The Stick of Truth? More Like The Stick of Success!
Videogames based on animated TV shows have been really hit-and-miss over the years. For every The Simpsons: Hit & Run, there are a dozen flops like Family Guy: Back To The Multiverse and The Simpsons Skateboarding that kick up a fart bomb-sized stink over the glorious potential of TV-to-videogame adaptations. South Park itself has witnessed hits and misses, with early games such as their first foray into videogames, simply titled South Park, and then the follow-up South Park: Chef’s Luv Shack showing the franchise going through growing pains as the revered animated product tried to garner acclaim in the videogame medium. Later on, South Park would squeeze a couple of Xbox Live Arcade games out of its placenta, with South Park: Let’s Go Tower Defense and South Park: Tenorman’s Revenge proving to be moderate if light pleasures.
In 2014, though, South Park fans and gamers everywhere would bear witness to inarguably the greatest South Park game ever in South Park: The Stick of Truth. Taking the much-derided turn-based RPG formula and slathering it in clever jokes, quirky and crude gameplay twists, and an abundance of South Park’s patented satire and outrageous humour, The Stick of Truth turned out to be a mega hit and one of 2014’s most delightful games. The following is an exploration of why The Stick of Truth is so beloved and why it farts up a storm over its competition.
Respect The Stick of Truth’s Authoritah!
While Cartman has his own legion of followers, so too does Kyle.
Not one to give your player character a sense of belonging, you play as “Douchebag,” the new kid trying to adjust to his new life in South Park, where he quickly befriends the show’s all-stars before becoming indoctrinated into an otherworldly fantastical adventure overseen by Cartman – the ruler of the Kupa Keep fort. There’s no time to settle in comfortably, however, as a rival kiddie faction has laid siege to Kupa Keep, whereby a precious stick known as “The Stick of Truth” has been stolen. Now it’s up to Cartman, his followers and you to find The Stick of Truth and reclaim the power of the stick for yourselves.
In reality, the stick and the high fantasy setting is all a royal game of silliness brought to life by a town of bored children with nothing better to do on their days off, and The Stick of Truth does make you acutely aware of this whenever outsiders obtain this glorified twig, and there are various other nods to the charade throughout the course of the game. This is part of the brilliance of South Park when it unashamedly and brazenly pokes fun at seriousness by presenting players with unexpected moments and scenes that undress its own set dressing.
In giddily sardonic South Park style, tongue-in-cheek references and parodies are in abundance, notably pertaining to The Lord of the Rings cinematic trilogy and Bethesda’s RPG juggernaut The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. The former is most evident in the game’s lore-building introduction, and the latter will appear obvious, with The Stick of Truth’s flatulent take on Dragon Shouts standing out as a particular highlight. The writing is clever and hilarious, just like the TV show, and such faithfulness towards the source material is why The Stick of Truth aptly sticks out as one of the best games based on a TV show.
A Perfect Quiet Little Mountain Town
No, Cartman hasn’t really snuffed it; he’s just faking it.
Exploring South Park aligns faithfully with the presentation of the TV show by sporting an engrossing 2.5D aesthetic that interactively mirrors the animations therein in a way that’s wholly authentic and immersive. You’ll begin to fathom the true layout of South Park and how all this humble town’s pieces connect together. The map is segmented into districts, so by running into the corner of the screen, you’ll transport to the next section of town. Breaking South Park up in this fashion may seem like a way to contend with hardware limitations, but the layout allows each area to feel distinct.
Most areas in South Park are interactable as well, so you can freely trespass and scamper about inside your friends’ residences without consequence. If you have a long-dormant obsession with Cartman’s room, now you can enter it at your leisure, and who knows, maybe you’ll want to collect his underwear too. You can actually pinch underwear from the drawers of your South Park pals! There are many buildings you can enter at your leisure and hidden passages hiding secrets like friends you can add to your social media, as well as the blatant Pokemon knock-off creature collectibles known as Chinpokomon. South Park is stuffed with secrets and tucked-away hidey-holes and locations that you’re constantly encouraged to actively explore every nook and cranny of the map for secrets.
