South Park is now over 20 years old, I still remember when I first enjoyed the show in 1997, everyone did. The time period was much less politically correct and the show was less risque than it is these days, it was still wildly funny to my 12 year old self and I proudly donned my black South Park backpack to school with all 4 main characters embroidered across it. I loved that bag, anyway I digress.
The Fractured But Whole, read Fractured Butthole, is a sequel to 2014's The Stick of Truth and it follows on from its predecessor in a self-explanatory fashion; the kids have changed the game to superheroes. Given my love of superheroes, comics and movies in general this move was an exciting one; I won’t lie I did fear for my beloved Marvel Universe, especially given Matt and Treys notoriously brutal interpretation of pretty much everything.
History
21 Seasons and counting, hard to believe it has lasted this long, especially given its “distasteful” content in today’s world, I still think it is hilarious. There have been 8 South Park themed games since 1997, the first being a first-person shooter in 1998 on the Nintendo 64. I still remember that game fondly albeit vaguely, I remember throwing snowballs and being Eric Cartman, other than that I remember very little, Oh Turkeys, there were Turkeys that were not friendly.
The Stick of Truth(TSOT) received excellent reviews (8.5/10), I personally experienced it on the Xbox 360 and enjoyed the story though I did not complete the game, this was not due to any issues with the game itself it’s simply a bad habit of mine that has since been resolved.
Development of a sequel to TSOT began in 2014 and it was publically unveiled at E3 2015, I was there and to steal from The Fractured But Whole, “I member”. I was most excited to see a new South Park game, especially one based on superheroes, Matt and Trey were also at E3, the entire thing was intoxicatingly exciting. Que disappointment, unveiled in June 2015, revisted at E3 2016 with a release of December 2016, followed by a delay into early 2017, then again to mid-2017/early 2018 until it was eventually released on October 17th 2017. I splurged on the Gold Edition for the DLC and began my adventure into South Park once more, this time to completion.
The Story
The entire premise of TFBW is a parody between Marvel and D.C. that the kids play out, the two teams are attempting to successfully start their own franchises and make billions. In order to do this they need investment money, which they plan to get by uncovering the mystery around the missing cats of South Park, one of which comes with a $100 reward. From this point, in true South Park style, the game descends into complete madness, not to ruin anything but the title plays a significant role towards the end and it’s absolutely ridiculous.
The Gameplay
The gameplay is very similar to that of TSOT, there are specific story missions and side-missions in an RPG fuelled world of artefacts, items, crafting and costumes. The costumes are fun and the inspiration they take from Marvel and D.C. is obvious but well designed. The crafting system is very simple and the hilariously named items you collect fall into the appropriate crafting category and allow you to make other useful items such as healing potions. The combat is turn-based, I am not a fan of this style but I found it was well done in the game and it didn’t put me off at all.
The gameplay is simple as far as RPGs go, there isn’t much depth but that isn’t really the point of this game, the gameplay is a vehicle for the story and in this case turn-based RPG style was the best vehicle and it is beautifully done, it feels like you are inside and episode of South Park as it did in TSOT.
I do not want to spoil any of the story, pointing out some of the hilarious situations and characters would do just that, for this reason I will keep it short and simple.
The Review
I like South Park, I like political incorrectness for comedic effect and South Park hits the mark more often than not, the same is true of The Fractured But Whole. The gameplay is simplified and deep enough to not get boring but the crafting system is watered down and the items that are created are seldom needed throughout the game. That being said the story is where this game flourishes, it’s probably best to think of it like an interactive South Park movie.
The graphics are impeccable and one of the benefits of creating a modern South Park game, there were some bugs I observed throughout and some of the routes are less obvious due to the 2.5D but these were not game breaking issues.