Action Video Game Review: South Park 10 - The Game

Prior to the formation of South Park Digital Studios in 2009, South Park creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker did not have direct involvement in the development of games based on the hit animated series. That gave us some awfully dreadful games such as the Acclaim games from the 1990s. 

However, those early years gave us some inoffensive games that aren't terrible, but they really weren't anything to write home about. One of the latter is the platform game for feature phones using J2ME that was developed by Mr.Goodliving and published by RealNetworks in 2007. The game was created for the 10th anniversary of the cartoon series, which was promoted by Comedy Central through their South Park 10 campaign. That's what gives the game its uninspired title, South Park 10: The Game.

The premise of the game is rather clever, even if the gameplay and level layouts are not. There are ten stages each containing three levels and a bonus level. Each stage takes place within the first ten years of the series, and in each the player takes the role of a character from season represented in any given stage. This takes the form of the usual characters Kyle, Kenny, Stan, Cartman, and Butters, but also several more random characters such Scuzzlebutt, the monster with Patrick Duffy as a left leg, a cow, Starvin' Marvin, and Lemmiwinks the gerbil.

That's the end of the inspired part of the game, however. There is no music and only simple sound for jumping and obtaining items, akin to the sounds in the original Commander Keen games for DOS back way in 1990. 

In addition, the levels are really repetitive featuring rescue missions where you have to scare innocents to an exit in some stages and carry them in others. You have to collect a specific number of Cheesy Poofs in order to unlock the stage exit. The levels are mostly just platforms, some of which are static and some of which move. There are also spikes and enemies in some levels, and that's about it.

South Park: The Game is nothing more than a time waster that has been relegated to time. It has ten playable characters, which make it a bit unique, but the rest of the game from the limited sound to the uninspired level design don't lift it beyond mediocre. This one isn't really worth going out of your way to track down.

Final Verdict:

2 out of 5