South Park: The Stick of Truth

The biggest joke in any South Park game released before 2014 may be the integrity of the game itself. From the Turok with turkeys first-person shooter debut to the recent platformer abomination, past South Park developers made the mistake of believing fans want to play an uninspired genre entry featuring show characters and references. With the show creators at the helm, The Stick of Truth approaches monitors and TVs with an unlikely confidence for a licensed game; one that doesn't live or die by genre restrictions. It gives fans what they want: An adventure in a world they know and love re-imagined through clever interactions and game references.

The best and worst things about The Stick of Truth are a result of its choice to be an RPG. In combat, it closely resembles Paper Mario [マリオストーリー]s low-stress tactics and button-timed attacks, but The Stick of Truth is more of an adventure game than anything. Battles exist as filler or a way to set-up and deliver a joke. In a lot of ways, it resembles the old PC adventure Quest for Glory where the RPG design was there mostly for thematic consistency and distractions from puzzle-solving. Thankfully, The Stick of Truth's battle system isn't one of frustration but simple satisfaction -- at least, for the majority of the game. By its end, it becomes increasingly clear Obsidian Entertainment never planned to offer much depth which makes the longer boss battles awkward. Even on hard, there was never a moment where I broke a sweat. The equipment and spells are so over-powered that you can easily wear armor from three character levels ago in most encounters and not face any trouble.

The best parts of game design come from avoiding combat. This may seem like a jab against the game, but its not. Obsidian realized the combat can be boring if prolonged in a section -- thus self-aware jokes from the characters about exhaustion from repetitive fights -- so they give environmental puzzles to defeat most enemies outside combat. Not only do you save time, you collect the same rewards and experience. This would be an unforgivably lazy move from Obsidian if these puzzles weren't so clever and fun to solve in themselves. It's not exactly Portal (not to mention a classic Sierra Entertainment adventure) but I was always happy to solve them -- maybe this says more about the lackluster combat. The better result would be for Obsidian to make a deeper RPG that offers increasing challenge and depth, or to fully commit to an action-puzzle adventure that made greater use of character abilities. The most important thing I can say about all this is that combat rarely gets in the way of story and, more often than not, increases enjoyment of it through contextual button prompts in unique quest battles.

You probably know by now that The Stick of Truth is funny by the generally high review scores. Comedy is always subjective and always boring to critique, so I'll just say I enjoyed the story in The Stick of Truth more than anything South Park since the glorious Bigger Longer and Uncut. The problem I have with most South Park episodes is that they drive a funny concept or joke into the ground due to episode length constraints. The Stick of Truth's quest format gives the story room to go in different directions every 20-30 minutes so no joke outstays its welcome. The story may be nostalgic to longtime South Park fans, as it pays homage to nearly every revered episode and character in the show's lengthy history. However, this also results in a story that lacks momentum or the genuine surprise of the South Park film that introduced new characters and told its own unique plot. I remained entertained and laughing throughout the game's shockingly crude scenes, which is more than I can say of most South Park episodes or games (in general).

It took me four months to complete The Stick of Truth, despite its brief playtime (for an RPG at least) -- less than 10 hours with most sidequests completed. This was entirely due to the slow start that left me cold. The open world nature of the game is leaned into a little too hard, as the opening quests task you with going to all different sides of the map. Fans of the show should find amusement in exploring the world but it lacks a strong hook to keep most RPG fans going. Once you get past the first hour, the quests offer more structure and the fast-travel system adds momentum. I still found myself flustered with how much time I spent in menus, partly due to bad UI but mostly because the abundance of equipment you find. This would be good in most RPGs, adding incentive to questing and room for character customization, but it feels like excessive filler in a game where combat means so little -- I chock it up to being the result of developer busy work during months of prolonged release delays.

Even with these stumbling blocks, Obsidian and South Park creators' love of RPGs and commitment to the genre results in a game that should delight fans of the show and crude humor. It doesn't transcend the show, entering the realm of classic RPGs, but that was never part of the plan. The game works due to its irrelevance toward the genre by making fun of the tropes it plays into while side-stepping most others. With this approach, one can almost imagine how past South Park games weren't innately terrible but simply had the wrong mindset behind them. Whoever buys this game isn't buying it for a great RPG. They are buying it for a laugh and an adventure in a world they know and love. And if its battle system is merely okay, one won't mind when the laughs and clever player interactions are so great.

