That is an IGN opinion piece from Ryan McCaffrey, who labored at Official Xbox Journal from 2002-2012 throughout the authentic Xbox and Xbox 360 period earlier than becoming a member of IGN, the place he stays “the Xbox man.” In the run-up to Xbox’s twenty fifth anniversary, he’ll be sharing his reminiscences from the platform’s first quarter-century.
I pushed my method to the entrance of the line of IGN editors to evaluate South Park: The Stick of Truth in 2014. I’ve seen each episode of South Park earlier than and since. I’m of the opinion that present creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone are the two premier satirists of our era. In my opinion, the puppet-led Workforce America: World Police is a comedic masterpiece. Heck, I even love the box-office bust the guys starred in again in 1998, BaseKetball. So yeah, I’m an enormous fan of these guys, and once I realized they had been making a role-playing recreation with Obsidian Leisure, of all builders (at Parker and Stone’s request!), I couldn’t wait to see the outcomes of this match made in heaven. Not less than on paper. As a result of not like earlier notorious South Park video video games like South Park Rally, Parker and Stone could be straight concerned this time.
However then the enterprise aspect of the video games trade acquired in the method. Not less than for some time. You could or could not do not forget that THQ – the authentic incarnation of it – was funding and publishing The Stick of Truth. However a humorous factor (sadly, not the good form of humorous) occurred throughout the course of growth: THQ filed for chapter. Uh-oh. Whereas the challenge fortunately wasn’t canceled, the publishing rights to it had been put up for public sale as half of the chapter, and the South Park people weren’t precisely pleased about it.
Mercifully, avid gamers weren’t robbed of the probability to play The Stick of Truth, as Ubisoft purchased the rights, enabling Parker, Stone, and the Obsidian group to complete the RPG. Regardless of its mammoth 850-page first script draft, the ultimate recreation didn’t find yourself being a very lengthy RPG at round 12 hours lengthy. However boy oh boy did it make each minute rely. I often laughed in a very doubled-over method I’d by no means laughed at a online game earlier than, and matched with its traditional (if easy) turn-based RPG gameplay, I fortunately gave The Stick of Truth a 9 out of 10, and to today, if somebody asks me what the funniest recreation I’ve ever performed is, that is my clear-cut reply.
In the event you haven’t performed The Stick of Truth, it’s completely not too late. The graphics look precisely like the present, in order that they haven’t actually aged in any respect. In actual fact, as a 12-hour RPG, The Stick of Truth is like enjoying an extended season of the present. Parker and Stone’s fingerprints are throughout this factor, with Obsidian’s game-building and style experience underpinning the entire factor. I dare you to not giggle hysterically at the Underpants Gnome boss combat, the scene with Mr. Slave, the Canada part, and so many extra.
I’ve performed a lot of genuinely humorous video games over the years. The traditional LucasArts point-and-click journey video games of the ‘90s had been formative for me (the Monkey Island video games, Sam & Max Hit the Street, Full Throttle, and so forth.). Saints Row: The Third was full of humorous stuff. Portal 2 is traditional. Excessive on Life is a good current instance. However for me, none of them come even near the masterclass that Parker and Stone taught the gaming world with The Stick of Truth. Heck, even its sequel, South Park: The Fractured However Entire – which Park and Stone had been additionally concerned in – didn’t fairly land the similar method. So I’m extremely fortunately that The Stick of Truth survived THQ’s chapter and have become a traditional. It’s one of my favourite Xbox reminiscences from the first 25 years of this model (although, by all means play it on any platform you’ll be able to!).
Ryan McCaffrey is IGN’s govt editor of previews and host of IGN’s weekly Xbox present, Podcast Unlocked, and a co-host of Subsequent-Gen Console Watch. He is a North Jersey man, so it is “Taylor ham,” not “pork roll.” Debate it with him on Twitter at @DMC_Ryan.