South Park: The Stick of Truth Preview
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The game starts off by placing you in the shoes of the new kid in town. You'll assemble your avatar from a variety of facial features pasted onto your iconic circular head, adorn your hero with an assortment of winter clothing, and proceed to venture forth into the profane wilds of South Park. The game draws inspiration from the high-fantasy episode The Return of the Fellowship of the Ring to the Two Towers, so the various character classes in the game are represented via slightly tweaked versions of D&D tropes. Though the game certainly displays some PC-inspired elements such as branching dialogue trees, the battle system in The Stick of Truth draws heavily from simpler RPGs of the mid-'90s. In fact, the demo that Obsidian was showing at times felt almost like an homage to games like Super Mario RPG.
Once you enter a battle, the mise en scene takes a traditional 16-bit Square-esque approach by lining you party up on one side with the enemies on the other. Upon selecting your desired attack, the game rewards you for a perfectly timed button press with extra damage. Anyone who's experienced Mario's initial foray into the world of RPGs will immediately feel at home with the way that the battle system keeps the player constantly engaged. Too many games in the genre end up leaving you mindlessly tapping a single button until you reach the victory screen, so having a system that rewards those who are quick on their toes is a great way to add some action to an otherwise passive genre.
