The ‘South Park’ Games: A Retrospective
Image Source: PureBox
One of the longest-running and most influential TV shows is the cutout animation show South Park. Premiering August 13th, 1997, the story of four irreverent, foul-mouthed boys living day-to-day in the fictional titular mountain town in Colorado has entertained generations of people. The show’s quick animation style allows the creators, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, to make episodes about current events right away. Over the years, it’s become a slightly more mature show with sharp-toothed biting satire and parody of…well, everything. Nothing is off limits for South Park. So, given the success of the series, it makes sense that it would get some video game adaptations.
There have been several South Park games over the years, but the two most popular ones are 2014’s The Stick of Truth and 2017’s The Fractured but Whole. This article examines both.
RELATED:
To start with, the first (The Stick of Truth) is the superior game. Both games have you play as the “new kid” who has just moved to South Park to escape some unknown people or events. Immediately you get drawn into some epic fight between the various kids of South Park, each of whom has their own ideas and goals.
Image source: Masslive
On top of that, there is a larger threat that must be dealt with that the kids as a whole don’t know or care about. You, as the new kid, have to help your faction, save the town, and just generally survive the madness of that quiet little mountain community.
Let’s start with the positives of both games. The aesthetics are flawless; it legitimately looks like you’re playing through an episode of the show. Plus, just about every location is packed with references to the show’s many previous stories. The characters are also all on point. In a lesser game, some iconic aspect of a character might be tweaked a little bit to fit the narrative, but not here. Every single character acts exactly like they do in the show, and if there are additional aspects thrown in, they fit perfectly with the characters.
In both games, the combat system is pretty solid as well. Each has a unique system, but that’s an aspect of 1) the second game updating things that may or may not have worked, and 2) the fact that the boys are playing a different genre of game. The costumes, the items, the moves, all of these things have been carefully thought out and crafted between both games. Visually and regarding the characters, these two games are flawless.
That’s not to say that the games are perfect overall. Almost no games are, especially ones with stories as grand as the ones that they’re telling. For example, in the first game, the Nazi zombie shtick isn’t that creative or funny.
Image source: YouTube.com
Pointing out that it’s not creative or funny in your game (as the main antagonist does) doesn’t somehow make it better. It’s too bad, because the setup is actually quite good. A spaceship belonging to the classic South Park gray aliens crash-landing into the town contaminating it with…something has all kinds of avenues for great ideas, especially for South Park. Instead, it’s Nazi zombies, who get annoying pretty fast. How many times can you fight the same zombie when they all have the same four lines?
Still, if that’s the biggest issue of the game, you’ve got a pretty great game, and The Stick of Truth is indeed a pretty great game. A definite 9.5/10.
The Fractured But Whole is…good. Still good. Mostly. All of the same positives mentioned above 100% apply to this game as well. Flawless visuals and characters, alongside great references and a solid, upgraded combat system. All good. However, where the game missteps is in some of its smaller details. Firstly, you get around and solve puzzles using your farts. While this does completely fit with the humor of the show, it still doesn’t feel very creative. The first game had several different ways to get around and solve puzzles, but in this one it’s “which kind of fart works for this situation?” It’s not horrible, but it’s pretty one-note and not all that creative.
The game is also dinged for a few bugs here and there, particularly in the fight in the laboratory where the characters freeze up in between each move. The game isn’t stuffed with bugs to the point of becoming unplayable, but when they show up, they’re noticeable.
Then there’s the gigantic issue of Kyle’s cousin.
Image source: YouTube
You could have cut him out of the game entirely and only need to tweak one or two fights here and there. He’s a character that only worked in one episode for one specific joke. Making him a character here was an awful choice. Every now and again he’ll bring the combat sections to a grinding halt, slip, complain, then run off. Why? You lose nothing by cutting all of this out. It’s a prime example of “this wasn’t funny the first time this happened, so why would you think it’s funny the tenth time?” Having him be a boss fight in one section is a tiny bit amusing at first, but it gets old really fast, since he spends the whole time whining and complaining about how he’s getting sunburned or whatever. Again, he only worked for one joke in one episode. If you need him, have him cameo for two minutes then forget about him.
The biggest issue, however, is the reveal of the big bad. The story leading up to the reveal is really engaging: somebody is working in the shadows to control all of South Park’s criminal organizations and putting something into people’s drugs and alcohol so that there’s more crime, allowing him to oust the current mayor and be elected mayor himself. All good. So who is it?
Mitch Connor. Cartman’s hand puppet that he swears he’s not controlling. Do you remember him from the show? No. Nobody does. Just like Kyle’s cousin, he’s really only good for one joke in one episode. Anything more than that and he’s just annoying. When we get that big reveal, it’s a “Wait, him?! That’s…really dumb” moment. From there, all of the momentum is just gone. Everyone is banding together to stop Mitch, but it doesn’t matter. None of it is funny or interesting anymore. Swing and a miss.
Overall, though, it’s a pretty good game. If the creators had just tightened up the script, removed Kyle’s cousin and made the villain somebody other than Mitch (heck, if the big bad was Kyle’s brother Ike on some kind of power trip, that would open all kinds of avenues for hilarious story lines), it might be as good as the first game, if not better. Still a solid 8/10 game, though.
South Park will never run out of crazy stories to tell as long as humanity and society are as crazy as they are. While it’s unknown if there will be a third game of this nature (though it seems that the next one is a 3D game of some kind), we still have two really solid games to play.
READ NEXT:
Latest News
Featured
