South Park: The Stick of Truth review: Something that every fan can enjoy

South Park has been on the air since 1997 and is one of the longest running shows on television and has been one of the most popular shows around since it debuted. Its popularity has spawned movies (South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut; Baseketball; Team America: World Police) as well as several video games – though most of those games were small, arcade titles that didn’t necessarily capture the spirit of the show.

The mediocre track record for South Park video games is a bit strange too, considering how big of fans of gaming series creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone are. Video games have been the central plot for numerous episodes of South Park and it’s odd that it took until 2014 and the release of “South Park: The Stick of Truth” that the hit show was finally done justice in the virtual world.

Released on March 4, “South Park: The Stick of Truth” lets you become a part of your favorite show about a sleepy little mountain town and the strange adventures its inhabitants always find themselves wrapped up in. You take on the role of a new kid who has just moved to town. You’re a bit quiet and your parents tell you to get outside and make some friends. The first kid you run into is the always affable Butters Stotch, who takes you to Cartman’s house.

The boys are playing a fantasy imagination game where Cartman’s human forces are battling Kyle’s elves for control of a mystical artifact known as the “The Stick of Truth,” which is just your average stick off a tree. You first align yourself with Cartman to battle Kyle’s elves but, in true South Park style, the game takes drastic turns for the second and third acts.

SP: TSOT is an open-world, turn-based RPG developed by Obsidian Entertainment and South Park Digital and published by Ubisoft. At the start of the game, you get to create the appearance for your character, though it’s pretty pointless because throughout the game, you’ll collect hundreds of pieces of armor and “flair” that you can use to customize your look. The amount of customization options will allow you to create any look for your character and you’ll have no shortage of choices of the buffs and upgrades you can attach to your attire and weapons. While creating your appearance, you also get to choose a class – Figher, Mage, Thief or Jew. Each class has unique abilities but that is where the differences end. There aren’t class specific weapons or armor either, which makes each class seem a little too similar.

Battles are turn based and you have several options for companions, like Kyle, Stan, or Butters.

After meeting Cartman, you’re free to explore the town of South Park – an exciting prospect for long-time fans of the show, since this is the first time we get to see the town of South Park as a whole. On the show, you only see the parts of town where the plot is taking place and never get to see where locations are in relation to one another. Though it’s easy to navigate the town, exploration is made easier thanks to fast travel points, run by Timmy. Unlike other RPGs of its kind, there aren’t any random encounters in SP: TSOT so you’ll never be forced to battle unless you want to, making exploration even easier and more fun.

SP: TSOT is an amazing bit of fan-service and looks exactly like an episode of the show. Every moment of the game is drenched in the series’ trademark tongue-in-cheek brand of offensive humor – whether it’s being asked to put in your name only to have Cartman continually call you “douchebag,” the collectible Chinpokomon, or the incredible music like “I’ve Got Something in my Front Pocket” or “Montage” from Team America (unfortunately no “Now You’re a Man” from Orgazmo). You can earn multiple party members like Butters the paladin or Jimmy the bard and there are appearances from several of the show’s iconic characters along the way.

However, the fan-service of SP: TSOT may also be the game’s greatest weakness.

While SP: TSOT is a fun game, it’s not particularly challenging and its main strength is the comedic foundation it’s built on. The town of South Park isn’t too big so exploring every nook and cranny doesn’t take too long and is only extended by the Metroid-vania aspects of progressing with the help of acquired items. The combat system, while solid and easy to control, isn’t too deep and strategizing isn’t as necessary as timing button presses correctly to enhance your attack/defense stats.

It’s also not a very long game. I finished my first play through in about 14-15 hours, which, for an open-world RPG, is quite brief. And unlike most games, I almost found it to be easier as the story progressed. I maxed out my experience and hit the level cap well before I finished the game and with a nearly limitless supply of healing and buff/debuff items, even the final boss wasn’t a challenge – I basically just buffed myself and teammate for multiple attacks per turn and spammed my strongest attacks. Luckily, wanting to see the end of the story kept me pushing through to the end because it wasn’t its challenging nature that kept me playing.

In the end, I feel like the amazing quality of the writing, humor and aesthetics of SP: TSOT make up for the lack of depth in its RPG elements. I can’t really recommend this game to anyone who isn’t a fan of the show but come on, who isn’t a fan of South Park? There are a ton of collectibles and other tasks for achievement hunters to search out – there’s even a button that lets you fart on people, which, yes, also has achievements tied to it. The comedic elements alone make SP: TSOT worth your time and the RPG elements will keep you in the action, if not exactly riveted. I’ll be very interested to see if any DLC is released for this game in the future because I’d like any reason I can get to return to South Park.