To be honest, this thing coud've been a bit better as a special or something, yeah i know about that black friday trilogy, but like the only reason you'd wanna play this is the incredibly good writing, like seriously the writing completely carries this thing. I absolutely love it, but the actual combat and gameplay is pretty lackluster. You can pretty much beat every fight in this game by just hitting them hard enough (seriously (kinda)) And its pretty recycled from 90's RPGs, but eeh, maybe having yourself inside the world of south park is really crucial for this. Sure, have my 30 bucks. 7/10

The biggest problem with licensed video games is that the creators and writers of these properties are seldom present in their development. These people sign their brainchild off to a video game developer without overseeing the process, gleefully accepting the royalties without any concern of what the final product is. It’s like leaving your child in the custody of a foster home and getting alimony payments while your child is abused and neglected. It’s a crying shame. Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the creators of the iconic animated series South Park, proverbially let various developers smack their brainchild around as a pimp does to a hoe. The South Park video games released during the early days of the show were some of the worst licensed games of all time. These three South Park titles spanned across three different genres, and they each managed not to be anything more than painfully mediocre. The developers churned out the most half-assed, uninspired versions of an FPS, kart racer, and party game and slapped South Park’s face on it to increase the potential profit. These games put such a damper on the South Park brand that we didn’t see another video game adaptation for over a decade, not even during the show’s peak in the 2000s. Matt and Trey were ostensibly dissatisfied with letting those shoddy video games define the South Park name in gaming, so they figured the best way to make a quality product was to do it themselves. If the “6 Days to Air” documentary is any indication, Matt and Trey are not ones to half-ass anything. The creators of South Park have been front and center in writing, voice acting, and the direction of the show since its inception. Matt and Trey are also industry renaissance men who have been successful in many facets of entertainment mediums, so making a video game would not be a task beyond their element. What they produced with their impressive work ethic and their stark ambition was South Park: The Stick of Truth. This turn-based RPG fully encapsulated what makes for an exceptional licensed game that the other ones didn’t: an extravagant celebration of the show for the fans who have been watching it for decades under the guise of an RPG.

South Park: The Stick of Truth is also the first South Park video game to even remotely capture the art style of the show in the graphics. Gaming was going through the growing pains of rudimentary 3D graphics at the time the previous games were released, and these blocky shapes and textures resembled nothing of the paper-thin look of South Park. Ironically, it took almost eight generations of graphical progress in gaming to emulate the crude aesthetic of South Park, and the developers here pulled it off to an uncanny degree. During one of the cutscenes, any unknowing passerby would think that the player was simply watching an episode of the show. Once the cutscene ends, that same passerby would most likely be in both a state of awe and disbelief that this is a video game. The developers rendered the graphics to look EXACTLY like the animation of the show. The character’s movement is also consistent with the show’s presentation, waddling with every step even when running. The presentation is perfect and will continue to be unless the show drastically alters its idiosyncratic animation style in the future.

A South Park turn-based RPG seemed a little unorthodox to me the year it was released. I was both a fan of the show and the turn-based RPG genre, but I couldn’t wrap my head around anything else but the novelty of such a combination. Were Matt and Trey doing this to radically deviate from the genres the previous South Park games attempted? Whatever their reasoning was, it made total sense to me when I started to play the game. The RPG and the open-world are non-interchangeable genres, but they do tend to overlap with one another on numerous occasions. Using the RPG’s tendency to put the player in a vast world with lenient parameters was perfect for South Park. The titular town is as essential a character as any of its denizens, and the RPG world design gives the player free rein to explore all of the town’s familiar sites. The player can walk down the strip with Tom’s Rhinoplasty seen behind the town sign in every intro of the show. The player can visit many of the children’s houses and find a smattering of references relating to that character. The large width of Stark’s Pond can be determined from the perspective of the player and they can run down the narrow halls of South Park Elementary. Trey Parker expressed that they wanted the town of South Park in this game to feel like the towns in Earthbound: homey, but intricately designed and exuding a “lived-in” feeling. Every building in the towns of Earthbound, significant or not, can still be visited by the player to make the town feel homier. The Stick of Truth does this as well, but it has the advantage of providing familiar buildings from a popular TV show that has been around for several years. After hearing Trey speak directly about Earthbound being an influence on this game, it’s a wonder what other facets of Earthbound have influenced South Park. The show does revolve around a group of kids living in a podunk, American town where strange, macabre things occur. That, and there are too many parallels between Pokey and Cartman for it to be a simple coincidence.

