South Park: The Fractured but Whole

- Reviewed on Switch -

South Park: The Fractured but Whole released on October 17th, 2017. 

This South Park title is a direct sequel to the award-winning South Park: The Stick of Truth, both games I am huge fans of and have played multiple times. 

South Park: The Fractured but Whole combines everything you love about South Park. It has the same animation style, characters (designs), music, and of course... humor. 

This review WILL have Major Spoilers so keep that in mind before continuing...

As mentioned, South Park: The Fractured but Whole is a sequel of South Park: The Stick of Truth and this means although you can customize your character differently between both games, the cast of characters still refer to you as The New Kid... or Butthole. 

From the beginning you will see that (SPOILER) the main conflict in South Park: The Fractured but Whole, is that both competing superhero franchises, Coon and Friends and Freedom Pals both are after a missing cat named Scrambles.

Finding this cat is both teams' best chance of having the best superhero franchise and the cash reward would help either team who gets the cat first, make their movies (as displayed in both bases for the teams). The cash reward being... $100. 

South Park: The Stick of Truth took on more of a fantasy dynamic, while South Park: The Fractured but Whole took on the superhero phase, parodying famous real-life Marvel and DC characters. 

South Park: The Fractured but Whole is fully voice acted and has all the same, memorable (original) voice actors such as Trey Parker, Matt Stone, April Stewart, Mona Marshall, and more. 

You play as a muted kid in South Park and the fact that you don't have a voice in either title actually makes for more (easy) humorous dialogue / jokes. 

The combat in South Park: The Fractured but Whole, is a Strategy based concept. 

You are on one team while the enemy is on the other and you take turns planning out your attacks / defense in set tiles. 

Attacking the enemy in the overworld first, gives you a combat advantage and allows you to go first in combat. This also applies for the enemy if they attack you first. 

Since you're on a team, you obviously have team members, and this is where the game truly shines as every character is unique and has different strategies / moves of their own. 

You will progressively unlock characters for your team as you progress through the approximately 17-and-a-half-hour-long story. 

Your team members include...

    - The Coon
    - Mysterion
    - Professor Chaos
    - Human Kite
    - Toolshed
    - Fastpass
    - Call Girl
    - Mosquito
    - Tupperware
    - Super Craig
    - Wonder Tweek
    - Captain Diabetes
    - Henrietta (DLC)
    - Mintberry Crunch (DLC)

During battle, as you fill your Ultimate Meter, you can unleash every character's Ultimate Power (as long as it's their turn). 

You fill the meter by successfully attacking and blocking moves / attacks. 

Items can be collected while exploring South Park and completing Main / Side Missions. Normally, lootable crates and such, will have yellow handles to make it easier for you to find. 

Various shops in South Park such as Freeman's Tacos and Vending Machines allow you to purchase items as well at your will. 

One specific type of item you will definitely want to pick up, are Summons. 

Summons are essentially Ultimate Powers but are not character based. As long as you have the item you can use their powers.

These Summons include...

    - Gerald Broflovski
    - Ned & Jimbo
    - Classi
    - Moses

Customization is surprisingly very much a part of South Park: The Fractured but Whole, as it was in Stick of Truth.

Eric Cartman (The Coon) in the beginning of the story will award you with a superhero class. 

You can of course change your class whenever you like, but as you progress through the plot, more batches of classes will be rewarded, and you will go through a "tutorial" of that classes moves. 

By "tutorial", I mean Eric will tell you your backstory and how you became a superhero. 

This "superhero backstory" being about you and how you couldn't help your mom before... well... before your mom and dad got "busy". Classic South Park humor. 

All available superhero classes to choose from include... 

    - Brutalist
    - Speedster
    - Blaster
    - Elementalist
    - Psychic
    - Cyborg
    - Assassin
    - Gadgeteer
    - Plantmancer
    - Martial Artist
    - Netherborn (DLC)
    - Final Girl (DLC)

Another customization feature is your clothing. Pretty self-explanatory, basically you can get (by looting, purchasing, or unlocking) an enormous amount of clothing styles and wear them as you go through all famous South Park locations. 

Finally, there are also Artifacts that you can collect, and these serve as ways to increase your stats such as Health, Speed, Ally Health, Damage, etc.   

There is also a Selfie mechanic in South Park: The Fractured but Whole, where you can interact with famous South Park characters and take pictures to get followers on Coonstagram. 

Not everyone will agree to a selfie right away though. There are some characters that require you to do Side Missions or simply have more followers beforehand. 

These side missions could also be related to the many collectibles in South Park: The Fractured but Whole, such as Yaoi Art and / or posting headshots around town. 

The Switch did a great job with the various mechanics in South Park: The Fractured but Whole, but there was a lot more issues on the Nintendo Switch compared to my playthrough on the PS4, a while back. 

There was a lot of graphic glitches and on the DLCs, a few audio issues. Though these weren't game breaking, the decrease in FPS did impact my combat in South Park: The Fractured but Whole a few times, at least on the Nintendo Switch. 

Pros: 

    - Original Show Animation
    - Great Voice Acting from Original Voice Actors
    - Fun / Addicting Combat
    - Enormous Amounts of Customization
    - Collectibles
    - Fun Story Beginning to End

Cons:

    - Audio Issues on DLCs
    - Graphical Glitches (at least on Switch)
    - Uninteresting Music (at least for me personally)

My Rating for South Park: The Fractured but Whole (on Switch):

4 / 5


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Disclaimer

All Reviews, Ratings, Pros, Cons, and Opinions Shared on this Blog (Press A Reviews) are my (Connor Butler) own Thoughts and Feelings.



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