South Park (N64) Quick Review
Going down to South Park for my first non-themed review in two months! 1998 saw the release of this game, the first one ever based on the hit Comedy Central series. But as big of a hit as the series is, does the game live up to the same standards? Let's dive in and find out.
In the game, you play as any of the four boys (and if you don't know who they are, you need to come out from under your rock a bit more often), Cartman, Kyle, Stan, or Kenny, as a comet approaching earth sparks a series of weird events across the little town of South Park. Together the boys decide to arm themselves with whatever it takes to defend their town.
The Good
- South Park Quirkiness. Everything from the kind of enemies you're going after to the weapons you use to take them down, it fits right into the unique niche that is South Park. Your enemies? Rabid turkeys, clones of other town inhabitants, aliens, and some others. Your arsenal is loaded with snowballs (even snowballs of the erm...lemon variety), dodgeballs, a chicken launcher, even Terrence and Phillip dolls.
- Familiar Controls. There's two control schemes in this one, and they're modeled after other hit N64 titles. Their names in this game are Tu-Rock, and Brown Eye (plays on Turok and Goldeneye). It's a cool touch because both those games had come out the previous year and were instant hits for gamers, so what better way to model your game controls after already famous ones?
The Bad
- Arcade Style Gameplay. While it's labeled as Story Mode, it doesn't really feel like it. You start each level, and must make it to the end of each stage taking out whatever enemies get in your way. You receive points for everything, but everything is broken up into Episode X Stage X, and my issue with it is that I feel like by the time the N64-gen came around, games were shying away from arcade style games. Everything was becoming more story-based (including the two games they borrowed their control styles from) so to have an arcade game fall into the middle of everything just feels almost lazy, especially with how repetitive this one starts to feel before you're even halfway through the first level.
- Censored. South Park is obnoxious, lewd, and crude. If you've even heard of the show, you know this fact. The kids are constantly swearing up a storm and doing massively inappropriate things. So you would go into this game expecting all things to remain the same. But most of the harsher profanity gets bleeped out which is confusing for two reasons. 1. It's South Park, it's not just expected but it's almost a staple of the name. And 2. The game comes with an "M" rating. Why bother with the "M" rating if you're going to censor it still, why not just drop it down to a "T" rating?
Is it Worth it?
If you're a huge fan of the show and just love having anything and everything South Park in your collection, then it's probably worth it having the first video game on the series in your possession. As a game itself though? I'd say this one isn't worth a whole lot of time. It starts off pretty fun, but the novelty wears off real quick. The catchphrases for the characters are extremely repetitive, and are triggered by you hitting the enemies so you hear them almost non-stop. Not only that, but the gameplay itself is just as repetitive. No matter what part you're at, you're doing the same thing even if you're going after different enemies. At $8 for a loose cart and almost $30 for a complete in box one, I'd recommend going for just the cartridge for this one (unless you're a CIB collector).
In the game, you play as any of the four boys (and if you don't know who they are, you need to come out from under your rock a bit more often), Cartman, Kyle, Stan, or Kenny, as a comet approaching earth sparks a series of weird events across the little town of South Park. Together the boys decide to arm themselves with whatever it takes to defend their town.
The Good
- South Park Quirkiness. Everything from the kind of enemies you're going after to the weapons you use to take them down, it fits right into the unique niche that is South Park. Your enemies? Rabid turkeys, clones of other town inhabitants, aliens, and some others. Your arsenal is loaded with snowballs (even snowballs of the erm...lemon variety), dodgeballs, a chicken launcher, even Terrence and Phillip dolls.
- Familiar Controls. There's two control schemes in this one, and they're modeled after other hit N64 titles. Their names in this game are Tu-Rock, and Brown Eye (plays on Turok and Goldeneye). It's a cool touch because both those games had come out the previous year and were instant hits for gamers, so what better way to model your game controls after already famous ones?
The Bad
- Arcade Style Gameplay. While it's labeled as Story Mode, it doesn't really feel like it. You start each level, and must make it to the end of each stage taking out whatever enemies get in your way. You receive points for everything, but everything is broken up into Episode X Stage X, and my issue with it is that I feel like by the time the N64-gen came around, games were shying away from arcade style games. Everything was becoming more story-based (including the two games they borrowed their control styles from) so to have an arcade game fall into the middle of everything just feels almost lazy, especially with how repetitive this one starts to feel before you're even halfway through the first level.
- Censored. South Park is obnoxious, lewd, and crude. If you've even heard of the show, you know this fact. The kids are constantly swearing up a storm and doing massively inappropriate things. So you would go into this game expecting all things to remain the same. But most of the harsher profanity gets bleeped out which is confusing for two reasons. 1. It's South Park, it's not just expected but it's almost a staple of the name. And 2. The game comes with an "M" rating. Why bother with the "M" rating if you're going to censor it still, why not just drop it down to a "T" rating?
Is it Worth it?
If you're a huge fan of the show and just love having anything and everything South Park in your collection, then it's probably worth it having the first video game on the series in your possession. As a game itself though? I'd say this one isn't worth a whole lot of time. It starts off pretty fun, but the novelty wears off real quick. The catchphrases for the characters are extremely repetitive, and are triggered by you hitting the enemies so you hear them almost non-stop. Not only that, but the gameplay itself is just as repetitive. No matter what part you're at, you're doing the same thing even if you're going after different enemies. At $8 for a loose cart and almost $30 for a complete in box one, I'd recommend going for just the cartridge for this one (unless you're a CIB collector).
