Warning: The following review contains references to adult humor and plot. Some readers may find some of the content disturbing.

I don’t like South Park. Rather I should say, I don’t love it, I’m not a fan, and I don’t hate it. I’ve seen the occasional episode, smirked at one or two jokes, and generally ignored it. Though I know it by reputation through my brother and a few friends who really love it; that includes people who “should” be offended by its humor. I’m even hesitant to call it that, as I don’t entirely love what Matt and Trey do, unless they are making a point. I don’t mind them when they are making a point with Team America or Book of Mormon, but South Park, for the most part, is as childish, silly and without meaning as the bible.

Ok, now I’ve annoyed everyone aside from gay men who don’t care for bibles or South Park. Let’s talk about South Park: The Stick of Truth, one of the more recent games in the series’ history, and the first in what so far is a double bill. I like it, to an extent. “It’s a game for fans and the uninitiated,” to paraphrase the reviewers of the time; now, I’m not a fan, and I just eked out enjoyment. As a game it is a bit crap, and as a South Park episode it is good; mixing the two makes for a shorthanded experience you’ll either dislike for the gameplay or the story.

You are the new mysterious kid in the small Colorado town of South Park. It is an RPG, so naturally, if I can’t be a woman in an RPG with a character creator, I’ll pick another minority, I played the game as a black kid. Why that minority? It breaks the game a little given there’s a character in South Park called “Token” for being the token black character in entertainment. For you see, my whit is unmatched by even the simplest of character creators. Here’s where you select your class and other assorted nonsense, this is where I choice thief; if the game is going to offensive, I might as well cut it down at the knees.

Soon after this introduction, you’ll meet some characters of the long-running beloved show and pulled into the big LARPing expedition. You will be pulled into Cartman’s Kingdom of Kupa Keep, so only I and Ron Stallworth can infiltrate Colorado’s chapter of the KKK. From there on you’ll be given several quests, some are useful and mostly they are main quests, while the sidequests are about as useful as Mr. Hanky is in the shower.

This is about the time the game just falls to pieces like a dried up turd in your hands. It’s a light RPG, and the shallowest of them all at that. It is mostly set around the collection of the characters and two-hundred odd episodes of references to make, yet the gameplay becomes an afterthought because of that. A series that would fit in well with twisting the core of videos with its style of comedy does nothing but blow raspberries, giggle, and run away. It feels childish, oddly enough.

The turn-based combat is a particular style of bland; given I dislike turn-based combat, that’s a compliment. You are still actively doing something as one would in a semi-realtime system, but it depends more on you paying attention than something like Pokémon does. There’s still the idea of spamming the same attack, but you have to initiate the move and follow through with it. Even then, when you feel like you’re participating in the game of quick-time events that are combat, it still feels void of life and ambition.

Possibly the best part of the entire game is exploration, as you’re given a full 2.5D cut out of South Park. Filled with references, in-jokes, trinkets, and everything a South Park fan would howl at the moon like a wolf over; It is a museum of scatological humor. Even coming in as the non-fan, I got a few references I’ve been able to pick up through osmosis. Being given quests on the other side of town, general exploration for collecting purposes, and everything in between, it had a purpose.

With a mild sense of purpose, you’re given a list of tasks to do. Primarily, protect the Stick of Truth and collect all the friends you can find, the latter driving you through quests the most. The balancing act of both is done through story and side quests, all of which lead to a bit more exploration and a lot more of that puerile humor the series is known for.

I have no shame in spoiling this, but the game goes from an RPG about elves and Lord of the Rings rejects to stupid in the time it takes a Kardashian to do or say something stupid. So of course, there is the de rigor egregious jokes about cockerels, leather-clad men in hot pants, sexual abuse, and the oh so happy topic of abortion. You see, comedy is a double-edged sword that you balance on and know when to shift when the room is feeling uncomfortable. Yet Matt and Trey have made a career out of not knowing that and just dancing on both pointy ends, just precariously enough their families have the morgue on speed-dial.

From Nazis, to aliens, anal rape, and battling gnomes under your naked parents having sex. It is metaphorically performing the Haka on the edge of my bed, while Hitler stands in the corner pleasuring himself over an elephant playing a lemur like a rusty brass instrument, all as I try to sleep. That is to crudely say: it is banging enough drums to not only upset the people that yell if a minority if mentioned but also please them because it doesn’t kink shame. It is a bit like the actual show, and much like the actual show, those aforementioned people see the former rather than the latter.

