Those with delicate dispositions or those who are politically correct need not apply for this game; it sets out to be just like the TV series and absolutely nails it. It's the most lewd, offensive and downright hilarious game I have played.
South Park: The Stick of Truth
From: Ubisoft
For: PS3/360/PC
Four stars (out of five)
At its heart it's a turn-based RPG, where you square off against various foes from the South Park universe and beyond: It's hardly a deep system, but it does the trick.
The best parts are the customised attack sets (which are upgradeable) for each character, and various summons you come across in the world.
An example of which would be if you find Jesus hanging around South Park, he is available to summon in battle, and proceeds to decimate your foes with an automatic assault rifle before putting on sunglasses and flying into the air.
It's almost impossible to describe how outrageous and how hilarious some of the moments are that you will play through in this game.
I'm not going to reveal any of them bar the basic plot, because half the fun of this game is stumbling upon them as you play.
The basic plot follows a new kid, moving into the quiet backwater town of South Park, and immediately finding themselves in a cutthroat battle between wizards (led by Cartman) and the elves (led by Kyle) in an epic battle for control of the mystical ''Stick of Truth''.
This is only scratching the surface of the plot, however.
What goes on sometimes defies belief.
There's some infamy surrounding this game and several scenes that are censored for the versions of our game here compared with the US version.
Having played both, I'd say that our version is in some ways funnier, with the screens and descriptions drawn up by Matt Stone and Trey Parker being arguably funnier than the scenes that have been censored.
It looks, and feels just like an episode of South Park.
Games such as The Simpsons tend to end up creating terrifying 3-D versions of the beloved 2-D characters and look and play terribly as a result.
South Park stays with the same art style and it works beautifully.
You'd be hard pressed to tell the difference and this really builds the immersion.
On top of looking and feeling like the show, the amount of references to the show will delight fans.
Whether it's finding Butters' bestselling novel The Poop that took a Pee in people's cupboards, to Cartman's delightful power ballad song about minorities ruining his waterpark, they're everywhere.
Exploring South Park with almost complete freedom is also brilliant.
So many funny things are to be found, you can spend hours in the game without even touching the main story arc.
South Park fans should acquire this immediately.
It will be the best game you'll play this year.
Equally, if you find yourself disliking the TV show, avoid at all costs.
If you find yourself somewhere in the middle ground (like myself), you should give it a go.
If the swearing and juvenile humour doesn't turn you away, you might just have one of the funniest gaming experiences you have ever had.
- Simon Bishop
