South Park The Stick of Truth Review

User Rating: 8 | South Park: The Stick of Truth PS3

South Park The Stick of Truth is one of the best licensed games ever. It is also the funniest game I’ve ever played, it brought a smile to my face and on more than one occasion made me laughed out loud. This is a relief as the games release date was pushed back over a year, which is usually a sign that you can expect a below average game.

The Stick of Truth perfectly captures the essence of the show that it basically feels like you’re playing a season and it’s an excellent companion piece to the show. This is largely due to Matt Stone and Trey Parker’s involvement in overseeing the game which wouldn’t have been possible without them.

In The Stick of Truth you take on the role as the “new kid” in South Park and immediately feel a part of the show as you interact with Cartman, Kenny, Kyle, Stan and the whole town. Doing missions and fetch quests and eventually picking a side as the kids play Elves vs Humans. The games takes roughly 12-14 hours which is short for RPG standards but in this case is perfect as any longer would lose its charm. The variety used throughout is a tribute or an ode to RPGs over the ages this helps the game remain fresh. Examples of this is the Canada (no spoilers)segment of the game, the combat (Final Fantasy) and by having a silent protagonist (the legend of Zelda).

The game play is an RPG lite with turn based combat by lite in this case is due to limited customization to your characters stats/spells and it’s not overly important. The four classes that can be picked are all similar can wear the same armour, use the same weapons. Each class can only learn 4 spells/moves which makes combat repetitive fast. Combat is also easy especially as the game progresses your character’s spells become overpowered making fights trivial with spamming the same spell repeatedly. Due to the large wealth of health items that can be found death is something which is never feared.

Something that I didn’t expect to see in a South Park game was a surprisingly great soundtrack. There were so many memorable tunes from the game for example; the main screen, character creation and walking the streets of South Park. The Soundtrack invokes an epic quest sense in the same vein as Lord of the Rings this is achieved by the use of violins, flutes, choirs, humming and chanting. It’s so good that I’ve listen to it a few times outside of the game and would buy it if they did ever release it.

One of the highlights was being able to explore the town of South Park. As this is the first time it’s been mapped out. I spent hours exploring every nook and cranny, talking to characters, collecting items and doing side missions for familiar faces.

South Park The Stick of Truth is a fan’s dream turned reality with the amount fan service and references around each and every corner of the game. This does not mean that its strictly limited to fans but they would have a greater appreciation for it which would be lost on non fans. I highly recommend it and hope to see another South Park game only if Matt Stone and Trey Parker are involved in it.

8.5/10

Pros;

  • · Perfectly captures the essence of the show
  • · Funniest game ever
  • · Fan service galore!
  • · Great soundtrack

Cons;

  • · Repetitive combat
  • · games overall too easy
  • · No Towelie!?!