One Heck of a FartPG
Stick of Truth’s boss encounters know how to shock and surprise in a way only South Park can pull off.
How The Stick of Truth takes a maligned videogame genre like the turn-based RPG, and daringly adapts it by smothering it with South Park’s brand of insatiably crude humour, is what makes this entry so special. Encounters begin like many in the turn-based genre, by either being approached and provoked by an enemy into battle, or you give em a good whack around the chops to trigger them into a tussle. Once engagements commence, you can choose to attack with basic one-handed and two-handed weapons in your arsenal to give your foes a walloping, use healing items and buffs to keep you and your party formidable, or choose for an abundance of special abilities to crush your foes, like combating them in a game of Roshambo or hitting a Homerum by hurling the baseball up in the air and then using the baseball bat to smash the ball directly into the opponents’ faces. You can apply powerful enhancements to your onslaught, too, timing jabs of square/X, or by utilizing the sacred power of the fart to extra extra damage with the possibility of grossing out your foes as well.
Y’see, The Stick of Truth doesn’t bend to the predictable doldrums of the typical turn-based RPG, and although The Stick of Truth doesn’t eschew the cliched groundwork of the genre, its dogged determination to bring even more flavour to it courtesy of South Park’s crude and unabashed comedy makes it far more enjoyable than the many contemporaries that exist out there.
The Stick of Truth‘s turn-based RPG squabbles elevate the standard formula inherent within the genre by allowing you to tap the face button to protect yourself and doll out damage. When the enemy volleys a series of arrows at you, instead of trying to withstand the onslaught by taking all the inflicted damage, you can rhythmically time a guard by tapping X/A on a PS4/Xbox One controller just as the arrow enters range. The ability to deflect attacks and unleash vicious counters grants you more authority during conflicts than you ever would in a vanilla run-of-the-mill turn-based alternative.
In addition, the way you can cause and receive various kinds of damage wildly swings the momentum of confrontations. The varying status effects you can inflict can turn the tide of any battle. Bleeding damage, for instance, initiates cuts and splashes of blood gushes from petulant faces, giving off a visceral and quasi-uncomfortable vibe. Gross-out is the kind of putrescent affliction that nobody wants, not even Stan, no matter how many times he’s barfed after Wendy Testaburger smooches him. Further status ailments such as burning, freezing, shocking, sleeping, and stunning can also be applied to foes courtesy of the diverse range of offensive options for you and your party members, but be sure you don’t incur any of these from the enemy, they will temporarily disable your ability to heal yourself and your teammates.
There’s no skimping when it comes to how The Stick of Truth soaks you in South Park’s absurdity, crudity, and political correctness-eradicating humor. This impenitent moxie pervades The Stick of Truth, with its gaggle of Nazi zombie enemies, boss battles featuring rectal instruments, and Randy Marsh getting probed up the wazoo. Much like the show, The Stick of Truth’s content isn’t for the squeamish, but it pulls no punches, in fact it throws haymakers of filth and taboo at you daring you to submit due to the sheer intensity of the barrage. Few games dare to stare down towards the narcissistic maw of political correctness with such joyous contempt as The Stick of Truth.
Not many games can turn the derided genre they’re in into a treasure because of that game’s sheer quality. The crazy thing is that South Park: The Stick of Truth is so good that it could potentially turn sour opinions of turn-based RPGs upside down until those opinions are sweet. Amazingly, The Stick of Truth works because it deftly spreads its cleverly dirty humour among every inch of this bawdy fantasy adventure, from the potty-mouthed dialogue, right down to the gratifying gross gameplay. No other game based on a licensed animated show has ever gone out of its way to fully embrace and celebrate its identity like The Stick of Truth, as it looks like the show it’s based on and plays exceptionally well in a way that defines what South Park is all about. Ten years later, and still, there is no other turn-based RPG on the market like The Stick of Truth, and it goes to show that it should be enshrined in a hall of fame…..even if it’s wafting in flatulence and covered in excrement – because South Park would probably like it this way.