The RPG gameplay and lore of The Stick of Truth are however influenced by more traditional fantasy tropes. The kids of South Park adhere to the divinities of more orthodox fantasy lore with a mix of their own rules like Calvinball in Middle-Earth. Placing these characters in the context of an RPG isn’t a left-field concept for South Park either. One of the show’s most celebrated episodes is “The Return of the Fellowship of the Ring” where the boys roleplay as classes from fantasy lore while parodying the plot arc of the Lord of the Rings (in South Park fashion, the “ring” is a mixed-up porno movie that the boys unknowingly possess). The Stick of Truth has them essentially playing the same game, but now it’s in an interactive medium. The main difference is that none of the kids from the show will be the focal point of the game. Instead, the player will play as the new kid who just moved into South Park, an avatar character that the player can fully customize. That South Park character creator that everyone on the internet used back in the 2000s can now be utilized for more than just a profile picture on Myspace. “The New Kid”, or “Douchebag” as Cartman dubs thee, is a character meant to portray the mute, blank-faced protagonist seen in most RPG games. Characters in the game make several points on how weird it is that the new kid never says anything, commenting on how awkward this trope is in practice as per usual for the satirical masters at South Park. The rationale for this across all games is to aid the player’s immersion by letting them live vicariously through the vacant character. I think doing this works for most RPGs, and it works wonderfully here. Controlling an avatar character is the best way to implement the player into the world of South Park, something I’m certain fans of the show has always fantasized about.

Fear not, for the characters in the show are still playable characters in the game. Six of the central South Park boys serve as partner characters. Butters, Kenny, Jimmy, Stan, Kyle, and Cartman will follow behind the player’s lead one at a time per the player’s selection. They assist the player in battle and utter countless quips that fit their character, some of them being reused lines from the show. The South Park boys also have unique move sets suited for various battle situations: Butters and Kyle are heavy hitters that are most effective with strong common enemies, Kenny and Jimmy’s moves affect several characters at once, and Stan and Cartman attacks do a ton of damage to singular enemies like bosses. They each have special moves that also serve as references from the show. Cartman’s “curse” move is even a reference to the South Park movie. I chuckled at Butters turning into Professor Chaos and Jimmy playing the infamous “brown note” on a gigantic horn, but my favorite special move is a reference to the very first episode of South Park. Kyle’s “kick the baby” is a powerhouse move in which Kyle punts Ike at forces that shred the enemy’s defenses. The partners also have moved in the overworld for certain situations. Butters acts as a medic to heal NPCs and Kenny shows his…tits as a distraction tactic. Putting the notable characters from the show in secondary support roles proved to be better than playing them in roulette like the FPS game on the N64. Instead, the roulette of these characters as party members plays as a part of the blank-slate immersion of the avatar character. It feels far more alluring playing alongside these characters as an avatar for the same reason exploring the town does. My only gripe is that some party members get way more screen time than others. The game’s story is divided into three days and the player starts with Butters and Kenny. Stan and Jimmy appear on the second day and Kyle and Cartman on the third. By then, most of the game is done and I always feel a tad deprived of Kyle and Cartman. Because of this, I always save plenty of side quests for the third day.

