South Park: The Stick of Truth

First of all, I just want to say that this isn't a normal game review. I'm not going to do that whole "thumbs-up/thumbs-down", "1 to 5 stars", "1 to 100", "F to A+" or that whole "1 to 10" thing, because that's done by the big game magazines. I will just share my thoughts on a game I've been enjoying, good and bad.

Anyway, I am a huge South Park fan, and I have been one for many years. I think I may have seen just about every single episode of the series. I also am a big video game fan, so back in 1998, I got the first South Park.

The image is of the PlayStation version of the game, but I had the Nintendo 64 version.

I will admit, the game wasn't exactly the greatest of games. The levels were a bit hard to navigate, there was little variety in the characters' lines, and the swarming turkeys were a bit much, but to be honest, I had a lot of fun playing that game. I never thought much about the games' flaws during the time I played it because I was having way too much fun blasting turkeys, Visitors, robots, and evil clones.

I would also go on to play a couple other South Park games from the X-Box Live Arcade, Tower Defense Play Go! and Tenorman's Revenge. Both fun games if you're a fan.

Anyway, recently, I picked up the latest South Park game, The Stick of Truth, for my X-Box 360. I was so happy to finally get this game, and pop it in.

I...was NOT disappointed. This game is brilliant. The story is hilarious, and the combat is a lot of fun. It also has some very nice orchestral music, which is composed by the same person that composed the regular South Park musical score.

As for the story, it feels like a second big, epic South Park movie, with all the humor and over-the-top craziness you'd expect from a good South Park episode. Basically, you're the New Kid, the silent protagonist that is invited to join a game of pretend by Cartman, that eventually ends up escalating into a battle to save South Park. Over the game, you fight a variety of monsters and villains, from mutant rats, to crazy homeless people, even Nazi zombies.

One thing I liked was all the nods to various episodes over the series' long history in the dialogue, the junk items one can find on your journey through the game, and the objects that can be seen in various garages and closets. If you're a long-time fan of the series, you'll get some smiles out of seeing things like the Scouts uniform hanging out in Big Gay Al's closet, or finding a copy of Eric Cartman's book "What Happened to My School?".

I especially liked the concept of being allowed to use a support item AND attack during the same turn. It makes battles a little easier, but enemies in this game can have a LOT of hit points, so this feature is helpful. The weapons and clothes your character wears can have certain little patches added on to them to provide them with various extra effects. These patches can be bought from people and found in drawers and closets all over the little mountain town. They're fantastic for adding a little "oomph" to your weapons and extra bonuses to whatever you choose for your characters to wear.

The only thing I can say that has frustrated me about the game so far is the puzzles. Some of the puzzles took me a very long time to figure out how to beat. Luckily, those particular puzzles were few and far between. Also, the game may have more appeal to you if you are a more hardcore fan of South Park. A more hardcore fan would probably get more appreciation from all the various nods in the game.

All in all, I highly recommend The Stick of Truth. It's a fun RPG game with a funny story.