GetDotted Domains

Viewing Thread:
"[GAME] South Park - The Stick of Truth - PS3/360/PC"

The "Retro Game Reviews" forum, which includes Retro Game Reviews, has been archived and is now read-only. You cannot post here or create a new thread or review on this forum.

This thread has been linked to the game 'South Park - The Stick of Truth'.
Sun 13/04/14 at 19:50
Regular
"Braaains"
Posts: 439
If there ever was a TV series suited to becoming a game, it has to be South Park. After all, the characters are basically cardboard cut-outs - even though they're done digitally these days - with rudimentary animation that wouldn't push the limits of the original Playstation. So it's a bit of a mystery as to why every single South Park game to date has been absolute rubbish. Previously, the games designers have taken the characters and stuck them into a bunch of game genres - shoot-em-ups, karting games etc, resulting in products that ranged from mediocre to utterly dire. So things don't bode well for this latest release, The Stick Of Truth.

Thankfully, this game has been produced by Obsidian, the team behind Fallout New Vegas, as well as a range of other quality games. And it's actually really good. The game's graphics mirror the series exactly, although there are points when there's a bit of slowdown. Stick of Truth is basically an RPG, featuring you as an anonymous kid who's just moved to South Park. You can design and name your character - though they always end up being called 'douchebag'. Your character's also strangely silent, which could be a pop at silent protagonists in general though it does mean you don't get to personally insult Cartman, which is a bit disappointing.

'Cartman who?' you might be thinking? If you are, then you can stop reading right now and buy something else instead. The Stick of Truth is a solid enough game in its own right, but it's really for fans of the series in general. It doesn't introduce any of the characters, but rather assumes you already know about them. There are plenty of references thrown in there, though some of the more obscure characters could do with being explained. If you haven't seen the episode in question, for example, you might wonder why the heck Al Gore is asking you to install ManBearPig detectors in one of the game's many sidequests.

The main quest doesn't require you to have such an encylopedic knowledge of the series, however. It revolves around you trying to retrieve the 'Stick of Truth' - a pretty ordinary looking stick - from the evil Drow Elves. By which, I mean a bunch of South Park kids wearing Mr Spock ears. Because the coolest thing about South Park: The Stick of Truth' is the way the action takes place in the real South Park universe, and basically has the children playing characters themselves. This extends to combat as well, so when you're fighting an elf and using your 'dragon breath' attack, you basically run up to an enemy character and let off a firecracker in their face. Farts also feature heavily as well.

Yes, this isn't a game that takes itself too seriously, although there is a solid RPG element at the heart of the game. Combat is turn-based, Final Fantasy style, although hardcore RPG fans might be put off by the fact that how much damage your attack does depends on whether you press a button at the correct time. You can naturally upgrade your character's skills and so forth, and also purchase all manner of ridiculous weapons, recruit other characters and so forth. You can also roam around South Park, though the area itself isn't that massive, but you do get to visit some very familiar locations.

It's not all about hitting other kids, though. Aliens and abortion clinics also figure into the mix, which leads me to one of Stick of Truth's problems - censorship. It's odd given that Grand Theft Auto 5 was released unedited, itself including an extended torture scene - but that the UK and Australian versions of this game have been cut. Even stranger is the fact that these cuts weren't demanded by the video game rating companies, but instead were inplemented by Ubisoft, who published the game. The cut scenes relate to bottom probing and have been replaced with a short bypass message provided by South Park's creators.

No, I'm not making this up. I actually ordered a US copy from Play-Asia here, which wasn't censored. I'd have expected America to censor theirs and us to get an uncut version, not the other way. round. That aside, Stick of Truth is actually a pretty good game, and certainly the best South Park game ever. It's also extremely funny and will keep you amused for a good twelve hours or so. Granted, there's not a great deal to do once you've completed it once, but if you're a South Park fan, this is well worth a purchase.

Score: 7 out of 10.

Pros:
It's fun to play.
The graphics and sound are all authentic.
It's really, really funny.

