South Park: The Fracutred But Whole Review - You get exactly what you are expecting here.

You know, this is one of those times a review feels largely pointless. I can just ask you two questions, 'Do you like South Park? Do you like turn based RPG's?' and if the answer to both of those is yes, then this is the game for you. But that's not exactly helpful, so I can go into more detail.

The game takes place at some point during the last game, Stick of Truth. Don't worry, you don't have to have played Stick of Truth to get it. Cartman, dressed as his Super Hero alter ego The Coon, and transports himself back in time (Well, not really) during one of the major battles in Stick of Truth, with a message from the future (They are now playing Super Heroes instead of the fantasy game). As the new kid, you create a character and using your bizarre and potent farts, you search for a missing cat along with Coon and Friends, trying to achieve your goal before The Super Pals. All of this in order to determine the new top dog in Super Hero movie Franchises.

Despite being a game you are playing with your new friends, everyone in the world seems to be playing by these rules for reasons that are never really explained, and for some reasons you pretend powers (Well, your farts are not fake, Those really do have power) affect the world around you. Even as actual mob and police conspiracies become relevant to the plot, everyone still insists on remaining in character. It is both surreal and hilarious to watch unfold, the game being full of references to the series and a mix of hilariously dumb and lowbrow jokes to some fairly clever and witty ones, as per the usual South Park episode.

The entire story is driven by these jokes and bits of Satire, rather than having an actual compelling plot. I mean the story definitely gets you invested, but mostly because you have to see how this insanity all comes to an end. Really, if you've never seen South Park, watch a few episodes and you'll know if the game is going to be up your ally story-wise, specifically 'The Coon and Friends' episodes. If it makes you laugh, the game probably will too.

As far as mechanics go, it's all fairly simple. Each character moves on their turn, and you can move around the grid. Your turn ends when you select one of four attacks each character has, one of which requires you to have an ultimate gauge charged to use. There is a hand full of status effects that can come into play, some attacks move either you or your opponents, healing abilities, etc. It's all pretty basic.

There are two mechanics (Okay, one mechanic and one recurring joke disguised as a mechanic) that make combat unique. The first is the fart powers you can activate at any point during combat, your turn or not. You can skip an opponents turn, or freeze time and you can act freely punching enemies until time runs out. There is a three-round cool down before you can activate the power again.

The other is the ability to auto attack an enemy any time they say something that is a microaggression. This doesn't exist to add depth to combat, as it's a seemingly random free shot at an enemy, but more a joke about how angry some people get over some pretty ridiculous things. While it adds nothing to the combat, it is pretty funny to see some of the things that will trigger a free attack.

This is not a hard game for an experienced player of the genre, I cleared it out on the hardest setting (which determines your skin color in the game) and didn't really have many problems. Not that the game doesn't require any skill, there was a good amount of thought I put into my skill loadout and party composition, but definitely not up there in terms of difficulty. So even if you have never played an RPG, and are interested in a South Park game, the lower difficulties should be good for even those with little to no experience.

And that's really all there is to explain. The driving force behind the entire game is a solid combat system, a decently constructed overworld with some tricks and puzzles you solve with your various fart powers, and a narrative entirely driven by South Park comedy and references. There are the occasional bugs I experienced with people not talking when you speak to them, and other minor issues that show up very infrequently, but nothing that drags the gameplay down at all.

There are two issues that can serve to feel like little more than padding. Selecting your fart powers on the map is a bit pointless and time-consuming. Enter investigation mode, select the obstacle, then select the power you will use to clear it. If you are right, cut to a mini-game, if not repeat the process. It would be a lot nicer if it just let you know if you have the power or not, and select it automatically. It's not like selecting the power takes any skill.

And then there is the actual mini-game that starts when you use these powers. Every time you use the leaf blower to clear out bricks that represent Lava, for example, it's the exact same mini-game that is very, very easy and requires little to no skill. Same applies any time you need too.... launch a hamster out of your ass in order to chew through some wires. As funny as it is to see, doing that mini-game so many times and never really having to try can feel dull after so long.

Don't go into The Fractured But Whole expecting any kind of deep experience. Go in expecting a solid gameplay experience, and a wave of humor that is mocking everyone and everything going on in the world today. Nothing is too sacred, nothing is off limits, and it's a great game for it. Defiantly get's my recommendation.