You gotta hand it to Trey Parker and Matt Stone. It seems like everything they touch turns to gold. Granted, it’s usually fart joke-based gold, but still! Every time the duo decides to take their distinctively filthy and deceptively intelligent humour to another medium, it just works. A few years ago, the team decided to make a South Park game that they could make themselves. This way, they would be able to make a good game that they could be proud of.
That they made a role-playing game that was actually worth playing, beyond all the gut-wrenching hilarity, was a pleasant surprise. The Stick of Truth was a brilliant game, and now they’ve done it again. South Park: The Fractured but Whole is one of the best games of the year, and it’s certain to be the funniest damn game on the market until these guys decide to do it again.
The plot, structure, and even the map of South Park: The Fractured but Whole are pretty much the same as last time, and thankfully, that’s a good thing. For this round, the South Park gang has stopped playing wizard and fantasy to try on their superhero personas. Cartman’s goal is to create a lucrative movie franchise with Netflix spin-offs, others just want to do some good in their community. This causes a rift among all the costumed kiddies – why wouldn’t it? So it’s a Marvel Civil War kind of story.
“The Fractured But Whole also has some really strong satire, especially a Lovecraft-inspired subplot about police brutality.”
Once again, you’re a new kid with a surprisingly graphic, troubled home life (seriously, it would be a downer if it weren’t for South Park’s cute, cut-out “get out of jail free” aesthetic, and even then there are times when things feel a little bit out of control) and you’re the only one who can talk to your father. Along the way, you also do everything from sneaking into a strip club to make a semen-soaked drink to battling a certain former Subway pitchman in a way that leaves deep mayonnaise stains and psychological scars. South Park: The Fractured But Whole is out, albeit slightly toned down from the last one to avoid another round of international censorship.
Gameplay in The Fractured But Whole is essentially a slightly streamlined RPG with all the bells and whistles. Combat has been updated to a grid system with character movement and obstacles. It takes some getting used to, but ultimately allows for more variety and challenge within the endless stream of turn-based combat. It’s still not as painfully difficult as most pure RPGs, even on the highest difficulty, but that’s for the best.
There’s also more customization this time around, as well as the ability to craft items and to combine a variety of fighting classes and styles. Throw in dozens of hilarious costumes and other customization options (believe it or not, those ball chins are back), and you have a fairly robust and deep game, especially for a licensed property, and a variety of hidden items and side quests. All of it in some way mocks gaming conventions or delivers some sort of South Park deep cut joke. The attention to detail is remarkable. Even the loading screens have funnier jokes than any video game deserves.
Of course, South Park: The Fractured but Whole is also a rare game where mechanics and design are almost secondary concerns. Sure, the game plays great, but the reason people will be lining up for insomnia-inducing copies is because of the South Park style and humour. Good news. Trey and Matt didn’t disappoint either. Once again, there isn’t a second of gameplay that doesn’t feel like you’re controlling a South Park episode.
All the characters appear, this time updated to include new favourites like the PC Principal and the Member Berries. The PC Principal teaches you how to score extra attacks for microaggressions, and the Member Berries give you new powers. Jokes are woven into the fabric of every aspect of the game, from the disgusting throwaway items you find along the way to the gameplay tips provided by Towlie, who rants about the government between hints, to the fact that in some parts of the game, you can actually die. It’s a parade of giggles and laughs for South Park fans. Too many, in fact.
“Simply put, The Fractured but Hole is a joyous, even orgasmic gaming experience for any South Park fan.”
The story is as episodic and stretched as any video game. You can’t expect the plot to live up to the tightly scripted show, even though the game feels very much like a 20-hour episode. Oddly enough, much of the “new kid” character arc is lifted wholesale from The Stick of Truth, including the big twist. It’s a bit of a bummer, but the execution of your troubled home life is so much darker that it’s worth the repetition. The superhero narrative becomes as deliberately convoluted and confusing as the blockbuster source material, eventually stumbling into a bizarre time-travel finale that easily tops Stick of Truth’s underwhelming climax.
The Fractured But Whole also has some really strong satire, especially a Lovecraft-inspired subplot about police brutality, and Parker and Stone have fun allowing players to choose their own racial, sexual, and spiritual identities, which makes for a very interesting game. The way the writers use the game’s identity to tease identity politics purists is very clever and ultimately inclusive in a way that may surprise those who balked at the “skin color difficulty” controversy that hit the game a few weeks ago.
Simply put, The Fractured but Hole is a joyous, even orgasmic gaming experience for any South Park fan. It’s filled with beautiful design, addictive gameplay, and endless comedy with the brainy highs and poopy lows that made the show legendary. The game is every bit the equal of its predecessor, and in some ways, an improvement. Some might call it a step back, because the novelty value of a South Park role-playing game is not as high the second time around. They might also call it a step back, because they did n’t change the game’s genre when they changed from fantasy to superheroes. But that’s really the worst thing you can say about this game.
Sure, it doesn’t top Stick of Truth, but it’s a worthy enough sequel to stand as an equal. Hopefully Trey and Matt will expand this into a trilogy, because they’ve found the perfect formula for expanding their iconic series into video games without diluting the medium or the franchise (last week’s episode led directly into the game, and both are so simpatico that it didn’t feel like crass crossover marketing, but rather ambitious gross-out humor crossover storytelling).
In a perfect world, all tie-in games would be this good. Unfortunately, Trey Parker and Matt Stone are the only content creators dedicated and passionate enough to make spin-off games this strong. No one is better at making the world laugh at our absurdities through childish animation and the crudest of humour. May these masters of fart joke satire never cease.
