South Park: The Fractured But Whole

All in all, South Park: The Fractured But Whole is a fantastic game. While there are some minor flaws, I couldn't put my controller down. Aside from being one of my personal favorite games of this year, it also holds a special place in my heart as one of the best Ubisoft games I have ever played. If you are a fan of the TV series, as well as The Stick of Truth, I highly recommend purchasing this game; it is well worth your time, and it is worth every penny of its purchase price.

As Thin Lizzy once said, the boys are back in town!  After far too many delays it’s time for another adventure in the not-so-quiet mountain town of South Park! Developed by Ubisoft San Francisco, South Park: The Fractured But Whole continues the story of the New Kid from The Stick of Truth. After an opening monologue of a dire future from The Coon, the hero travels back in time in typical South Park fashion to enlist the aid of his fellow heroes from the past… which means the kids immediately stop playing their fantasy epic in the search for the Stick of Truth and shift gears to be superheroes...

South Park: The Fractured But Whole is South Park at its best backed up by gameplay that would stand on its own in any other game.

South Park: The Fractured But Whole doesn't remake the wheel that The Stick of Truth crafted so well. The first game made for a near perfect South Park experience, with bare bones RPG elements to make it all work. This sequel does mostly the same, only tinkering with a few things, making for a different but just as enjoyable final product.

Rival superhero franchises go to war.

South Park: The Fractured But Whole is another epic-length episode of the humor that’s kept fans of the show laughing for 20 years. The Marvel vs DC parody delivers regular laugh-out-loud moments with only a few faltering gags, and the combat soon evolves into something much more complex and interesting than The Stick of Truth’s simple system. Navigation and repetition of some of its simple puzzle mechanics drag a little, but it’s otherwise an excellent South Park game that’s also a strong RPG.

The guy selling tickets at the movie theater flippantly asks every time you see him “Aren’t superheroes kinda played out?” As it turns out, not quite yet. Not as far as South Park is concerned, at least.

Given the mire that mankind currently finds itself in, we should probably applaud Trey Parker and Matt Stone's scattershot, omnilateral approach to satire in South Park: The Fractured But Whole, a game which mercilessly skewers all facets of modern life. Regardless of which side of the political spectrum you align with, your religious beliefs, your ethnicity, or your gender, there's probably something here that's going to poke fun at you.

Defecation appreciation.

All in all, it's fair to say that South Park: The Fractured but Whole stands as a great follow-up to The Stick of Truth, and a game that fans of the TV show are bound to appreciate. It may have been a long time coming, but The Fractured but Whole is certainly worth the wait, particularly for those who want to have a bit of light-hearted fun with their RPG gameplay.

The longer South Park: The Fractured But Whole went on, the less I laughed. Exploring the mountain town, however, is a delight, and the battles are a marked improvement on the original's combat.

In 2014, Ubisoft released what would go on to be considered one of the greatest licensed video games in South Park: The Stick of Truth. With the assistance of the South Park creators, Matt Stone and Trey Parker, the developers at Obsidian Entertainment proved they understood the source material and built a classic, faithful game. Most fans of the franchise could agree Stick of Truth was rude, crude, but everything we wanted from a South Park game. They had struck gold.