South Park: The Stick of Truth

South Park: The Stick of Truth
Original title	South Park: The Stick of Truth
Studio	Obsidian Entertainment
Publisher	Ubisoft
Senior Developer	Chris Brion Chris Parker Zane Lyon
composer	Jamie Dunlap
Erstveröffent- lichung	March 4th, 2014 March 27th, 2014 Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 February 13th, 2018 PlayStation 4, Xbox One September 25th, 2018 Nintendo Switch
platform	Windows , Nintendo Switch , PlayStation 3 , PlayStation 4 , Xbox 360 , Xbox One
Game engine	Onyx engine
genre	role playing game
Subject	Fantasy
Game mode	Single player
control	Mouse and keyboard, gamepad
system advantages preconditions	Windows XP (SP3) or newer, dual-core processor with 2 GHz, 2 GB RAM, 512 MB graphics card, DirectX 9.0c, 6 GB storage space
medium	DVD-ROM , Blu-ray , download
language	English with German subtitles
copy protection	Steamworks
Age rating	USK PEGI
information	Console version cut outside of the USA (USK 16); German PC version unabridged except for missing Nazi symbols (USK 18).

South Park: The Stick of Truth ( English South Park: The Stick of Truth ) is a computer role-playing game based on the American animation series South Park for Windows , Xbox 360 , PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Switch . The game was developed by the US developer Obsidian Entertainment in cooperation with the South Park inventors Trey Parker and Matt Stone . After the bankruptcy of the publishing partner THQ , the marketing rights were transferred to the French publisher Ubisoft . The game was first released on March 4, 2014, and was released in Germany and Austria on March 27, 2014.

action

The children of South Park compete in a LARP ( Live Action Role Playing ) event . The humans under the direction of Cartman and the elves under the direction of Stan and Kyle face each other. To win, one of the factions must find what is known as the Stick of Truth. The player takes on the role of a child who has just moved to town and has to choose a side.

Two narrative levels mix in the game, that of series reality and that of role play. In addition to the goal of the role-play to find the stick of truth, the newcomer is actually about to connect with one of the cliques. The role-play objects are clearly disguises and props, such as armor made from pizza boxes, moving boxes as treasure chests and a vibrator as a vibrator blade. The settings are real-world places such as laundry rooms or schools.

Gameplay

The visual presentation and gamer's perspective of South Park: The Stick of Truth is identical to the television series. The player looks at what is happening from a side observer's perspective. At the beginning he creates a new character for whom he can choose between the classes fighter, magician, thief and jew. The choice of class mainly influences skills in combat. The figure itself is usually only referred to as "The New One" or, in the case of Cartman, as a "juice bag". The battles are turn-based and are similar to the battle system of Final Fantasy . Otherwise, the game also follows common role-playing principles, but with adaptation to the series-typical humor, such as attacks through flatulence , throwing one's own feces or the use of sex toys, for example to penetrate the opponent.

development

South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone at E3 2012

The project was initiated by the Stones and Parkers. As both of them were familiar with Obsidian's productions, they approached the developer directly in October 2009 to develop a concept for computer role-playing games. Obsidian developed a prototype at his own expense, which eventually led to a contract. Initially, the project was funded by Viacom , the parent company of South Park Digital Studios. One of the project objectives was the development of a graphic style that was visually close to the television broadcast. At the end of 2011, the decision was made to bring an experienced game publisher on board, and ultimately the US publisher THQ was chosen . In December, the title was officially announced by an exclusive story in the US game magazine Game Informer .

In the course of 2012, THQ ran into increasingly severe financial problems. After THQ had to file for bankruptcy in December 2012 and was finally broken up in January 2013, the marketing rights finally went to the French publisher Ubisoft for 3.2 million US dollars . As a result of this takeover, the previously announced release date was canceled and only set for 2013. In September, Ubisoft announced December 12, 2013 as the release date for the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions, and at the same time announced a collector's edition of the game called the Grand Wizard Edition . In mid-October, the decision was also announced to only publish the game in English with optional German subtitles. A few weeks later, on October 31, 2013, Ubisoft postponed the release date again, this time to March 4, 2014. On February 12, 2014, the completion of the development work was finally announced. March and in Europe on March 6, 2014 should appear. Just one day before the release, however, Ubisoft noticed that they had inadvertently delivered versions with unconstitutional symbols to German and Austrian dealers, so the versions were recalled. As a result, the release in German-speaking countries had to be postponed to March 27, 2014.

