A new kid moves to South Park and is forced to gather friends on Facebook by his sub-standard parents. This kid finds himself involved in a local game that stretches the entirety of South Park. It is orchestrated by none other than the resident all around dick, Eric Cartman. He quickly names the new kid “Douchebag” and proceeds to order him about as his King to take down the Elves faction. It doesn’t take long before this game spirals out of control and dips into the lives of every citizen in South Park.
South Park: The Stick of Truth is undoubtedly a creation of Matt Stone and Trey Parker. I haven’t watched South Park in years, but I was immediately taken in by the crass, crude, rude, but incredibly intelligent, and topical comedy of the series. This is by far one of the funniest and enjoyable video game stories of the RPG genre. In essence, you are playing a game within a game, and the kids of South Park will constantly remind you of it with hilarious comments.
Most of us know that South Park as a series is hilarious, but the last couple of games have not been able to convey that hilarity properly. South Park: The Stick of Truth takes the turn-based controls of RPG titles like Final Fantasy, and throws in timing events to keep the player behind the controller involved. Special moves can be activated by rotating the analog stick, holding down key buttons and releasing them at the right time, or tapping buttons rapidly to dish out a wave of damage.
You can choose from four classes – The Fighter, The Mage, The Thief, and The Jew. Each class comes with its own set of talents and fighting styles. Let’s use The Fighter and The Thief as a comparison since those are the classes I played the most. The Fighter is your typical warrior class capable of delivering heavy frontal damage and acting as a tank. On the other hand, The Thief is a roguish class capable of appearing behind the enemy lines and inflicting heavy damage. It’s an incredibly well thought out RPG system for a game that doesn’t take itself even remotely serious.
No game is without its faults, and of course South Park has a few them. The Playstation 3 version has a few framerate hiccups when transitioning from zone to zone. The PC and PS3 version both have an issue with the aim reticule drifting to the side on its own after loading screens. The title also has some significant load times when moving from each area, they aren’t particularly long but they happen 90% of the time you enter a new area. Finally, this isn’t a game for kids and people who can’t take racist, sexist, and many other style of jokes. If you’re easily offended, just stay away from The Stick of Truth.
I’ve played a lot of RPG’s over the years, and none as uproariously funny and self-aware as The Stick of Truth. If you can take the crass jokes, you’ll be pleasantly surprised by the intriguing gameplay, customization options, and surprisingly on point RPG system. South Park: The Stick of Truth receives four stars out of five from Geek Citadel. Whether you’re a fan or not, do yourself a favor and give this title a try.
