South Park: The Stick of Truth. Does it Suck, or Kick Ass?

 

     Video games based on movies, television shows or other existing IPs have a notorious history, and rightly so. The ratio of bad to good experiences is heavily one sided toward the negative. There are occasional exceptions to every rule. Every so often the plethora of agonizing games such as Superman 64 or Shaq Fu is put to even more shame by an outstanding adaptation ala X-Men Origins: Wolverine, the Batman Arkham series, or Star Wars: Force Unleashed. South Park: The Stick of Truth is far and away one of the best video game adaptations of existing source material ever to come forth.

     The game takes place over three days in the small little mountain town of the long running series. You play primarily as the new kid that just moved into town, but you interact with every staple character of the show, and the more obscure ones too. The boys are playing a quasi Dungeons and Dragons style game with Cartman and Kyle leading opposing forces, naturally. Other standard outrageous South Park beats happen throughout the campaign, including appearances by aliens, government agents and Al Gore. It all centers around who possesses the Stick of Truth, and with it the world. The story starts out with the kids playing their game, and quickly escalates to armageddon level nuclear war with zombie Nazis, you know, the usual.

     The game is at its core a turn-based RPG, which I’ll admit I’m not usually a fan of. You pick one of four character classes, each with its own unique set of upgradeable special attacks. One of the other main boy characters is by your side almost the entire game, each with his own special attack. As you gain each boy as a buddy you have the option to switch between the six sidekicks on the fly or during combat.

     Potions are collected for usual things like restoring health or gaining boosts in combat. You’ll loot chests and fallen adversaries for junk items to sell and patches that you can stick onto weapons and armor to enhance them. There’s a wealth of character alteration items too, like hairstyles, beards and facial features. 

     What makes Stick of Truth great is that it looks and feels exactly like South Park. The show is known for having a crude animation style, which is no small feat in itself considering each episode is written, voiced, animated, scored and edited in six days. You never once feel like you’re experiencing something that Trey Parker and Matt Stone didn’t have direct input on. Its a testament to the duo for overseeing what could have been a dismal game, and also to Obsidian Entertainment for pulling off such a rare feat.

     If you are a fan of the show and have seen every episode then you’ll get even the tiniest of references littered throughout the game. The ability to walk around South Park's streets and interact with the over 100 characters all while taking in what could easily be an elongated episode or sequel to the Bigger, Longer, Uncut movie is reason enough to play the game. More than that, Stick of Truth is the definition of a love letter to fans. There are so many cringe worthy moments without the limitations of cable television censors. The game is actually censored in a few countries around the world, but in trademark Matt and Trey style. So if you’re easily offended you better turn away now. Stick of Truth is so good that its few faults stick out like sore thumbs. There is some minor frame rate dipping if you hold down the run button to traverse the town with speed. One particular room in the game has major slowdown which I experienced in both my playthroughs. There has been a second update on Xbox 360 since the game released, but it didn't seem to fix any of these glaring technical issues.

     The only other gripe worth mentioning is the smattering of on screen prompts used for a few tutorials and other quick time event scenes. Even though they are basic, they fail to convey exactly what you need to do, and you’ll find yourself wondering what you are doing wrong. Even worse is that the game forces you to sit through the same tutorial or leadup exposition each time you fail. After the 10th time in a row hearing Randy tell you that you’re doing it wrong and having to sit through him showing you again, you’ll end up cursing the screen like a v-chipped Cartman for interrupting an otherwise fantastic experience. 

     If you enjoy things like Man Bear Pig, the fabled journey of Lemmiwinks, anal probes or hearing Butters talk about getting titty twisters, then I can’t recommend South Park: The Stick of Truth any higher. This is the quintessential South Park game, and one that every movie or television property based game will be judged against from here forward.

Final Verdict: Kicks Ass! 9/10

Written by: fluoddity