Preview South Park RPG previews and screenshots at GameBanshee

[Infinitron]

Tags: Obsidian Entertainment; South Park: The Stick of Truth; Ubisoft

Surprise! It turns out that Obsidian's South Park: The Stick of Truth isn't vaporware after all. Apparently, Ubisoft are going to show the game off at E3, and they've allowed a whole bunch of sites to preview it in advance. Luckily, our dear friends at GameBanshee have done the heavy lifting for us. Here are a couple of those previews.

GameInformer:

Creativity helps in combat, but it’s also necessary for navigating the school’s dangerous hallways. Butters and New Kid encounter an enemy kid standing on a huge rubbish blockade. Normally, New Kid could use his powerful fart ability to knock him from the hill, but a strategically placed fan makes this difficult. Players have a few options in this dilemma. They can either trigger a sprinkler above the fan to short it out, or use an anal probe satellite to teleport into the vents above. Once within, Butters and New Kid harness the power of the Underpants Gnomes to shrink themselves and navigate the narrow ventilation shaft. These multi-path situations look like entertaining breaks from the otherwise straightforward combat.​

[...] The presentation concludes with a standoff between Kyle and Cartman. New Kid must choose a side, and the dev at the controls chooses to fight Cartman. New Kid’s opening strike is to throw a piece of poop at Cartman (which was acquired earlier after defecating in a urinal). The fight concludes with a spectacular fart duel between the two, which plays out like two Dragon Ball Z characters blasting each other.​

Polygon:

Magical abilities carry grand names and DIY executions. A Lightning Volt, for example, will see one of the South Park kids dump a bucket of water on a foe, then drop a car battery with exposed wiring into the resulting puddle. Healing Touch is simply a tap on the back and a reassuring "Yeah, that's it little buddy," from Cartman. A Funnel of Frost is a fire extinguisher and Hammer of Justice... a hammer.​

Spellcasters in South Park can also unleash streams of fireworks, flaming flatulence and undead cats revived by the power of toxic waste at their foes.​

Some of those spells play out more dramatically and more punishingly depending on the timing of a button press within a certain window. The action is reminiscent of the timing-based flourishes applied in games like Nintendo's Mario & Luigi RPG series or the active reload actions of Gears of War.​

The GameBanshee staff also got their hands on some screenshots from the game. They look pretty much like what you'd expect.

 

[likaq]

Words can not describe how NOT interested I am in this game.

 

[Hellraiser]

Not sure if screenshots or photoshop.

 

[Irenaeus]

My popamole brother is a fan of South Park, so I'll try to get him interested for the benefit of Obsidian. He was mildly amused by the trailer I showed him, but he's one of those 1000-hour Skyrim/Mass Effect players, so I'm not sure he'd play a RPG.

 

[dab]

Still better than this Russian MMO thing

 

[undecaf]

A hit or miss title by its very nature. Will probably give it a shot when on a decent sale. Or probably not.

One wonders though, reading the Codex, the sense of humor here gives the idea that this should be a Codex dream game for the humor alone.

 

[Azrael the cat]

I'm just hoping the reviewers' emphasis on flatulence arises either because (a) in the preview build it's the character's main ability, or (b) they're all just running from the same press release, or (c) they're all writing notes from the same handsoff demonstration (which is what it sounds like).

There's aspects to the game that I quite like, but I'd rather no humour than reused fart jokes that are going to get old as hell by the end of the 1st combat.

 

[Azrael the cat]

Still better than this Russian MMO thing

Still better than Oblivion

 

[DeepOcean]

If it has the writing of the best South Park episodes, then it would be worth to play even for only the humor but if it has the writing of the worst ones, specially the most recent "meh" stuff that South Park became then it will be boring fart jokes after boring penis jokes to return to boring fart jokes.

 

[MurkyShadow]

I really want to like Obsidian. But they're working against me with every release.
Well, I do like Obsidian. But I'd like to like the games they're making too.

 

[Duraframe300]

I'm just hoping the reviewers' emphasis on flatulence arises either because (a) in the preview build it's the character's main ability, or (b) they're all just running from the same press release, or (c) they're all writing notes from the same handsoff demonstration (which is what it sounds like).

There's aspects to the game that I quite like, but I'd rather no humour than reused fart jokes that are going to get old as hell by the end of the 1st combat.

c)

 

[Zed]

If it has the writing of the best South Park episodes, then it would be worth to play even for only the humor but if it has the writing of the worst ones, specially the most recent "meh" stuff that South Park became then it will be shit.

South Park has always had highs and lows. It has never been good. It has always been funny. It has not diminished over time, unlike the Simpons or other animated humor/satire shows.

 

[Fat Dragon]

Seeing Obsidian making shovelware like this and that MMO is embarrassing. I really hope Project Eternity works out well for them and they can use its success to make more new ip and sequels that they own.

 

[Konjad]

If it has the writing of the best South Park episodes, then it would be worth to play even for only the humor but if it has the writing of the worst ones, specially the most recent "meh" stuff that South Park became then it will be boring fart jokes after boring penis jokes to return to boring fart jokes.

Just look at the game's screenshots

 

[zwanzig_zwoelf]

I wonder how long this interactive South Park episode will be.

 

[undecaf]

I wonder how long this interactive South Park episode will be.

One of the previews approximated 15-20 hours.

 

[Lancehead]

Seeing Obsidian making shovelware like this and that MMO is embarrassing. I really hope Project Eternity works out well for them and they can use its success to make more new ip and sequels that they own.

A game based on South Park, one of the most iconic brands in the world, with its creators directly involved is by no definition a shovelware.

 

[J_C]

Seeing Obsidian making shovelware like this and that MMO is embarrassing. I really hope Project Eternity works out well for them and they can use its success to make more new ip and sequels that they own.

I don't think you understand the word "shovelware".

 

[zwanzig_zwoelf]

I wonder how long this interactive South Park episode will be.

One of the previews approximated 15-20 hours.

Good, good. If it has a bit of replayability, that's even better.

 

[FeelTheRads]

A game based on a famous brand made for the sole reason of milking that brand's fans of money is pretty much shovelware.

 

[FeelTheRads]

Fuck you, Deletotron.

 

[Duraframe300]

A game based on a famous brand made for the sole reason of milking that brand's fans of money is pretty much shovelware.

The creators of the show are deeply involved, the developers themselves are deeply excited working on it (even working directly with the creators before a publisher deal was made) and it's a big budget production. While this certainly applies to all previous SP games I don't think its accurate here.

Of course if it is accurate, Alpha Protocol is the only Obsidian game that isn't shovelware

 

[evdk]

Of course if it is accurate, Alpha Protocol is the only Obsidian game that isn't shovelware

Yes, that one is bioware.

 

[Trash]

Dunno. I want this one, if for the sole reason that SP used to amuse me when I watched it almost a decade ago and Obsidian should've had enough time with this one that even they might've implemented some QA.

Plus I expect it to be mildly funny at least.

 

[St. Toxic]

 

[J_C]

A game based on a famous brand made for the sole reason of milking that brand's fans of money

Like Planescape: Torment? You know, the game which was based on the famous brand of Planescape, and made for the sole reason of milking the brands fans. See, I can talk stupid shit too!