Compared to the US version, adjustments and content cuts have been made for various international versions. In the European console version, a total of seven game scenes, each lasting almost 20 seconds, in which abortions or anal probes are performed on characters, have been removed. In the German and Austrian versions, all National Socialist symbols and language samples from speeches by Adolf Hitler were also removed. By deleting the scenes in the versions for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, the game received USK approval in Germany for ages 16 and over. As before, the PC version is not rated for young people. There is also no separate uncut version for consoles.

For the Australian market, an interactive game passage has been removed in which a child of aliens is inserted a penis-shaped anal probe. The corresponding section has been replaced by an explicit text narration and the depiction of a crying koala bear. The PC version of the game is only affected by the removal of the National Socialist symbols in the corresponding countries. Due to a bug, some copies of the PC version of the game were delivered uncensored via Amazon , so swastikas can still be seen.

reception

reviews publication Rating PS3 Windows Xbox 360 Eurogamer 8/10 k. A. 8/10 GamePro 83% k. A. 83% GameSpot k. A. 7.0 / 10 7.0 / 10 GameStar k. A. 81% k. A. Games world 7.5 / 10 7.5 / 10 7.5 / 10 IGN 9.0 / 10 9.0 / 10 9.0 / 10 PC Games k. A. 81% k. A. Meta-ratings Metacritic 86 84 82

Reviews

The game received mostly good ratings from the trade magazines ( Metacritic : 84 out of 100 (Win) / 82 (Xbox 360) / 86 (PS3)).

“The Stick of Truth is tasteless, in parts even repugnant and difficult to take, in short: a true, a worthy South Park game. [...] if you are looking for depth, you have come to the completely wrong address here. The stick of truth can do little as a role play. As a South Park game, it can do anything. "

- Michael Graf : GameStar

Awards and nominations

• Game Critics Awards
  • Best RPG 2012
• Spike Video Game Awards / VGX
  • Nominated for the most anticipated game 2012
  • Nominated for the most anticipated game 2013
• The Game Awards 2014
  • Best Actor (Trey Parker)
• SXSW Gaming Awards
  • Excellence in Convergence

According to data from Ubisoft in May 2015, 1.6 million copies of the game were sold. A year earlier, Ubisoft had already described the sales figures as “better than expected” and referred above all to the high proportion of digital sales, which for the first time in the company's history made up around 25% of all copies sold. Five million copies had been sold by February 2016.

continuation

At the Electronic Entertainment Expo in June 2015 announced the continuation of Ubisoft South Park: The rektakuläre ordeal (original title: South Park: The Fractured But Whole ) to. The series creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone act again as writers. The role-playing game was developed by Ubisoft San Francisco and was originally due to be released on December 6, 2016 for Xbox One , PlayStation 4 and Windows . However, in September 2016, the video game was postponed to the first quarter of 2017. After another postponement, the worldwide release took place on October 17, 2017. In addition, pre-orderers of South Park: The Fractured But Whole Test received a free download code for the predecessor, so South Park: The Stick of Truth was released for the first time for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.

