Have you ever wanted to actually be in an episode of “South Park?”
Yeah, me neither.
But that’s exactly where I found myself in the thoroughly immersive and long awaited “Stick of Truth,” the video game whose release was actually the punchline of South Park’s three part Thanksgiving episode last year.
My God, what a fun game. I spent the better part of a week playing it through and it is totally entertaining.
At the beginning of the game you’re asked to design your character and you are then designated the “new kid” who has recently moved to South Park and has no memory of the reasons behind the move. You are quickly swept into Cartman’s fantasy army and designated “Sir Douchebag.” From that point on, you are pulled into an utterly demented story involving alien invaders, fighting underpants gnomes while your parents have sex in the background, Zombie Nazi cows, farting as a combat tactic, climbing up Mr. Slave’s ášš, and defusing a bomb by performing an abortion (an endeavor which I initially screwed up and wound up nuking South Park.)
Various battles require intense strategizing, which I’m not used to, but fortunately Kathleen was right beside me telling me what moves to make, so that helped a lot. And whenever you embark on a quest, you have someone accompanying you, each with their own powers that can contribute to the battle.
If you are any kind of “South Park” fan then you should definitely pick this game up.
PAD
• 
The only thing I could kept thinking as I read this, is that “PAD plays video games”?
There’s a nice review of its strengths and weaknesses on Topless Robot at http://www.toplessrobot.com/2014/03/5_things_that_make_south_park_the_stick_of_truth_a.php And for those who don’t mind spoilers, the third page has “notable moments” from the game. (Though it left me wondering what happens in Canada…)
I haven’t been watching the show lately, so naturally I was unaware of the game. Thanks for the tip- I’ll have to pick it up!
This video by IGN shows the 7 banned moments from the game. Did they have black boxes to merely censor the acts, or were they omitted entirely from the game?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTN5ga39v48#t=12
They may have been banned in other countries, but those sequences were in the game I played.
PAD
Parts of the game were censored in Europe (notably the probing sections of the alien abduction part of the game and the abortion minigame). From what I’ve seen online, the “offensive” parts of the game were removed altogether and replaced in sorta tongue-in-cheek Trey-and-Matt fashion with a screen describing the part of the game that was removed.
Bah. I “Fus Ro Dah” on the Stick of Truth.
Mainly because I can’t seem to stop playing Skyrim. It’s like “The Godfather” of video games. Every time I think I’m out…