Cons:
The UK version is censored.
If you're not a South Park fan, this won't do much for you.
There have been no replies to this thread yet.
Sun 13/04/14 at 19:50
Regular
"Braaains"
Posts: 439
If there ever was a TV series suited to becoming a game, it has to be South Park. After all, the characters are basically cardboard cut-outs - even though they're done digitally these days - with rudimentary animation that wouldn't push the limits of the original Playstation. So it's a bit of a mystery as to why every single South Park game to date has been absolute rubbish. Previously, the games designers have taken the characters and stuck them into a bunch of game genres - shoot-em-ups, karting games etc, resulting in products that ranged from mediocre to utterly dire. So things don't bode well for this latest release, The Stick Of Truth.

Thankfully, this game has been produced by Obsidian, the team behind Fallout New Vegas, as well as a range of other quality games. And it's actually really good. The game's graphics mirror the series exactly, although there are points when there's a bit of slowdown. Stick of Truth is basically an RPG, featuring you as an anonymous kid who's just moved to South Park. You can design and name your character - though they always end up being called 'douchebag'. Your character's also strangely silent, which could be a pop at silent protagonists in general though it does mean you don't get to personally insult Cartman, which is a bit disappointing.

'Cartman who?' you might be thinking? If you are, then you can stop reading right now and buy something else instead. The Stick of Truth is a solid enough game in its own right, but it's really for fans of the series in general. It doesn't introduce any of the characters, but rather assumes you already know about them. There are plenty of references thrown in there, though some of the more obscure characters could do with being explained. If you haven't seen the episode in question, for example, you might wonder why the heck Al Gore is asking you to install ManBearPig detectors in one of the game's many sidequests.

The main quest doesn't require you to have such an encylopedic knowledge of the series, however. It revolves around you trying to retrieve the 'Stick of Truth' - a pretty ordinary looking stick - from the evil Drow Elves. By which, I mean a bunch of South Park kids wearing Mr Spock ears. Because the coolest thing about South Park: The Stick of Truth' is the way the action takes place in the real South Park universe, and basically has the children playing characters themselves. This extends to combat as well, so when you're fighting an elf and using your 'dragon breath' attack, you basically run up to an enemy character and let off a firecracker in their face. Farts also feature heavily as well.

Yes, this isn't a game that takes itself too seriously, although there is a solid RPG element at the heart of the game. Combat is turn-based, Final Fantasy style, although hardcore RPG fans might be put off by the fact that how much damage your attack does depends on whether you press a button at the correct time. You can naturally upgrade your character's skills and so forth, and also purchase all manner of ridiculous weapons, recruit other characters and so forth. You can also roam around South Park, though the area itself isn't that massive, but you do get to visit some very familiar locations.

It's not all about hitting other kids, though. Aliens and abortion clinics also figure into the mix, which leads me to one of Stick of Truth's problems - censorship. It's odd given that Grand Theft Auto 5 was released unedited, itself including an extended torture scene - but that the UK and Australian versions of this game have been cut. Even stranger is the fact that these cuts weren't demanded by the video game rating companies, but instead were inplemented by Ubisoft, who published the game. The cut scenes relate to bottom probing and have been replaced with a short bypass message provided by South Park's creators.

No, I'm not making this up. I actually ordered a US copy from Play-Asia here, which wasn't censored. I'd have expected America to censor theirs and us to get an uncut version, not the other way. round. That aside, Stick of Truth is actually a pretty good game, and certainly the best South Park game ever. It's also extremely funny and will keep you amused for a good twelve hours or so. Granted, there's not a great deal to do once you've completed it once, but if you're a South Park fan, this is well worth a purchase.

Score: 7 out of 10.

Pros:
It's fun to play.
The graphics and sound are all authentic.
It's really, really funny.

Cons:
The UK version is censored.
If you're not a South Park fan, this won't do much for you.

Freeola & GetDotted are rated 5 Stars

Check out some of our customer reviews below:

Many thanks!
You were 100% right - great support!
Brilliant service.
Love it, love it, love it!
Christopher

View More Reviews

Need some help? Give us a call on 01376 55 60 60

Go to Support Centre
Feedback Close Feedback

It appears you are using an old browser, as such, some parts of the Freeola and Getdotted site will not work as intended. Using the latest version of your browser, or another browser such as Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, or Opera will provide a better, safer browsing experience for you.