There is something that’s partially brought through into the gameplay, though it isn’t useful. For where we left the gameplay off last was its usefulness. Once you kill everyone, thing, or dead horse that is the references, you’ll get some junk. For you see, it is literal junk and therefore has no purpose. So when I’ve killed twelve nazi cats, some snakes, and a couple of homeless men, I’ve collected more useless guff than whoever commissions mid-season American sitcoms.

Either during battle or your many spelunking expeditions to the bottom of the South Park museum. You’ll have collected twelve dollars in change, several turds, and what would be a useful item if you were still level 4 or 5. The main purpose of junk isn’t to craft, thank Christ, it is to sell. However, you’ve already picked up several dollars, so you might as well just be picking up more in the first place. Not to mention selling junk is a chore: you can’t just sell all, you have to flog everything individually like you’re an old woman paying for everything in copper.

However, banging those drums with shiny boots and Swastika-laden armbands doesn’t add anything to the overall gameplay. It makes for the strange and obscure references back to the show worthwhile, but without that fore-knowledge, you’ll be left in the dark. Not that it is wrong to do that now and then, however, it felt more so than one should expect if they haven’t seen all 200 or more episodes.

Sure fighting a gigantic Nazi fetus that’s meant to be a fat joke about a celebrity fits both South Park and general shock humor. It is banging that drum or blowing a Lemur like a trombone, and doing nothing more. It doesn’t twist mechanics, there isn’t a climactic joke about games after it, and there isn’t a reason for it. It is South Park being South Park and I have to commend it for that. It is possibly the truest cross-over we have in terms of movies or TV trying to get into the medium without compromising its material.

There are a few moments where tropes of video games are challenged or made fun of, but they feel more like jabs than a punch; particularly the moment you go to Canada, which is a take on classic top-down RPGs, like Pokémon. If this was a quick few moments, it would have been funny, made its point, and got away with it. However, when it goes on, and on, and on, the joke has run thin and I’m just annoyed at another RPG for being dull. This happens a lot with the entire game and story threads as the game goes on for 11 hours.

The alien spaceship is one that ignores gaming logic by asking you to find a couple of panels and touch them. Two of them face you, and it is easy to spot them, one doesn’t and I think I spent a good ten minutes swearing as I walked around that awfully designed hell. The only thing pulling me through that level was the random audio logs that once again take a swing at games, this time not going for too long.

Yet the one thing that goes too far and urinates in my cup of coffee every morning is that God-forsaken control system on PC. With no re-bindable keys, you’re either going to use a controller or suffer having to switch tools every few minutes. As you are given two separate tools to use in the overworld of South Park, either to traverse, aid others in the LARP, or stun enemies before battles. Along with those you’re given abilities that use mana in battles (I never used them), which can be used to alter parts of the world as well as your other abilities.

Q is used to switch between your alien butt-plug, ranged weapon, or buddy command, with F to fire them. Meanwhile, the puerile humor of farts is switched with E and tooted out with G, all providing different abilities. Now the former mechanics are all useful, providing the buddy system was used more than a handful of times. While your thunder cheeks are only useful in very specific and annoying circumstances. Often you’ll use either your alien probe, or buddy for something, have to switch to other, and have to cycle through them all. It’s the same with your farts. It might have been better to use the number keys for keyboards and a single fire button.

While I’m on the topic of the buddies, let’s talk about the other useless features. I only used Butters unless I required anyone else. Upgrading your character is done through several means, including levels, perks, weapon and equipment modifiers, and special summons. Summons were never used, and you can only use them once a day; the game takes place over three days. Modifiers and perks made me overpowered, and I reached the level cap (15) hours before the end. It is all there because it is trying to be an RPG, but winds up being a shallow one with balancing issues.

In conclusion, I found South Park: The Stick of Truth to be funny at times, though not as much as one would if they were a fan. The RPG elements are either underdeveloped or plainly annoying at some points. In general, if you are a fan of the show, you’ll like it; which is redundant to say because you’ve already bought it and told me why I am a “[slur] idiot who doesn’t get how smart a fart joke really is.” Though I’m sure that would feature many spelling or grammatical errors. What I’m saying is: The Stick of Truth is a great episode of South Park, but not a good game for anyone to pick up and enjoy.

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South Park: The Stick of Truth

$29.99 USD

6

Score

6.0/10

Pros

• Enjoyable combat.
• A great adaptation.
• Authentic art style.

Cons

• Annoying controls
• Generally, shallow RPG elements.