It’s been 3 long years since South Park: The Stick of Truth came swinging it’s arms at us. Despite a few delays it finally landed on consoles just a few short weeks ago – though now it almost feels like a lifetime now. As a huge fan of the last game and the TV series, it was pretty well a guarantee that I was predisposed to love this game. The Stick of Truth felt like an uncensored 10+ hour episode of the show that had me cracking up out loud on multiple occasions, did lightning strike twice?

As a direct sequel, South Park the Fractured But Whole begins mere hours after the conclusion of the Stick of Truth, putting players back in control of “The New Kid” whose appearance, race (which hilariously is something used to determine game difficulty) and even “gender identity”, which can be changed later in the game(yes… really… I know – let’s move on). He still has the uncanny and impressive super ability to fart in ways I could only dream of. At the beginning, there are only three classes to choose from (Speedster, Blaster, and Brutalist)– but later in the game you’ll unlock more interesting and unique classes like the Plantmancer, Gadgeteer, and Elementalist which you’ll be able to add to your existing class.

Instead of playing Dungeons and Dragons/Game of Thrones, the kids have decided their new epic adventure in LARPing is in the Superhero genre.  We even get to a better variety of kids to have in our party which adding more potential candidates as the game progresses is a bit different than The Stick of Truth. Cartman has a genius idea(in his own mind) that they need to build a cinematic universe similar to that of Marvel films and since Netflix buys everything, he’s got a plan to tell his story through what he calls a Civil War.

The combat system is probably the biggest change in South Park: The Fractured But Whole. Instead of it being just a straight up turn based system where players pick and choose their attacks, defense or healing,  battles now take place on a chessboard style grid requiring more of a strategic outlook as to where to place your characters and maneuver them around the battlefield. This lets you unleash or dodge moves that affect a wider area of attack, or play for control of the area with moves that push enemies back. Another big change to the game is the crafting system. Now players can use items they find throughout the town to make potions, health packs and even Weapon

I loved the games. There wasn’t really anything I didn’t just thoroughly enjoy from start to finish. I found the new combat system worked quite well, the jokes were copious and hilarious and it left me wanting more. If there’s one thing that is sitting poorly with me, it’s the lack of envelop pushing jokes. yea the ones they had were great but I feel as though they REALLY pushed it with The Stick of Truth with the abortion mini game, crawling around in Mr.Slaves digestive system to the new kids parents having sex and dodging his father’s balls. I kept expecting to see more of those “Holy Crap” moments but they never really appeared. Perhaps they played it safe because they were told to. The writers of the South Park TV series are masters of lampooning society and most times serious news issues. South Park the Fractured But Whole is no different but they don’t really walk that line in the sand. The way the show and the first game told jokes is very much like a celebrity roast. Take no prisoner and spare nobody scorched earth approach that we all have come to love. Let them go and do their thing.

If you like/love the show, then come on down to South Park and meet some friends of mine.

J