The Stick of Truth gives us plenty more South Park fan service than having the boys in their party. At the time The Stick of Truth was released, the series had been in the upper echelon of adult animation for well over a decade. The town of South Park is more than just Tom’s Rhinoplasty and Stark’s Pond: it’s a town with a wacky history with even wackier characters that this game could not do the source material justice without including them. The game organizes them through a series of collectibles. Collecting Facebook friends is the main collectible in the game that gives the player incentive for the new kid to get acquainted with every familiar face in town. The player will friend his partners and the other boys playing the game, but he will extend his influence to many other factions in the town such as the adults, the girls, the goth kids, etc. Friending every Christmas Critter is even possible after finding a certain path in the woods. The new kid even gets acquainted with many prominent Canadians during a quest in an 8-bit, top-down depiction of their quaint, flatulent nation. Some characters are locked behind a side quest like Al Gore and Mr. Kim, but the side quests in the game are just as enjoyable as the main ones. Chinpokomon can be found in the crevices of people’s living spaces and the awesome jingle is played every time the player collects one. The miscellaneous junk is all nostalgia paraphernalia from the show like the Okama Gamesphere, the Antonio Banders love doll, Mr. Twig, etc. Gathering all of the friends and Chinpokomon never felt tedious or grating because it felt like a fan-service scavenger hunt just to see what they included. As far as fan service is concerned, the developers left no stone unturned. They even included a zombified Chef as a boss fight. I’m glad they included Chef in the game because a South Park game with tons of references wouldn’t feel complete without him. I just wish it could’ve been done under better circumstances, but that’s not the game’s fault.

As for the combat regarding the main protagonist, the game gives the player plenty of options. Four class options are available at the start, three of them from archetypal fantasy lore, and the “jew” class is pure South Park. The warrior class is a strength build whose special moves are melee attacks, including Cartman’s favorite nut-kicking compromise; the “roshambo”. Mages use magic attacks with a bevy of elemental spells at their disposal. Thieves are stealthy and swift and their move set is based around their quick mobility. Lastly, the “jew” is a wild-card class with many creatively funny abilities surrounding the religion like “Jew-Jitsu” and summoning a giant dreidel. Each class is assigned a melee weapon that fits their role (the thief has a dagger, the mage has a staff, etc.) but the player is free to customize their tools however they like. The weapons progressively get more deadly as the player’s level increases, starting with a cardboard sword to being able to purchase a real katana from Jimbo and Ned. Patches also allow elemental damage on all weapons that induce status effects on enemies. Farting moves are mostly used in the overworld as ways to bypass obstacles, but they can also be used to great effect during battle to cause status ailments and cease charging attacks.

Customizability is a staple of any RPG, but it leads to a popular point of contention with The Stick of Truth. The game is consistently leaning on the easier side of things, but the lack of difficulty becomes a joke later in the game when the player is at their maximum level. Giving the player the ability to mix and match their builds allows them to exploit the most powerful weapons and items in the game. I sure did this. Stacking the bleed effects on my projectile weapons assured me that the enemies would bleed to death after only a few turns. Using my partner characters in battle was only a means to end the fight quicker. Before I became the strongest warrior in South Park, the game was already giving me a few too many perks. Health and PP are fully restored after every battle, making the tense moments of preserving one's health in most RPGs trivial. Items that restore health and PP are in hefty stock and using them in battle does not count as a turn. Naturally, I used this advantage as well. The only time I died in the entire game was during the spaceship sequence because I was by myself and didn’t have my gear. I breezed through The Stick of Truth which would normally vex me and cause me to criticize it fervently, but I’m giving this game a pass. Licensed games are meant to cater to fans of the source material, not gamers exclusively. If you are both a gamer and a fan of South Park like myself, then more power to you. I’d like to think that I’ve accumulated somewhat of a gamer acumen through my years of playing them, so perhaps this game is harder for those South Park fans who are uninitiated with RPGs or video games in general. They wouldn’t know to take these advantages the game gives the player as I would. Judging from the Paper Mario influence in the RPG combat, the healing turns, the automatic rejuvenation after battles, this game was intended to be an easier, streamlined version of the RPG genre for a casual audience. All I ask for in a licensed game is for the gameplay to be competent and represent the show’s history, and The Stick of Truth achieves this without question.

