South Park: The Game detailed

The story begins with the player in control if a new kid in South Park. Cartman sets the new kid up with a class (Wizard, Paladin, Adventurer, Rogue, or a fifth class Cartman made up) and he joins a live action role playing game the neighbourhood kids have started which eventually evolves into a real adventure.

The new Game Informer magazine is out and, as promised, it contains details of South Park: The Game, which was announced last week.

The story begins with the player in control if a new kid in South Park. Cartman sets the new kid up with a class (Wizard, Paladin, Adventurer, Rogue, or a fifth class Cartman made up) and he joins a live action role playing game the neighbourhood kids have started which eventually evolves into a real adventure.

The look of the silent protagonist will be fully customizable. You'll be able to explore South Park in two dimensions, carrying a smartphone with a Facebook-like app that shows how many friends you have and your standing with the local child factions. As mentioned when the game was announced, series creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker have participated directly in development, complete with writing the script and voicing their characters.

The battle system is compared in the preview to the Paper Mario and Mario & Luigi games. Timed button presses in combat result in multiple hits and more damage. Timed inputs appear to defend against attacks, as well. Enemies are visible in the game world and the player initiating combat grants them the first attack. Conversely, combat initiated by the enemy grants the first attack to the opposing party. Weapons can be modified to add elemental and status effects with a Final Fantasy VII materia-style system.

Trey Parker and Matt Stone are working hard to make the game feel authentic. On top of writing the script and voicing characters, they've supplied developer Obsidian with 15 years worth of South Park assets, as well as a detailed list of approved colors and textures to keep the game feeling as close to the show as possible.

If everything goes well, South Park: The Game will strike a good balance between solid gameplay and comedy. It's too early for a release window yet, but South Park: The Game will be available on PS3, Xbox 360, and Pc.

Staff article by Rhody Tobin (December 05, 2011) Rhody likes to press the keys on his keyboard. Sometimes the resulting letters form strings of words that kind of make sense when you think about them for a moment. Most times they're just random gibberish that should be ignored. Ball-peen wobble glurk.