South Park: The Stick of Truth Previews
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Videogamer.com:
The structure has been well documented by now - The Stick Of Truth, essentially, looks to the likes of Paper Mario to build its turn-based fighting system - and crafts gags around it. It results in fart attacks, throwing poop at each other, and Butters launching into battle against his will. Thankfully, the system works, scraps being contested seriously despite the ridiculousness around them, and a depth to the mechanic which means it never degrades down into nonsense.
Ultimately it's the story, or at least the dangling carrot of what could happen, that will keep people driving through, represented in its latest form as you (the new kid), Butters and Cartman enter 'The Giggling Donkey' bar to locate a bard with information. While it's standard RPG affair - some exploring, dialogue, and brawls - it's the fan service and context that makes it so entertaining to experience: you take on a few enemies with a dildo-sword; Cartman, after a vicious beating, lies on the floor pouring tomato ketchup into his mouth before spluttering it out like blood; the bard turns out to be Jimmy who struggles with the word 'enchantment'; for no reason Cylde turns up. What you're actually doing is solid and fun, but it's nothing to what's happening around you.
GameInformer:
The bartender tells us to head down to the basement. After smashing open some crates and equipping a silly looking metal bikini costume on our male character, we enter a turn-based battle. The bard (played by Jimmy Valmer) sits in the back and sings songs that buff his henchmen. Archers in the back are harder to hit before taking out the warriors in front of them, but we make short work of the whole party thanks to our unique set of stills.
A Hammer of Justice attack kills an enemy in the front and then damages some characters in the back. Our Armor of Reynolds ability allows our hero to wrap himself in tinfoil, which affords him extra protection, and then he finishes off the rest of the attackers with a sword/fart combo that does massive damage.
The game features a silly interpretation of magic. Since most of the characters in the game are in fourth grade, the most magical thing any of them can do is fart, and our hero is good at magic. While wandering the basement he farts into his hand and then throws this ball of magic at a lantern on the wall. The gas explodes and knocks down a wall, clearing the way for us to further explore the dungeon.
AllAboutGames:
The gameplay portion we saw today illustrated how well the team were able to recreate the look and feel of the show which looked fantastic in high definition. This isn't just about purely visual elements though, there are other subtle pieces such as animation that makes the game whole. Everything fits into place and the game transitions so incredibly well from cutscenes to gameplay that if it weren't for the interface, you would assume you were watching the show.
The game itself takes the form of a JRPG, albeit set in the visual trappings of the South Park TV show. Straight out of the JRPG textbook comes turn-based combat systems. Whilst the motions feel similar, again it's all given a South Park twist to it, such as the 'Hammer of Justice' (a regular hammer) or the 'Vibroblade' (we'll leave it to your imagination to work out what this is). This is also reflected in the special attacks such as the 'shit nugget' which grosses targets out or the infamous Roshambo. Outside of the battles, there's world exploration which takes the form of side-on Castle Crashers-esque movement (which perfectly complements the show's look). Direct combat with 'enemy' kids will throw you into the full combat system but there are other mechanics built into the world exploration that you can use to stop it getting to that point such as ranged attacks using trapped 'gas' that you could use to knock things over and spread fire about. At the segment's conclusion we got treated to trailer for the rest of the game. Needless to say it certainly looked like to be the best bits of South Park we've seen!
Official Xbox Magazine UK:
There are some supernatural forces, though - the Underpants Gnome's magic allows the New Kid to change size, and Alien Probe tech lets him teleport. There's also the matter of Clyde Donovan, Cartman's former ally who has since decided to try his hand at necromancy, resurrecting dead animals with weird green goop (that he found in a barrel) to create his own army.
In other words, it's chaos. Fans will be delighted by Obsidian's nailing of the show's humour (which makes sense, considering Matt Stone and Trey Parker wrote the game, too), and we're eager to see what other elements of pop culture Stick of Truth lampoons. Nothing is sacred when 'South Park' is in the title - even the stat screen has been retooled to look like Facebook, complete with the New Kid's list of friends and allies.
GameReactor:
Down in the basement Douchebag and Butters find the bard (played by the cripple Jimmy) who quickly proves to be a traitor who is on the side of the elves. He stutters, of course, as he must give his big villain speech, after which several elves (ie boys with plastic ears) pop out from hiding places and a fierce battle breaks out. We see several special attacks and abilities, including Sir Douchebag taking on an extra piece of armor (ie aluminum foil), and his vibro blades (that look a lot like a dildo belonging to Cartman's mom).
After the ambush the group attempts to sneak out, among other things by stealth attacking enemies with dodge balls, farting on fire and making small gas explosions. They open a window from a distance, so an ally thief can sneak in and assassinate a few elven guards. The enemies they didn't manage to outwit are being defeated in the FF-like battle system.
