South Park: The Stick of Truth Preview

It’s a little disappointing that so far the only showings of South Park: The Stick of Truth have been hands-off but we’ll take what we can get, like this preview from MTV Multiplayer that, while noting that the real test is getting to try the title for themselves, seems fairly positive about the title. Here’s a snippet:

In Cartman’s kingdom, you’ll talk to the chubby despot as well as some of the other South Park Elementary students setting up your typical item and weapon shops. In the video, the player was able to approach the NPCs and talk to them, but there was no additional interaction like being able to shop at this point. There didn’t appear to be any dialog options, and instead, approaching a character will just trigger a quick dialog interaction.

Suddenly, the peace of Cartman’s kingdom was disturbed by a group of “elves”: violent upperclassmen who raid Cartman’s backyard seeking the titural “Stick of Truth.” The game then switches to a turn-based combat screen with Cartman and the player character on one side, and three elves on the other. The combat includes some arcade elements, requiring a bit of button mashing to improve player attacks. For instance, Cartman’s poisonous fart attack requires you to button mash to pump up the meter and increase the power of the attack, a clear indication that Obsidian was serious about their Paper Mario inspiration from back when the game was initially announced. In a later combat sequence in a graveyard overrun with goth vampires, Cartman uses a special attack involving Mr. Slave appearing, and the player pumping up the meter to bolster his deeply unorthodox attack: Mr. Slave swallows up nearby enemies in, well, his butt, and it’s horrible and funny at the same time.