''WHAT WOULD BRIAN BOITANO DO?''
Developed: Question Games
Published: THQ Nordic
Genre: Action Adventure
Release Date: March 26th, 2024
Platforms: NSW/PS5/XBOX Family/PC
Review copy provided to me by THQ Nordic
South Park Snow Day is the newest entry into the South Park game world and it is developed by Question Games and published by THQ. With the last two South Park games being, on paper, complete success, THQ and Question Games aim to add to that line of successes with this newest entry for the IP. However is this another hit like Stick Of Truth? or does it fall in its face like Randy in a fight at a baseball game? Only one way to find out, so lets go!
STORY:
Join Cartman, Stan, Kyle, and Kenny, in three-dimensional glory, to celebrate the most magical day in any young child’s life - a snow day! A massive blizzard has thrown the town into chaos and, more importantly, canceled school.
''DANGIT, CLYDE''
GAMEPLAY:
The gang is all here again and back for another crazy adventure, but this time ditching their Lord Of The Rings and Super Hero gimmick roleplays for a more ''down to earth'' scenario compared to previous entries of Stick Of Truth and Shattered But Whole. Moving away for the most part from the RPG genre for this entry, Snow Day instead throws you into a roguelike setting and much different play style than ever before for a South Park game. My only wish though is to have another South Park game in the vein of the N64 title, now that would be super sweeeet. N64 nostalgia aside, this newest entry involves Cartman and the rest of his friends teaming with you, once again, becoming the ''new kid'', which has you get caught in a really bad snowstorm, because, I mean duh, what did you think was going to happen? the title is literally SNOW DAY. Now with school shutdown, the neighborhood kids have to try to come up with a new game to occupy themselves that does not involve a money laundering scheme, boy band, fetus selling, hippie bulldozing, feeding peoples parents to your enemy or any other crazy antics from Cartman, they NEED to do something, you know... normal?. This means its time for an all out War Games, whoever wins the day shall get those magical cheesy poofs and become the ultimate champion. I LOVE CHEESY POOFS, HE LOVE CHEESY POOFS. As the kids prepare to have their epic war, pitting two sides of kids against each other, they notice that the snow storm really isnt letting up and this causes intrigue amongst the kids, due to their history going questing, there's something definitely mysterious about this snow storm and they will get to the bottom of it and uncover the truth. Even though Snow usually means Christmas or something magical is going on, I think its safe to say that this snow storm definitely is not the the work of the great and powerful Mister Hanky, HOWDY HOWWWW. Although, I did wish that the entire twist of this snow storm would've been Princess Kenny doing his best Frozen impression and becoming the Princess Kenny version of Elsa from Frozen itself, now that wouldve gotten a good chuckle out of me as I already find Princess Kenny funny in general.
But alas, the ultimate reveal isnt THAT clever or even that funny if were being honest here. Humor in general I feel is something that is lacking in the game overall, especially for a cartoon that heavily relies on its character uses of humor. I feel the tone of the way jokes are delivered and laid out fall into the line of the worst written jokes from the show that involved like 6 straight seasons of political focus and then an over reliance on weed jokes from the Tegreddy farm story arcs that made Randy Marsh the main character of the show over the kids. This is the type of humor that is in the game. No, not in the same political sense or weed farm related jokes, but the generally humor is within rank of that low ball park. Much to my disappointment. Story aside, what of the actual game play? well its honestly a bit of a mixed bag to be honest. It's not terrible by any means, but playing for long periods of time due to the sometimes janky controls, can make the game feel a bit frustrating and at the same time, a little bit repetitive. Your goal with the gameplay itself is to move your customized new kid character through various stages and taking on your fellow kids, ranging from your jobber kids who are just there to be nothing more than fodder, all the way to the main kids of the block who end up being the main bosses for some of the stages that you must take down. Everyone is just lucky Professor Chaos isnt here to use his full power or this would be over with quick, especially with his dastardly plan to use a water hose to flood the entire yard to drown the world! AH HA HA HA HA HA! What? what's that? ''SIMPSONS DID IT!''.
''IVE GOT THE POWER''
Of course they did... but who cares, Butters doesn't care, I don't care, they can eat our shorts. While tacking the destruction of your fellow war foes, you can equip and gain access to simple weapons like daggers and bows and much like a typical ''shooter'' game or any game really that involves upgrades nowadays, the further you get and advance, you will unlock even more additional and new equipment to use as the kid threat gets worse and more intense the further you make your journey. But... what would an action game be without also including special abilities, right? especially when thy include fart based powers. What? its South Park, there's literally a fart joke every where you look for this franchise, you really think they'd leave it out? AHAHAHAHAHA(read that in Terrance and Philip laugh and you get the point you goof). Using support abilities like powers that aid in adding support based powers, totems you collect that offer quick healing in order to survive rough situations and like i said, fart based powers and because farts stink really bad, obviously they inflict poison damage on people. Just be glad that it's not a fart from Cartman after he's had a nice healthy round of Casa Bonita food, otherwise you might end up like his mom in the World Of Warcraft episode... poop.... everywhere. Fart powers are actually pretty useful to use against enemies that wield shields due to their defense going up when they're used because usually you'll need to find ways to sneak around them in order to attack them, but from trial and error I figured out that farting can actually get you the advantage against some shielded foes, which is something I'd never thought I'd say... farts saved my life. But again, it does come down to who you're playing against online because not all players are stupid enough to stand around or circle one area in order for you to be ultra strategic against them, but AI related enemies when playing solo? yeah they're dumb as a rock and require little to no skill to thwart or fool, however, on the flip side of that, that also means your allies that use AI for your bots? they're just as stupid when joining you on your solo adventure due to their badly managed routes they take and going into battle with bad programming that leads to them easily getting eliminated, leaving you to pick up the slack in matches that are made even more challenging due to their incompetence. Playing with friends is the only way to go here, otherwise, you're going to have a bad time, MMMKAY. However I pushed through it and made the best of it and just imaginary sang the pain and anger away in my head. I'm feeling... frustrated... I'm feeling anger...I'm feeling rage... I'm feeling SUPERRRRR THANKS FOR ASKING, ALL THINGS CONSIDERED I COULDN'T BE BETTER I MUST SAY.
