Trey Parker and Matt Stone have essentially won television. As South ParkSince its inception in 1997, it has garnered Emmy nominations in double figures and has won about half the time. It has been on dozens of ‘Best TV Show’ and ‘Best Cartoon’ lists, since Weather, tv guide, entertainment weeklyY Rolling Stone, just to name a few. It didn’t take long for them to cross over to the big screen, acting in BASEketballand writing, starring in, and producing multiple commercial and cult hits such as Orgasm, cannibal! The musical, Y Team America: World Police. Sucker Punch South Park The film treatment was a huge success and was even nominated for an Oscar for ‘Best Original Song’. In more recent years, Trey and Matt have even had success on Broadway. his great success The book of Mormon it went on to win numerous Tony Awards, including Best Musical. Trey and Matt hope to bring that success to the gaming arena next, bringing their fictional ‘quiet mountain town’ to life on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in the recently released South Park: The Stick of Truth.

That doesn’t mean that the stick of truth is the first game based on the show. In the early years of the series, some South Park Titles were released for the Nintendo 64. However, no one would call them really successful. Admittedly, Trey and Matt weren’t involved in the development of those early efforts, and as gamers, even they themselves weren’t happy with the “cheap licensed games” these third-party developers were churning out. They decided to put the game on hold for a while, and when they were ready to give it another go, they did it their way. Instead of waiting for a developer to come up with a good idea, Trey and Matt reached out to Obsidian Entertainment to talk about how to make the game. South Park game they wanted. It seemed like a perfect fit. Obsidian has a long history of developing role-playing games based on licensed properties, in particular Fallout: New Vegas, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II, and the exclusive for PC never winter nights 2 One caveat that was important to Matt and Trey was that the game had to retain the 2D rendering and animation style of the show. When Obsidian showed proof of concept that they could do it, the first South Park The game with a script written by the show’s own creators took shape and development began.

And it was quite a troublesome development. This game very well may never have seen the light of day. Many titles that faced the trials and tribulations that the the stick of truth would have been cancelled; including, but not limited to, the difficulties of the bankruptcy of THQ, the company that originally signed on as publisher. The game was finally made available nearly a year after it was originally scheduled for release in April 2013.

If you consider yourself a fan of South Park at any level, the end product is absolutely worth the long wait. The game is just as satirical and funny as the show (not to mention offensive and crude; it’s South Park after all). The writing and voice work is spot on, and the plot, which includes live-action RPGs, aliens, Taco Bell, and Nazi zombies, is as ridiculously entertaining as anything done on the show.

graphically, seeing the stick of truth in action it really is like watching an episode, despite the pause screens. If it took an unsuspecting passerby several minutes to realize a game was being played instead of a cartoon being watched, that would be entirely understandable. The 2D animation style lends itself well to old-school RPGs that pull out all the tropes, from turn-based combat to powerful summoning abilities like Mr. Hankey’s, well, we’ll call him ‘Number 2’ Storm.

As for the environments, they are well done and packed with fan service. From the voices that come from Stan’s closet to junk items like the Okama Gamesphere, the game is saturated with over 15 years of experience. South Park Canyon. There are thirty Chinpokomon to collect scattered around town, and plenty of side quests as well. Whether you’re going to fetch Mr. Slave’s parcel-shaped package from the post office, help Al Gore track down Manbearpig, or just explore the city (by the way, some of those people really should lock their doors front), there is plenty to store any South Park-phile busy for quite some time.

The game is not perfect. Some of the scenes that require you to demonstrate your mastery of the GI-based magic system can be frustrating due to poorly timed on-screen cues. Fortunately, some of these demos can be skipped, which in turn just begs the question why some of them can’t. The flaws that are present do not detract from the overall experience. Still, the game could be a perfectly bug-free technical marvel, and still not be to everyone’s liking. if you do not mind South Park the show, South Park: The Stick of Truth won’t change your mind. Parker and Stone’s sense of humor is not to everyone’s liking. If it’s yours though, hoo-boy, it’s your lucky day. Look for it in your local Slackers today.