Developer: Ubisoft San Francisco
Publisher: Ubisoft
Platform: PC, PS4, Xbox One
Tested on: PS4
South Park: The Fractured but Whole – Review
It has been three years since the South Park franchise made one of the most successful returns to the gaming scene. While they had a few games over a decade ago, these proved to be mediocre, but fun enough to entertain the fans of the series. Nonetheless, their next-gen debut with The Stick of Truth proved to be a massive success, which allowed Ubisoft to create a sequel, The Fractured but Whole, which we are taking a closer look at today. We were ready to dive into a raunchy, dirty, yet hilarious South Park adventure again with a superhero thematic this time around.
Story
As this game is a direct continuation of the first game, it’s best to play that game first to get into the whole setting of the South Park universe. You’ll be happy to know that you’ll get a free digital copy of The Stick of Truth with each purchase of The Fractured but Whole, making this feat a lot easier. Nonetheless, you have reigned supreme during the previous game, saving princess Kenny, no matter what side you picked in the fantasy war. You have been crowned the king, but now it’s time for a different kind of game, one that involves superheroes and villains. The Coon, a.k.a. Cartman in a raccoon costume, notices a great crime spree going on in the form of cats disappearing all around South Park, he assembles his team to find the missing cats, with Scrambles in particular, as the owner offers a $100 reward.
You of course want to be included in this sudden change of cinematic universes, and you try to gain access to the Coon lair, which you easily manage. You then get initiated by Cartman, by allowing you to pick a hero class and he makes up a ‘convincing’ origin story for your character, allowing you to be part of the Coon and friends franchise. As time progresses, you’ll find out there is another superhero franchise in South Park, that will also cross your path, all while you find out the secret of what is going on in the quiet little town of South Park.
Overall the story progresses at a steady pace, with the first few hours focusing on your character, his origin story, his classes, his ethnicity, religion and so on, all while presenting you with typical South Park scenes, mainly in sync with the last few seasons, where the city was expanded, where the superheroes were shown. Overall things feel a bit toned down and ‘cleaner’ than the first game, which is not necessarily a bad thing, but compared to the obscenities in the first game, The Fractured but Whole just feels like a step back on a more goody-goody track.
Graphics
Graphically South Park: The Fractured but Whole is pretty much the equivalent of a very lengthy interactive South Park episode, where everything moves as static as it does in the actual series. You’ll be treated to many sceneries from the actual show, making this a very authentic piece of work. Overall you’ll get to see a lot of sights you already know, but now you’ll be able to explore them, see them from angles you haven’t seen them before, and above all, they are interactable. Overall you won’t really notice this as a next-gen title, as the previous game already had a great appearance that stayed true to the style of the series. If you love the hoppy motions of South Park, you’ll certainly love this game that truly captivates said style.
Sound
The sound design of The Fractured but Whole is pretty much top notch, as it features all the voice actors we’ve come to love from the series, making it a very authentic South Park experience. While your character is totally mute, it’s actually quite funny answering with total silence all the time, leaving the other characters to interpret what you were supposed to say. The music is fairly laid back, with the occasional burst when things are getting rowdy. Other than that, you’ll hear several songs you have heard during the episodes of the series, which are a nice extra touch.
Gameplay
While it’s hard to fully categorize The Fractured but Whole, it’s best described as a somewhat traditional RPG, with an original level mechanic to blast the game into our more modern gaming society. For the most part you’ll be wandering around the small mountain town of South Park, while battling sixth graders, Chaos’ minions, other superheroes, young girls, the elderly, and pretty much anything or anyone you can think of in this absurd title. The game also presents you with fairly simple puzzles to solve to progress, as well as side-quests.
At the start of the game you’ll have to make do with one of the three available classes, which will present you with three useable attacks/skills and one ultimate attack. As the game progresses, you can mingle up to three classes, choosing whatever moves your fancy the most, allowing you to pick how you want to play the game and how combat is handled by your character. You can switch these skills at any time, and you’re even allowed to switch classes as well. All of this allows the player to fully enjoy the game, or opt for another class when he grows tired of one, or doesn’t like the playstyle.
Just like the first game, this one is all about exploring the town and making friends, in this case, gaining followers on the superhero platform Coonstagram. You’ll have to gain status, which will make people take selfies with you, and they will in turn follow you. The more followers you gain, the more experience this gets you. This immediately tosses us to the level system of the game, which is all about completing objectives, rather than combat alone. If you defeat a specific amount of enemies, gain followers, solve puzzles, find items and so on, you’ll gain experience. When Leveling up, you’ll be able to equip artifacts, which will grant you passive abilities, which are simply put some sort of stat upgrades.
The game’s difficulty can be altered at any time when it comes to combat, but the way the game increases its normal difficulty curve is rather funny, yet an interesting way to protest a lot of current hot topics. You’ll have a harder time beating the game, the darker your skin color is, which might sound a bit wrong, but it is an interesting way of creating a difficulty system.
While exploring is fun, and certainly advised to gain experience, not every area is accessible from the beginning, forcing you to visit certain locations more than once to fully explore everything the game has to offer. Overall you’ll have a sense of freedom, which is certainly nice, and it’s simply a lot of fun to explore the houses, stores and other areas from the South Park show.
Conclusion
South Park: The Fractured but Whole is a great continuation of the South Park games franchise, which was reborn in 2014. While the game is a lot cleaner than its predecessor, new mechanics, new topics and a new lick of paint drive this title to become a nice addition to any self-respecting South Park fan’s collection. If you’re into fairly classic RPG games, with a hilarious undertone and a decent amount of freedom to explore and do what you want, then this title will keep you occupied for quite some time.
South Park: The Fractured but Whole - Review,
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