But remember when I mentioned Roguelike as well? a genre that for me has become increasingly saturating the indie market, which what seems like 7 out of 10 indie games nowadays is a Roguelike. Now don't get me wrong, there are some BANGER roguelike's that I'd play any day of the week over a lot of AAA titles, but even I am starting to get burnt out on the genre if were keeping it real. I'd rather have my own theme park, black jack and pizza than an overflow of roguelike. Actually.... forget the theme park and the black jack, I'll take a pizza. All joking aside, Snow Day uses this Roguelike features that provide you with a slew of selectable cards that offer you chances to enhance abilities, weapons and even character traits unique to you, these are usable at the end of each level that leads into the next, like a classic roguelike title, simple, yet it works and the power ups and buffs make perfect sense for the world of South Park. In true immature fashion, obviously cards can be upgraded using Toilet Paper, because.. why not? maybe the children just need Tee Pee for their bunghole? if so, they better add a summon ability to these games to summon the great and powerful Cornholio, or the toilet paper is going to go to waste pretty dang quickly.
All my negatives or rants aside on the gameplay or story, there is some charm to be found with this game due to some of the core humor of the cartoon staying intact due to the absurdness and random nature of the upgrades you acquire, and because of how random they are and their different and varied uses, this allows for further strategy while you play and utilize your ''Pissed Off Meter''. You read that right, there's a pissed off mater that activates when you... get pissed off and activates an ability that charges your special powers to use in battle. Think of it as a Limit Break from Final Fantasy and similar logic applies to it. Its basically like the episode of South Park when cartman cant cuss anymore due to his shock collar, only with no restraints. Moreover, you as a player can further acquire even weirder cards that are only usable in dire situations as a ''one time only'' thing, and those cards are called Bullshit Cards. Bullshit cards are self explanatory, you dont take anyone's crap and it pushes you to the edge and unlocks even more potent attacks to use against enemies that if you're lucky, can sometimes one shot people should you be in need of a getaway or surrounded on all sides. Alongside cards, good ol Mr Hanky can also lend you a hand by tasking you with collecting what is known as Dark Matter, and these will increase your upgrades on a permanent basis for character stats and a more personalized gameplay style, which honestly makes more enjoyable because you never know for sure which upgrades will be the most potent and in my opinion, makes you feel more unique overall compared to players online, do to you not having the same abilities at all time as others do. Sadly though, for people wanting a longer game just like Stick Of Truth and Fractured But Whole, ''you're going to have a bad time''. Spanning just five levels with each taking an hour or less to destroy, it can be on the very short side and that may be a damper to people who expected a full on South Park experience.
''IF I DIE, I BLAME CANADA''
OVERALL:
At the end of the day, South Park Snow Day feels like an attempt at changing up the style from the previous games to make a brand new adventure for us, but one that just feels like it comes up a bit short and a tad bit underwhelming. While it does have some replayability, a story at times that can feel like a longer version of a South Park episode which caters to fans like myself and others with classic character jokes, cameos and some fun upgrades to the roguelike formula to fit into South Park universe, it does fall short in other areas. Lower level selection of just 5 levels currently that doesn't offer that much overall variety, really bad AI allies that get in your way and makes levels more challenging than they need to be, public lobbies in the early going take sometimes ten minutes to find a match, gameplay that can get tedious due to lack of overall depth, etc. Is this a terrible game? absolutely not, fans of South Park in general I feel can enjoy either way, tedious or repetitive gameplay aside, there is some charm here and to be fair, this is a budget title coming in at $30 at the launch of retail, so on one hand you have to ask yourself, what were you expecting really? MechaStreisand?. But price point aside, I still couldn't recommend it at this time without further DLC that enhances the gameplay with more characters, abilities, weapons and maps, why? because were here to have a what? that's right, a GOOD TIME, purchase without watching gameplay, that's going to be a bad time, so keep your head forward and move your feet like this, Pizza, French Fries, Pizza, French Fries, Pizza, French Fries and you too can be the ultimate skiing champion and win the girl, just like Stan. But as for me? my verdict is clear, GameNChick says WAIT... at least till more content for the game is released.
