Reviewed on: PS4

It is scary how in recent years the whole internet has gone on a Social Crusade, attacking everything and everyone that doesn’t conform to Political Correctness. For two decades the adult cartoon series South Park has been defying this trend, and The Fractured but Whole arrives to celebrate the franchise’s 20th anniversary keeping the same dark humor, irony, obscenity and a long list of swear words per minute!

Narrative: 10

South Park: The Fractured But Whole tells the story of the series’ young protagonists as they dress up and play superheroes. One of the game’s highest points is the way Fantasy and Reality cross and mix during the kids’ adventures, leading them to face mobsters, prostitutes and other ill-intentioned adults… Always being taken seriously even though they’re just kids in costumes!

The game explores and exploits the series’ classic dark humor, with special focus on the contrast and combination of real life and the imagination of Cartman, Kyle, Stan and the other kids’ gang. There are moments when even the mayor treats the kids as real heroes, but even the most serious fights have to be paused when a car is passing down the street: the kids stop everything, go to the sidewalk to make way, and then resume their positions to continue the fight.

Unpredictability and humor are always present, and the game does a surprising job of delivering an interesting and intriguing story using a unique presentation. If you don’t mind hearing dozens of swear words per minute, there is a lot to appreciate in the plot and in the way it is told.

A quite pleasant surprise is the option to play with menus, subtitles and even voice acting in Portuguese! The 100% localized experience greatly enriches the game’s narrative, besides further increasing the effect of the swearing and insults!

Mechanics: 8.5

Beneath all the lowbrow humor and cartoonish visuals, SP:FbW proves to be a quite competent RPG!

Combat is turn-based in arenas with grid-like spaces. Each turn, a unit can move across the spaces and then use an item or one of its moves, with each character having three attack options with different effects, range and area of effect. There is also a fourth ability available to each hero, but this one is special and consumes the whole energy bar that charges up during combat.

The battles are quite dynamic and keep the same dark humor tone as the series. There is plenty of strategic depth, especially due to the positioning of each unit on the grid arena. There is a high degree of character customization, with seemingly simple options that can lead to very different results! You can choose a class and a subclass, select which abilities are taken to the battlefield, equip items that modify the character’s base attributes and, of course, dress your hero in the craziest costume you can imagine!

Supporting the tone of imaginary adventure, South Park invests much of its focus in exploration. There is a huge world with countless activities to do. You can try to clog all the toilets in town, collect homoerotic illustrations, gather followers on the town’s social network, help people solve their problems and much more… Plus you always have the option to advance the game’s hilarious story!

Audiovisual: 9

The art direction did an impeccable job of recreating the whole aesthetic of the cartoons: an unsuspecting viewer would certainly mistake scenes from the game for an episode of the animated series!

The graphics closely follow the visual style established over the series’ 20 years, with very simple and at the same time charming 2D models. It would be easy to mistake it for a children’s show if it weren’t for the themes addressed and the language used! In fact, the voice acting is phenomenal! Many of the characters’ official voice actors took part in the game’s production, further increasing fidelity! The localization work is worth noting, and easily stands out as one of the most competent ever done for the Brazilian market!

There are moments when the simplified 2D graphics without shadow effects get in the way of your depth perception a bit, leading to inconvenient situations where you have to “feel around” the area until you find the right position to interact with objects, but this is the only flaw in the game’s presentation – understandable given the restrictions of working with this visual style.

Final thoughts

South Park: The Fractured but Whole is definitely not a game for everyone. If you take sides in social crusades, fight cis-heteronormativity or feel bothered witnessing prejudiced or racist attitudes or speech, stay far away from this game.

But if you have the good sense to appreciate the social criticism beneath the mocking, over-the-top humor, enjoy RPGs with innovative and well-built ideas or are simply a fan of the animated series and understand why it has been a hit for over 20 years… Don’t let it slip by: this game is for you.

Fractured But Whole is the perfect celebration for the 20 years of the South Park series. The game has the same dark humor and foul language, keeping high fidelity to the cartoon’s look and offering a solid Adventure RPG experience.

Score

Fun = 10

Mechanics = 8.5

Audiovisual = 9

Overall : 9.2

PlayStation 4 version