How to move on after Obsidian and Ubisoft games? It’s difficult and as soon as it was announced, South Park Snow Day didn’t just make friends. In question, the sudden change in artistic direction compared to the last titles. The aesthetic bias was divisive, but on the other hand, the players were very happy to learn that real French dubbing would be present. The ultimate argument to easily sell the game? Yes, but to our great surprise, it’s not just that and the software is not the dreaded disaster. We even had a better time than Alone in the Dark, the other THQ release of the month.
Back to South Park to get some fresh air!
After taking part in an endless war between humans and elves, and dressing up as superheroes, Cartman, Stan, Kyle and Kenny must face a terrible and unexpected weather event. A gigantic blizzard hits the quiet little town of South Park and endangers the lives of its inhabitants. The pond is frozen, the roads are blocked and people are rushing for toilet paper to the point of creating a shortage. Total chaos, which causes victims, but which could nevertheless offer Cartman one of his happiest days… if the elementary school closes following this storm of the century.
To be sure that this happens, Eric prays to God before going to bed “don’t act like a bitch”, and to ensure that the establishment is blocked for at least one day. A wish that comes true and allows the heavy-boned child to take out his Grand Wizard outfit to experience another adventure in the company of the “New One”. Translation: you, me, the player! And it’s a new game that begins after the abandonment of the previous two because “assholes” tried to be too powerful in The Stick of Truth and The Annal of Destiny. There is therefore real continuity, and a whole meta aspect further developed, with a scenario written by Trey Parker and Matt Stone.
You can feel it from the first punchlines and the laughter doesn’t take long to be heard. Careful writing for a story and a game that mainly deal with excrement, with this shortage of PQ which has transformed this essential everyday product into a rare commodity. So it’s very pee-poo, but at the same time, that’s what we’re looking for with South Park Snow Day. Our only complaint is that the title does not take the time to address other themes dear to the series, apart from a passage on religion with very crude and delirious dialogues.
Leaving aside this downside, it’s a pure delight to find the gang around the little fat man’s war table, located at Kupa Keep in his mother’s garden, and to listen to them argue and insult each other all the time. two seconds. It’s all the more exciting as it’s here, we can finally play with the real VF. No replacement actors, you will recognize the official French voices of Cartman, Kyle, Stan and Kenny, but also other characters like Butters, Henrietta… Unsurprisingly, that makes all the difference since yes, the series is known to be one of the rare cases where the VF completely supplants the VO – like for The Simpsons. In terms of all the narrative coverage, the game is a real success.
Goodbye RPGs, hello 3D action-adventure
If South Park Snow Day is a love letter to the series in terms of story, dialogue, tone and characters, the artistic direction has nothing to do with it. Gone is the magnificent cel-shading, except for a few cutscenes, which has been replaced by classic 3D graphics trying to stick as closely as possible to the original material. A disaster, just acceptable or a pleasant surprise? It’s not the shipwreck glimpsed with the trailers, but the cel-shading of South Park: The Stick of Truth and The Chronicles of Destiny remains of course a very big step above. Including in terms of animation. It is therefore confusing and somewhat disappointing, but not enough to deny our pleasure. Because yes, surprisingly, carrying out this test was not a chore, even though I started like many with very negative preconceptions.
The game designed in-house at South Park Studios also abandons the RPG dimension and 2.5D for a 3D action-adventure title. As a result, combat is once again done in real time and revolves around very basic actions such as a normal or charged blow, a short combo of attacks or an aerial assault with six melee or ranged weapons. . The magic wand fit for a princess can set other kids on fire, the two swords favor speed and bleeding opponents, while the wizard’s staff releases fireballs, etc. It still sorely lacks fantasy, unlike the powers that you unlock by playing and fulfilling certain conditions.
“Cheesing” allows the famous South Park cat to urinate on children to make them temporary allies. The “Evasive Fart” inflicts disgust and serves to gain height to resist the attacks of other brats. It’s nonsense, but it’s still reasonable. Indeed, as with weapons, the powers could have ventured into even more WTF territory. The gameplay is clearly simplistic and absolutely not strategic like the RPGs from Obsidian and Ubisoft. But curiously, it’s not unpleasant, especially since there is another mechanic that comes into play, that of Cards. South Park’s Story mode spans five chapters with a boss battle at the end of each chapter. At the start of each episode, we are asked to select cards to play against our rival, which have rarity ranks (uncommon to ultra legendary) and levels. There are several types.
First the normal ones which grant buffs, everything while you are alive, such as inflicting 40% more damage if health is full or additional damage in the event of an aerial assault. The level of these can be improved if “Shiny Cards” are found in chests, or for PQ. It is one of the essential resources which also allows you to discard the cards offered during the choice if they do not inspire you. It seemingly brings a tactical side which can make the difference during challenges or with higher difficulty.
Then, there are the cards which grant a third power (e.g.: disintegrate enemies with laser eyes, summon a squad of servants, etc.), those of Henrietta which can increase the level of these objects, change the rarity or even grant of the PQ, and the “stupid cards” of the enemy. Their objective is to reverse the course of the battle to give the advantage to the adversary. When played, they can transform our weapons into fishing rods or foam fries, or even equip kids with lightsabers… with Jedi moves as a bonus. It’s one of the best ideas in the game, which reduces the plan-to-plan side of battles, but what a shame it’s not even more sought-after than that. Developers have room to explore this aspect.
A turkey for a chin, it’s a pain in the ass
The hundreds of rolls of PQ recovered from the bodies of defeated children, or via destructible items in the environment, are therefore essential for the cards. But you can also collect poop to improve skills. It is thus possible to gain endurance, movement speed, ensure that the packets of Cheesy Poofs consumed to regain health are larger or become more enraged. A mechanic that guarantees the activation of the powers mentioned above, when damage is suffered or when damage is inflicted. And if the path taken no longer pleases, you can request reimbursement of the Dark Matter to redirect the points towards other abilities. Casually, South Park Snow Day has several layers, even if it doesn’t invent anything and just diverts concepts seen and seen again, by adding the WTF stamp of the original series.
All the narrative bubbles allow you to forget the repetitive progression of the chapters where you have to advance from zone to zone during a level. In itself, it’s not really annoying because the missions manage to be renewed and we laugh at the stupid objectives that we have to complete like finding Taylor Swift albums, repairing catapults with used condoms or flying 6th grade porn magazines. But if you play solo and not in co-op, the structure can quickly get on your nerves because a game over forces you to start from the beginning – and it’s the same if the character gets stuck in a setting like that. happen repeatedly for us (on PC). Even if you have reached the final boss of the chapter.
We feel a touch of artificial difficulty to mask the fact that with several people, the game must be able to be completed quickly. It’s a collected experience whatever happens, but with allies who think, as opposed to a not very sharp AI which can take time to resuscitate us, it’s necessarily simpler. If, however, you still want more, South Park Snow Day offers a Horde mode via the DLC To Dance with Ravenous Shadows with Henrietta, and “Infernal Pacts” challenges by returning to the campaign. Extending the adventure beyond will also serve to expand your wardrobe, by spending Platinum Coins, to equip yourself with a testicle chin.