Web links

• Official website
• South Park: The Stick of Truth at MobyGames (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ South Park: The Stick of Truth - PC version in Germany only without swastikas, otherwise uncut on GameStar , accessed on February 26, 2014
2. ↑ http://www.golem.de/news/south-park-cool-haben-mit-cartman-1310-102123.html
3. ↑ ^{a b} Jason Schreier: The Knights of New Vegas: How Obsidian Survived Countless Catastrophes And Made Some Of The Coolest Role-Playing Games Ever ( English ) In: Kotaku . December 17, 2012. Retrieved April 5, 2013.
4. ↑ http://www.gamestar.de/spiele/south-park-der-stab-der-wahrheit/artikel/south_park_der_stab_der_wahrheit,47547,3032757.html
5. ↑ Dan Ryckert: January Cover Revealed: South Park ( English ) In: Game Informer . GameStop . December 1, 2011. Retrieved December 2, 2011.
6. ↑ Sebastian Jäger: SEGA takes over Relic, Koch Media Volition and Metro, Ubisoft South Park * Update * . In: Gamona . Webguidez Entertainment. January 23, 2013. Retrieved January 24, 2013.
7. ↑ http://www.eurogamer.de/articles/2013-09-25-south-park-der-stab-der-wahrheit-erscheint-im-dezember
8. ↑ http://www.pcgames.de/South-Park-The-Stick-of-Truth-PC-238885/News/South-Park-Der-Stab-der-Wahrheit-ohne-deutsche-Sprachausgabe-1092419/
9. ↑ Chris Pereira: South Park: The Stick of Truth Goes Gold ( English ) In: IGN . Point Davis . February 12, 2014. Retrieved February 23, 2014.
10. ↑ http://www.golem.de/news/verfassungsfeindliches-symbol-ubisoft-zieh-south-park-zurueck-1403-104939.html
11. ↑ http://www.4players.de/4players.php/spielinfonews/Allgemein/31382/2138911/South_Park_Der_Stab_der_Wahrheit%7CSieben_Schnitte_in_der_Euro-Fnahm.html
12. ↑ South Park: The Stick of Truth receives USK 16 clearance on console. In: games.de . March 19, 2014, accessed March 20, 2014 . 
13. ↑ http://kotaku.com/south-park-game-hilariously-censored-in-australia-1486177087
14. ↑ http://www.gamestar.de/spiele/south-park-der-stab-der-wahrheit/news/south_park_der_stab_der_wahrheit,47547,3033055.html
15. ↑ http://www.corsual.com/de/news/south-park-versehnahm-unzensiert/25904 http://www.corsual.com/de/news/south-park-versehnahm-unzensiert/25904
16. ↑ ^{a b} Metacritic : Average rating of the PS3 version , based on 12 articles. Retrieved March 6, 2014.
17. ↑ ^{a b} Metacritic : Average rating of the PC version , based on 35 articles. Retrieved March 6, 2014.
18. ↑ ^{a b} Metacritic : Average rating of the Xbox version , based on 23 articles. Retrieved March 6, 2014.
19. ↑ ^{a b c} http://www.eurogamer.de/articles/2014-03-04-south-park-der-stab-der-wahrheit-test
20. ↑ ^{a b} http://www.gamepro.de/playstation/spiele/ps3/south-park-der-stab-der-wahrheit/test/south_park_der_stab_der_wahrheit,47549,3033303.html
21. ↑ ^{a b} http://www.gamestar.de/spiele/south-park-der-stab-der-wahrheit/test/south_park_der_stab_der_wahrheit,47547,3033285.html
22. ↑ ^{a b c} http://www.gameswelt.de/south-park-der-stab-der-wahrheit/review/seite-1,216115
23. ↑ ^{a b} http://www.gamespot.com/reviews/south-park-the-stick-of-truth-review/1900-6415684/
24. ↑ ^{a b c} http://www.ign.com/articles/2014/03/04/south-park-the-stick-of-truth-review
25. ↑ http://www.pcgames.de/South-Park-Stab-der-Wahrheit-PC-238885/Tests/South-Park-Der-Stab-der-Wahrheit-im-Test-1111877/
26. ↑ http://www.4players.de/4players.php/spielinfonews/Allgemein/30987/2105782/E3_2012-Die_Game_Critic_Awards.html
27. ↑ http://www.4players.de/4players.php/spielinfonews/Spielkultur/0/2121162/Video_Game_Awards-Die_Gewinner_The_Walking_Dead_Journey_etc.html
28. ↑ http://www.4players.de/4players.php/spielinfonews/Spielkultur/25438/2137370/Video_Game_AwardsDie_Preistraeger_GTA_5_BioShock_Infinite_The_Last_of_Us_Gone_Home_Blood_Dragon_etc.html
29. ↑ The Game Awards 2014 - Dragon Age Game of the Year, Sierra Industry Icon
30. ↑ Dragon Age Inquisition Wins Another Game of the Year Award
31. ^ South Park: The Stick of Truth Sells 1.6 million
32. ↑ Assassin's Creed 4 ships 11 million units, Far Cry 3 hits 9 million
33. ↑ Mike Futter: Five Million Copies Of South Park: The Stick Of Truth Have Been Shipped . In: Game Informer . GameStop. February 11, 2016. Archived from the original on February 11, 2016. Retrieved on February 11, 2016.
34. ↑ SOUTH PARK: THE FRACTURED BUT WHOLE Ubisoft continues RPG. at Gameswelt.de, accessed on June 16, 2015
35. ↑ David Scammell: South Park: The Fractured But Whole delayed to 2017 . In: VideoGamer.com . September 15, 2016. Retrieved December 19, 2016.
36. ↑ South Park: The Fractured But Whole - Release postponed again, new date unclear. PlayNation.de , September 2, 2017, accessed October 19, 2017 . 
37. ↑ South Park: The Fractured But Whole - The Heroes of South Park in the launch trailer. PCGames.de , October 17, 2017, accessed October 19, 2017 . 
38. ↑ South Park 2: Editions, Pre-Order Bonuses, and Season Pass. GIGA.de , October 16, 2017, accessed on October 19, 2017 .