obsidian has also created a superb and funny spoof of a social platform in order to centralize all player statistics and interactions, which is especially amusing when celebrity friends are introduced.

One of the biggest issues with the game is the fact that it is not party-based, which is surprising, given that this is one of the traditional strengths of the Obsidian team.

Gamers can take one other character, from an extensive range of choices, with them in order to help during battles but there’s no way to upgrade their skills, determine what abilities they use, or influence their general attitude towards the player.

The entire experience could have been much improved had I been able to create actual parties, and the entire replayability of South Park: The Stick of Truth would have benefited.

Graphics and audio

South Park: The Stick of Truth manages to replicate the look of the television show on which it is based almost completely, and all the elements that Obsidian has added to the game seem authentic, from the design of weapons and armor to the new zones they have created.

The aim here is not to deliver high-quality graphics with complex effects and a lot of lens flare, but to make sure that fans of the cartoon feel familiar with the town and the characters they meet.

One of the best-designed elements of the entire game is the faux social network that serves as the menu and the area where players are able to check out their map and get info on their character and their quests.

Battle is engaged

Redeemer to the front

The voice work is also superb, which makes sense given that original creators Stone and Parker are involved, and every sound in South Park: The Stick of Truth makes sense within the universe of the show.

The music does not manage to impress on an equal level, mostly because it’s a bit too generic fantasy to feel like it makes full sense to exist in the crazy minds of the South Park kids.

The Good

The Bad

Conclusion