South Park: The Stick of Truth Previews

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Written by WorstUsernameEver on June 5th, 2012

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And so begins your adventure in South Park, in which, lead designer Matt MacLean tells us, "you have to make friends with the major characters of South Park." Wandering down the street, the first few kids playing near a tree are hardly welcoming. "Go away kid! You can't play with us." Butters, however, is much more accepting, and he brings you to the Wizard's -- a.k.a. Eric Cartman's -- house, where he makes his realtor joke. He takes you to the backyard where a whole fantasy kingdom has been set up, including the "armory" run by Clyde, the "stables" (i.e. the sandbox, where Cartman's cat is treating it like a litter box), a "Rock of Insanity," a "King's Tower" lookout point where you can see the whole town (mapped out in full for the first time ever), and the "Pool of Vision" (a kiddie pool).

"Dude, how killer is this base, right?" Cartman asks. It's here you're accepted into the guild, choosing a typical fantasy role of fighter, mage, cleric, or thief. MacLean selects the fighter and you're asked by Cartman for your name. Punching in "Ace," Cartman responds. "You entered, 'Douchebag.' Is that correct?" Naturally, you have no choice but to accept the insult, and Cartman dishes out your first mission: you must go to City Wok and fetch the wizard some kung-pao chicken.

Before you can embark on your quest, however, rival kids attack and we see The Stick of Truth's old-school, turn-based combat in action. It combines QTEs and timed button presses in order to block and counter-attack, and battle rewards include items like health-restoring Cheesy Poofs and Revive Tacos. In the scrum, however, the Stick of Truth itself is captured by your enemies, and a pissed-off Cartman sends you to retrieve it.

In the two combat sequences we saw, fights are turn-based in that you'll choose your actions, perform them and then wait out your enemies' turns at bat. Goofy attacks like Cartman's Burning Cloud (he pulls down his pants and executes a lovely flatulence attack that affects a group of foes) or a special summon that calls down Mr. Slave to do some rather, ahem, unmentionable things to your opponent all smack of trademark South Park humor, while the quips and banter between characters made us giggle plenty during our demo. (In the fight against the Vampire Kids, Cartman taunts one enemy with the insult banishing her (back to Hot Topic.) Heh.)

Other silly asides during our glimpse should be a real treat for fans but should still be a hoot for series novices. After all, who couldn't get a silly kick out of being able to wield Cartman's mom's (vibroblade) (it's pretty much a cartoony replica of one particularly long, purple, rubbery melee weapon from THQ's own Saints Row: The Third) and even imbue it with a toxic element for attacks.

The most absurd part of the very absurd demo for South Park: The Stick of Truth was the final scene, in which the producers showed us one of the game's boss battles. In this boss battle which pits you against a goth kid dressed up as a vampire you can use special abilities. One of those special abilities is to summon Mr. Slave, who avid series fans might remember as schoolteacher Mr. Garrison's S&M-loving boyfriend. It's a very accurate summon.

But before the new kid could be sent on a journey to City Wok to get Cartman some food, something signaled the alarm - elves (see: kids with bad fake elf ears) were attacking the kingdom in hopes of stealing the titular Stick of Truth, meaning the new kid needed to actually start jumping into battles. Combat was simple - obviously aping the Paper Mario series' action/turn-based RPG system, but it was given a signature South Park flare.

Characters would bash each other with wooden weapons, shoot bottle rockets to cast "spells," and do other mean things to their enemies. Later, we also saw a battle with vampires (see: kids who talked about their emotions and how much they sparkled), which ended in the new kid summoning South Park's Mr. Slave who literally shoved an enemy into his butt.

The game takes place, unsurprisingly, in the small mountain town of South Park, Colorado. You play the role of The New Kid, a nameless cipher whose first quest, assigned by his father, is simple: "Go make some friends." While that sounds traditional enough, what's immediately unique about The Stick of Truth is simply how much it looks like the South Park cartoon. At the risk of sounding hyperbolic, I'm going to just say it: It looks exactly like the cartoon. Obsidian isn't known for making "good looking" games and, while certainly heavily stylized, presentation is one area where South Park: The Stick of Truth immediately excels.

But South Park has never been about the humble animation; instead, the show has enjoyed an almost 15-year run thanks to its consistently clever (and consistently puerile!) writing and The Stick of Truth is no different there. South Park co-creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker both conceived of and wrote the story for the game, Lyon told us, the biggest project they've worked on since the movie in 1999.

It's basically like Paper Mario: By adding a second timed button press when your moves are executing, you can do extra damage. Another timed button press when an enemy is attacking you will give you a (perfect block) where you take no damage. Even special attacks have timed events.

You can win items after battle; two that I noticed were a (Speed Potion) (a can of energy drink) and a (Revive Taco.) Weapons all have a Damage and Speed statistic, which you can upgrade one particularly sluggish weapon was labeled as (Retard Slow.)

At this point we jumped to a later level. Cartman and you were about to break into a church where the Vampire Lord was said to dwell. There will be environmental puzzles: In this case, the team launched a bottle rocket, aiming it at a stained glass window on the church's steeple, to get inside.

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