South Park: The Stick of Truth Preview

If you’re a fan of the South Park series, Obsidian’s role-playing output or both, you probably might want to take a look at games.on.net’s preview for South Park: The Stick fo Truth which seems to be fairly positive about the satiric quasi-JRPG. Here’s a sampling:

Regardless of what you call yourself, Cartman will instead ordain your silent protagonist (Douchebag) forevermore. Right, awesome. Before we can brave the South Parkian wilds and prove our mettle by returning with buckets of calories for our rotund regent, Cartman’s makeshift (castle) comes under attack. Ho!

And where’s we freak out: The transition from cutscene to gameplay is seamless. No sooner has Douchebag left to save the day than did we not realise it was actually now game time. Things get even better when Douchebag runs afoul of his first battle and the screen breaks to glorious turn-based combat ala old (read: good) Final Fantasy. It’s exactly like tonking baddies with Cloud’s crew, except you can now try for blocks and counters, and mash a button to get more out of some of your attacks. It’s just enough modernity.

Next, Douchebag’s on the trail with Cartman, the pair clumsily infiltrating the manor of some Douchey Vampires in a side-scrolling jaunt (the exploratory bits seem to alternate between this view and semi top-down. Ultra nostalg!). Unsurprisingly, they’re both soon set upon by a quartet of said vamps and it’s on again. It’s a longer battle with a little more to it, and the hysterical devils are totally in the details here. Cartman rarely ever shuts up throughout, periodically taking to hurling vulgar slurs at the opposition and vomiting all over himself when one of them returns fire with a literally poisonous barrage. The abrupt summoning of Mr. Slave in order swallow one of the cheeky fangers whole with his ass seals the deal: This is South Park the RPG. Obsidian have nailed it.