This review was made possible by an advance copy of South Park: Snow Day!. South Park: Snow Day! released on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch and PC, on March 26, 2024.
South Park, the most crudest franchise known to mankind, was not known for its video games. When they were released, they were deemed as had gained negative reviews from the critics. That was until 2014, when Ubisoft purchased the publishing rights due to THQ filing for bankruptcy and released South Park: The Stick of Truth.
This started a whole new era of South Park games that were true to the style of the show, had engaging turn-based combat, and were filled with insane jokes and bosses that were unexpected. A sequel, released in 2017, titled The Fractured but Whole, with a mobile spin-off also releasing in 2017, titled Phone Destroyer. In all three games, you played as the “New Kid” who by the end of each game, would get totally overpowered and ruin the game for everyone.
Now, a new game in the franchise has released but it’s nothing like its predecessors.
‘South Park: Snow Day!’ Is The Weakest Entry In The ‘South Park’ Games Universe
Obsidian Entertainment developed what was the best South Park game that we’ve seen to date, with Ubisoft mimicking what they did quite well with the sequel. The question on my mind is what possessed them to this direction and style. South Park: Snow Day! switches from its 2D style, reminiscent of the show, to this 3D style, which completely changes the gameplay and combat style.
Unlike previous games, it doesn’t feel like they got creative with either.
Before going into a chapter, you have the option to select between three melees (dagger, sword and shield, two-handed axe) and three ranged weapons (bow, staff, and wand), all of which feel as weak and boring as the last weapon. There isn’t much variation when it comes to the combos you can do. Wait… there actually aren’t any combos you can do.
The melee weapon attacks are limited to pressing the action button, holding the action button, or jumping… and then pressing the action button. The ranged weapons are also of no use with their horrible aim and range. At times, trying to attack an enemy with my ranged weapon led me to receive more damage than I was dealing. The wand is the only viable weapon, as you don’t really have to aim, and it is only limited by its charge time. Using this weapon was the one time that I began to actually have fun with the gameplay.
There are a few more items to select before starting a chapter, with the hopes of spicing up the gameplay, which at times it did. To stop the New Kid from becoming overpowered once again, there’s a card system with a set of rules in place. You get to select an upgrade card with the opportunity to get a new one after each enemy encounter, which will help your melee and ranged weapons feel more useful within a fight. There is also a new system called Bullshit, which allows you to bring in one overpowered card that will help you have the upper hand. The worst thing about this feature is that the enemy will always get an additional bullshit card plus upgrades, so it never feels balanced and can get quite annoying when the enemy decides to use their bullsh*t card, which provides 15 enemies with a bubble shield, making them 10x spongier than they already are.
This game is meant to be played with up to three additional players. I didn’t get the opportunity to play it in co-op as it was hard to match up with additional players who also had the game. Thankfully, you’re provided with three AI teammates to help you – well, that’s supposed to be their job. The AI is horrendous in this game, and their only use felt like it was to revive me or the other teammates. There were times where I’d finish fighting off some enemies only to realise that my AI teammates had barely dealt with the other enemies, which made fights unnecessarily longer.
Is ‘South Park: Snow Day!’ Even ‘South Park’?
We all know South Park for its intense jokes and crazy storylines that are unpredictable; it’s what made the previous two games so much fun to play. In The Stick of Truth, you get abducted by aliens, probed, and have to escape the UFO. In Fractured but Whole, you have to face Jared from Subway, whose actions, for the sake of keeping this review age-appropriate, I won’t elaborate on (if you know, you know). South Park: Snow Day! doesn’t actually offer anything on this level during its short story, which contains only five chapters and takes 3–4 hours to complete.
The jokes consisted mainly of fart jokes and using toilet paper for currency, which related back to when there was a toilet paper shortage during the lockdown. Besides these few, I can’t recall any jokes that felt too inappropriate for the game or any insane moments that weren’t expected, except for the one Dune reference that comes in the form of the final boss.
The story is unfortunately boring and, though it’s only 3 to 4 hours, it took me three times to actually open up this game and force myself to finish it. It doesn’t bring anything new to the table that’s worth mentioning, and it turns all these funny characters that we’ve known all our lives into the worst versions of themselves. While The Stick of Truth brought a fantasy setting and Fractured but Whole brought a superhero setting, South Park: Snow Day! didn’t think to change things up. I’ve been wanting a western setting or a sci-fi setting, which this game barely gets close to with its Dune reference but, unfortunately it decides to repeat the fantasy setting, which only makes the game more boring than it already is. They had already shown us everything there was to offer in a fantasy setting with Stick of Truth, hence why there’s nothing new to show in this game.
Trey Parker and Matt Stone described this game as less of an RPG and more like a roguelike. I’d like to know if the roguelike game is in the room with us. Dying doesn’t reset your entire game; it only makes you reset the level, which can be a pain having to deal with the swarms of enemies who hit too hard and repeat the same annoying voice lines over and over again. If not for reading this interview with Trey Parker and Matt Stone, I would’ve been unaware that this game was attempting to be roguelike.
‘South Park: Snow Day’ – Final Thoughts
South Park: Snow Day! is reminiscent of the cancelled game in 2005 and is proof enough of why we should drop the 3D South Park games. It fails to incorporate itself into the world that was established in The Stick of Truth. I’m glad that THQ Nordic experimented with this style, but hopefully they’ll go back to what Obsidian Entertainment and Ubisoft produced and bring us another good 2D RPG.
I unfortunately can’t recommend this game to fans of the previous games or South Park fans, as it lacks in every department that’s needed to make a good game. It goes without saying that you’re better off replaying The Stick of Truth and Fractured but Whole, which I plan on doing myself.
