As a long running adult comedy show, South Park has seen numerous videogame adaptations. For many, the better titles have been that later RPG releases. This is largely due to the alignment with show creators, Matt Stone and Trey Parker. The pair are fans of the medium, and worked closely to create two uniquely South Park games in a familiar genre. South Park: Snow Day has also benefited from the creators input, though as this review will attest, to a much more limited degree.
South Park: Snow Day regularly references The Stick of Truth and Fractured But Whole, as if it’s the third title in a trilogy. Canonically that may be true. However, in terms of gameplay it’s far removed. So far in fact, that it’s not even in the same league.
This latest title is a modern take on a scrolling beat-’em-up. The gameplay lies somewhere between Fable Heroes and the criminally underrated Fairytale Fights. Players move through levels and encounter enemy placements, defeating them in multi-tiered arenas before moving onto the next. It’s as basic as it sounds, failing to deliver the depth of the likes of Power Stone nor the immediacy of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. The combat amounts to little more than repeatedly hitting a single button before chasing down the next enemy. This is hardly The Warriors.
Each of the levels features numerous randomly generated events to encourage replay, along with hidden routes. However, when the core gameplay loop is so mundane, there’s little compulsion to do so. There are numerous upgrade mechanics to aid you in your quest to, well, beat the next boss. Both those which are temporary and only exist within the current level and more permanent upgrades. Each of which requires a different currency. However, both do little to change the action outside of making it slightly easier. Despite being vast in amount between the Dark Matter and upgrade cards, rarely are they exciting enough to spur you on for even ‘just one more’ go. Which, for a game that is entirely based around such a metric, is decidedly disappointing.
See, South Park: Snow Day seems to have been inspired by rougelikes in that it challenges players to complete levels as ‘runs’. The idea being that the difficulty increases rapidly, and only with new abilities can you conquer the next. But you never really feel compelled to upgrade anything as it makes such little difference. Instead, you’ll simply ask your friends to aid you over the AI companions the game defaults to. Sadly, they’re unlikely to remain your friends for long if you convince them to laid down their hard earned cash on this game over almost any other South Park game.
The cutscene recreations of the television show are immaculate. As well presented as other South Park games have been, they have rarely delivered their story beats with the same level of authenticity as South Park: Snow Day. However, they are very few and far between. Even if they alone warranted the cost of entry, you would hope for a significant amount more of them.
And that essentially sums up what South Park: Snow Day is: a poor comparison to the titles that inspired it. Too short on the one hand, far too boring to endure on the other. South Park: Snow Day is far from being one of the best South Park games. And in fact, could arguably rank as the worst. Coming off the back of two critically acclaimed titles, it’s a shock that such a poorly conceived game could be released to a more discerning audience. Even worse, offered as a collector’s edition with a hefty price tag. This morn has had some welcoming new titles from old friends such as Alone in the Dark and Outcast: A New Beginning. South Park: Snow Day however, is certainly not one of them.
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