South Park: The Stick of Truth – review

South Park: The Stick of Truth is a pretty impressive game.  During development it faced many delays but seems to now be coming out of the gate strong. Using solid roleplaying game elements and a decent turn-based battle system, South Park: The Stick of Truth will be a favorite amongst fans of the show and RPG fans alike.  The writing is solid and it plays much like you are a part of the show, which is a blast. The only down side is that this game has its share of bugs that still need to be worked out.

You begin the story as a character named “New Kid” who recently moved to South Park. He soon befriends Butters, Cartman, and Kenny who are all role-playing as humans fighting against Elves.  You must do your part to determine your role in the game and determine which faction you wish to fight for in the defense of the Stick of Truth. Something much more sinister is going on underneath day-to-day events in town and whoever controls the Stick of Truth controls the universe.

One of the bonuses about this game is that it is very funny. The dialogue is hilarious; the quests are not too difficult; and the story is surprisingly linear for an RPG.  The class system lets you pick between fighter, mage, thief, and Jew with tons of options for customization.  Many of the characters you meet will offer you quests or will even join you in some way, which adds to the enjoyment and overall experience.

The biggest issue I have had was that the game has a couple issues of bugs.  For example, in one boss fight if you choose to use Kyle as a partner the screen will go black after the battle and force you to restart the console.  I have also come across a problem where I had to force a restart because I vanished at the top of some stairs as if I floated out of time and space.  Once you figure out what attacks you like the best almost all the battles can be won very quickly, especially at the higher levels.

The game itself is not particularly long but there is definitely replay value to it. If ou choose to go back through the game, you can conceivably see how the other scenarios play out and work towards the achievements/trophies.  South Park: The Stick of Truth is really a fun game and should be played by anyone who enjoys the show. There are tons of inside jokes and a lot of moments that are laugh-out-loud enjoyable.  It is certainly worth buying for any mature fan of roleplaying games or South Park.  Hopefully the creators will be able to work out the bugs in a patch and maybe we’ll even get some DLC.