14 DAY TRIAL // The damn elves have managed to jump out of a snowman once more and corner me and my faithful companion Butters, which means I need to once more engage in the tactical battles that make up a large part of South Park: The Stick of Truth and which are, frankly, a little disappointing.
The system sounds pretty good on paper because it is supposed to mix the classic turn-based mechanics of the team's previous titles with some action moments that keep the player involved in every attack and block.
In practice this means that I have to actively click a button on my mouse in order to make sure that an attack that I have already launched with my main character hits and actually causes solid damage to its target.
On the defensive I need to again click to block, having to understand the timing of a variety of enemy strikes and abilities.
It’s not actually hard to do this, and the difficulty of the combat sequences is further mitigated by the ability to use summons and to apply healing on every turn as long as you have the resources.
But the constant clicking does not keep me entertained and engaged but rather creates a situation where I am drawn out of the game world that South Park: The Stick of Truth so wonderfully creates and makes me understand that this is still a game, despite its ambition to be a living world.
I would have loved to get a more complex system, with more than just one buddy, focused more on the interplay between the various powers and skills than simply on delivering as much damage as possible while using copious amounts of healing abilities.
The disappointment is even higher given that Obsidian has a pedigree when it comes to the creation of solid and interesting combat mechanics, which have stood at the heart of the games they have created using Star Wars, Neverwinter or Fallout as a setting.
The studio is also currently working on Pillars of Eternity, which is a party-based role-playing experience, and the two teams should really have exchanged some ideas.
There was so much opportunity in the South Park setting to create an experience that serviced both fans of the cartoon and old role playing.
South Park: The Stick of Truth is still worth playing through, but the combat will be more of a chore than it should be.