Anticipated since 2015, South Park The Fractured but Whole game has made a big splash since its release by South Park Digital Studios and Ubisoft. A follow up to the Stick of Truth, the kids at South Park trade in typical Dungeons and Dragons fantasy garb for superheroes instead. Still as iconic and raunchy as what everyone expects from the franchise, this game is packed with Easter eggs and fun gameplay as well.
Divided between two teams, the Coon and Friends team up with the Freedom Pals. Cartman decides that he wants to create his own franchise much like the Marvel cinematic universe. Disagreement splits the teams with The New Kid siding with Coon and Friends. The actual plot is actually just about finding a lost cat for a small reward but as usual in the South Park universe, things start to quickly spiral out of control. Time travel, drug rings and even Dr. Mephesto make their way in to the story. Characters interact with their same humor, but a unique part is how each character responds to every other character differently.
When starting the game, character selection is important. The character that is built is hand selected and decorated according to the player, but powers and abilities play in to this. Depending on what is chosen, the difficulty level rises or falls according to this. This effects game play, not like the joke option you will see. In true South Park fashion, the color of the characters skin is supposed to raise or lower the difficulty level (but it actually doesn’t). The class system that is used to determine what abilities you have is an improvement over the Stick of Truth and feels much like the RPG class system of old. In battle, a grid system is used to fight opposing enemies. This can be other children, or even in one scene, a pimp and his hookers.
After starting the game, the overall impression I got was that playing was more like watching an episode of South Park. The colors scheme is still bright, the town hasn’t changed, and all the voice actors came back to voice their characters. Being a longtime fan of the show, I was delighted when older characters made appearances. Though it might go without saying, this game is not for kids. While the idea of a pooping mini game might seem gross but harmless, just wait until you have to perform a lap dance for drunken business men. This was the first but definitely not the last time that I wondered “how are they getting away with this?”
One of the best experiences with the game is dealing with Jimmy. His character is basically the Flash and in order to travel around the map faster, Jimmy grabs you and rushes you to where you need to go. Overall, no glitches were to be found even though some reports say there are many bugs. The gameplay and timing were very smooth and on point as well. Every character interaction was funny which made the game feel more like a show and still left me with the feeling that I needed more. There is even an end credit scene, but I won’t spoil it for everyone. As a fun thing to do when the game is finally done, make sure to go back and talk to characters around town to see what they have to say, they are hysterical.
South Park The Fractured but Whole is available on Xbox, PS4, and PC