The Stick of Truth also acts as a dynamite South Park episode/movie. The game has so many funny moments that it would be hard to list them coherently here, but simply being funny isn’t the mark of an exceptional episode of South Park. The moments that we all discuss at the water coolers are the shocking moments that raised the bar for what’s allowed on TV. Instead of contending with the FCC as per normal, The Stick of Truth has the privilege of testing the limits of the ESRB and its international equivalents. PEGI and the AC have a history of banning video games because of explicit content, and The Stick of Truth was a natural contender to provoke their wrath. The nazi zombies were an especially touchy subject for Europe for obvious reasons. The fight against the giant aborted nazi zombie fetus (yes, you heard me right) is an insanely offensive boss for too many reasons to count and one of the highlights of the game. Farting on its corpse will net the player an achievement, and the “Too Far” title implies that’s where even Matt and Trey draw the line. Europe found fault with the abortion scene in the clinic and both continents were revulsed at the nighttime alien probe sequence on the ship. I’m surprised the other nighttime sequence with the gnomes wasn’t censored due to having the pornographic background of the protagonist’s parents fucking while fighting the gnomes. Matt and Trey would ideally like their work to be uncensored, but they found a way to supplement these banned scenes like the smarmy bastards they are. Illustrations of a crying Michelangelo’s David and koala bear cover the screens during these provocative scenes for Europe and Australia respectively. Passages describing what is supposed to be depicted here are shown with these images in a passive-aggressive, almost condescending tone. It’s almost as funny as the scenes themselves, but I can gloat as an American because I’d rather be treated to an unadulterated version of the game. After all of these years, it’s amazing how South Park manages to think of ways to provoke the wrath of the censors.

The story itself could make for an exceptional episode of the show, but it decides to irk me like most modern South Park episodes. An aspect of modern South Park that I’m not particularly fond of is nameless government characters explaining the message or the underlying joke of an episode ad nauseam through stoic dialogue. The story was engaging as a roleplaying war over the stick of truth, but then they had to add a government conspiracy into the mix. An alien ship crash lands on the SouthPark Mall at the end of the first day, and government agents have built a facility around it and plan to blow up the town with a snuke (another reference from the show). Once all the factions have united against Clyde, they find that the snuke has been planted inside Mr. Slave at the top of Clyde’s towering fortress. Fans of the show are treated to a Lemmiwinks-inspired journey through the digestive system of Mr. Slave and disable the snuke. Defeating Clyde and saving the town should have signaled the end of the game, but the conspiracy plot had to creep its way back in the narrative for closure. There is a long exposition about the protagonist existing as a special being with powers that the government wants to harness and the power of the stick of truth. Kenny takes it and his friends have to pry it from him in the final boss fight. The town is reverted to normal when the protagonist farts on Kenny’s balls. The plot of the story should’ve followed along with the initiative of the gameplay and kept things simple. I’m not amused when they do this kind of thing in the show, and it’s no different here. The ending is then saved with a closing scene of Stan, Kyle, Cartman, and the protagonist dumping the stick into the lake with the town being rebuilt in the background after all of the chaos. They ask the protagonist what he wants to do now, and his only spoken line is “screw you guys, I’m going home.” Amazing.

Reflecting on the piss-poor quality of the older South Park games, it’s a wonder how Matt and Trey gave those studios the affirmative to violate their property as they did. South Park is their life and the reason for their success, and they still put their blood, sweat, and tears into each episode two decades onward. Those three ingredients should be in every licensed game, but it seems that Matt and Trey are the only ones who care enough to maintain the validity of the show in other mediums. South Park: The Stick of Truth was a wonderful surprise for everyone when it was released. South Park fans were treated to their first legitimate interactive experience in the zany mountain town that used the tropes of the RPG genre to fully envelope the fans into the fabric of the show. The astounding amount of fan service is enough to make any long-time viewer of the show giddy as I found myself. While the gameplay and story aren’t perfect, a licensed game doesn't need to reinvent the wheel. These aspects are still lightyears ahead of what we usually expect from licensed titles. South Park: The Stick of Truth not only raised the bar for licensed games to follow, but it raised the bar for the series itself. Considering how long it’s around, that’s quite the feat.

It´s funny as South Park always is. The humour is sharp and doesn´t bow down to anyone. So if you like the series, you´ll like this too though you´ve heard a lot of the jokes before.

As a game it´s quite well made, but nothing special. The fighting is ok but does repetative after a while and you have little use for most of the characters. The story is quite good as in what you would expect from a South Park episode.

So get this if you have sense of humour. If not, I suggest something else. Prime-time sitcoms, perhaps.

(I really was pondering betwwen 3,5 and 4,0 stars, but settled for 3,5 as a game it is not that special.)

