South Park: The Stick of Truth Review

South Park: The Stick of Truth
Released Mar 4th, 2014
Published by Ubisoft
For Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360
Rated R18+
9/10

My first thought when picking up South Park: The Stick of Truth went something like, ‘it’s only an R18+ video game, it can’t be too controversial right?’ Of course, I was delighted to find I was wrong.

The game is a fun gameplay experience in almost all of its aspects – that is, if you don’t mind a game being completely politically incorrect and crude at the same time. That said, it’s not one for the little brother or sister (or anyone who gets offended easily), as the game’s scenes are very explicit. The following is a list of a few moments that stood out;

You get anally probed: On your character’s first night in the quiet little mountain town, he is abducted by aliens and brought onto their spaceship, where – staying true to the show’s early episodes – he becomes a victim of alien anal probing. It’s at moments like these when we remember that the main character is a child, and to have a game where a young boy is sexually abused might not gel too well with every player.

Bloody tampons, ahoy! One of the weapons is dubbed the ‘bloody tampon grenade’. It is pretty much just that – you use a bloody tampon as a grenade. On that reasoning alone, you might want to avoid putting this game into the hands 0f children, or someone with a dull sense of humour.

With a little help from my friends: One of the game’s battle strategies involves summoning, where you can call on the help of other characters to assist in the fight. For example, you can bring in Mr. Hankey the Christmas Poo, dressed up like Mickey Mouse from The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, who brings a flood of feces. If that’s not enough, you can also summon the show’s recurring character Jesus, who jumps in, guns blazing. But the most disturbing would have to be Mr. Slave’s ‘Rawhide Whip Special’, which involves the homosexual character removing his pants, then jumping on top of the enemy and sucking them from inside their anus.

If you are not buying South Park: The Stick of Truth for a child or your conservative friend, you have every reason to pick up this enjoyable role-playing game, even if you consider yourself only an occasional fan of the TV show. The crude humour is undoubtedly the game’s crowning achievement, but the engaging fighting system, exploration and impressive graphics (it’s hard to tell the game apart from the TV show) do their job of carrying the player from each hilarious plot point to the next.

Elysia Roberts

Don’t believe the review? Check out the trailer for South Park: The Stick of Truth.