Games

It's taken six attempts and more than 15 years, but fans of Trey Stone and Matt Parker's controversial cartoon finally have a videogame spin-off to be proud of. Despite a year-long delay and rumours of a troubled production, Obsidian Entertainment's South Park: The Stick of Truth has emerged from production as a very entertaining role-playing game that – thanks to the authentic visual style, outrageous humour and voice acting – is as close as you could ever get to a fully interactive episode of the show.

The game casts you in the role of 'New Kid', a newcomer to the eponymous town who becomes embroiled in an epic live-action role-playing game pitting two armies against each other for control of the 'Stick of Truth'. But as the game escalates the kids find themselves drawn into conflict with anally-fixated aliens, Nazi zombies and other diabolical forces of evil. What this all boils down to in pure gameplay terms is a fairly straightforward – but very enjoyable – addition to the RPG genre, where you explore the town, solve puzzles, stock up on copious amounts of loot and battle through countless turn-based battles (albeit with explosive farts replacing magic spells).

It's just a shame that Ubisoft took it upon itself to censor the console versions of the game in Europe, which is surely against the spirit of everything South Park stands for.

South Park: The Stick of Truth, Ubisoft, Xbox 360/PS3/PC, £45 Approx
HCC VERDICT: 3.5/5