Previous South Park games have been poor and didn't take full advantage of the cartoon's characters and premise. The Stick of Truth aims to change that. Everything about the game makes you feel like you are watching an episode of South Park; that's how much they has embraced its licence. The dialogue contains the usual profanity and crude humour contained in the show. They really don't hold back either, because they throw in some serious controversial aspects that were then censored in certain regions of the world.

The story is very much like a season of South Park. Recent seasons have had storylines that run for 2 or more episodes, with some subplots running through entire seasons. The core story is the children playing their fantasy game, Humans Vs Elves, battling over a stick which they have named The Stick Of Truth. In their imagination, the stick gives control over the entire universe. That story intertwines with a UFO crashing in South Park, leaving a green goo which turns life forms into Nazi zombies. Along the way, there will be throwbacks to old episodes either via side quests or small aspects tying into the story.

You begin by creating a character and class. You can choose a race, hairstyle and clothes. Throughout the game, you end up finding all kinds of make-up, hairstyles and glasses, in addition to the different armour, so you will be changing your look throughout the game anyway. You choose between four classes: Fighter, Mage, Thief, or Jew. I chose the Fighter, but from what I understand, there's not a great difference between the classes.

You play as the “New Kid” or “douche bag” as Eric Cartman affectionately calls you. You are silent protagonist which is a nod to many RPG's. You join Eric's team of RPG characters. He is the leader and Wizard, sat on the throne with Queen Kenny. You team up with one other character, each with their own abilities. You start off with Butters as your partner, but as you play, you will make friends with other characters such as Cartman, Stan, Kyle, Kenny, and Jimmy. Butters is a Paladin is armed with a hammer, and can heal you each turn.

Much of the gameplay resembles the Mario & Luigi series. You will use some abilities to navigate around obstacles you encounter, and the battles are turn-based RPG with timed button attacks. Mario & Luigi also has a focus on comedy although that game is obviously child-friendly.

In each turn, you can use items or a support ability before you attack, allowing you to add buffs as well as doing damage each turn. Most characters can do a single strong attack, or many weaker attacks. Strong attacks are better against armoured foes. Ranged attacks can hit enemies hiding behind others. There are all kinds of status effects which will be very helpful in taking down your foes.

You initiate battles by walking into enemies, but slashing them gives you the first attack. You can often take advantage of the environment to skip the battles (and still claim the rewards) such as shooting a weak-point with your arrow to drop an object on enemies heads, or farting into an open flame to cause an explosion.

Yes, there's many fart jokes. The New Kid is skilled in controlling his farts and can use them as a magical attack.

You are given a generous amount of items, and can always buy more in the shops. The amount of items you pick-up encourages you to constantly use them in the battles. For the most part, this can make the game rather easy, but there are definitely moments where the difficulty does spike.

The town of South Park is pretty much arranged in a grid, so the navigation is very straightforward. There's many quick-travel points around the map too, which makes use of Timmy's taxi service. Movement can feel a bit cumbersome as it is easy to get caught on objects, and not so easy to see which objects you can actually walk behind.

The menus can feel quite clunky too, and it's a particular annoyance that sometimes the story auto-equipped different armour/clothes, then you have to go back in the menu and switch them all out. Maybe it would have been a good idea to save a particular configuration to easily switch back.

As a South Park fan, I was always happy when I encountered a new character or saw a reference to a past show, however small. There's plenty of references in the “Junk” items that you find that you can sell for low value. However, I'd imagine someone who has never seen the show will thoroughly enjoy the game too, although it will depend if you appreciate the style of humour.

If you judge the game on the actual gameplay, then it doesn't live up to games like Mario & Luigi Superstar Saga since the battles seem too simplistic and unbalanced, and the navigation is quite clunky. However, as an overall package, the game is a superb recreation of South Park and really pushes the limits with its humour. It's hard not to be smiling from start to finish.

A very decent attempt at a TV show tie-in game, Stick Of Truth has a lot going for it but is mostly carried by a script sharp enough to mirror the show, but not quite dynamic enough to escape its shadow. Certainly, the script is more scattershot and reference-based than self-contained and digestible without context, but at least even this aspect is richer than contemporaries like The Simpsons Game. The RPG its saddled with is satisfying enough but dead easy and lacking a difficulty curve even by its own imposed standards. A pleasant enough time, but left me wanting even with how hollow the mechanics are, thanks to a dead third act.