Each time I return to South Park: The Fractured but Whole I am constantly reminded about just how good the RPG and turn based combat are in the game. It has been some time since it released by the steady release of new DLC have indeed kept me coming back for more. Now the final DLC content from the Season Pass has been released in the form of ‘Bring the Crunch’ which takes New Kid and regular South Park cast to the iconic summer camp location of Lake Tardicaca. I was very much hoping for this last piece of story content to really push the envelope taking us all out with a bang.
Our hero ‘New Kid’ is contacted by Professor Timmy and alerted to the fact that all the Camp Counsellors have gone missing and unless they are found, the camp faces the threat of being closed. Alongside New Kid for this DLC will be Fastpass, Professor Chaos and returning character Mintberry Crunch who received the same distress call that alerted New Kid. With this new team of superheroes assembled it is time solve the mystery and rescue Lake Tardicaca.
Right from the get go it is obvious that this particular DLC has been inspired by all the 80s Horror movies and really does play on the clichés such as introducing a new super hero class in ‘Final Girl’, the one white girl who always manages to survive the events of the first film only to then be killed right away in the sequel. New super powers are available such as the ability to launch and place three buzzsaws over 3 spaces in a battle. The next is a bombastic sledgehammer which is capable of pushing back enemies forcing them into new places on the grid along with the Super Move itself which will turn New Kid into a crazed killing machine capable of executing enemies in one hit. Sadly I found this new class really dull and disappointing in battle and as soon as I could I replaced them with what I had before the DLC forced the change.
The disappointment didn’t end there as sadly the story for this DLC was rather bland for me. You simply move from one area to the other using your special abilities to solve puzzles to collect mission items and a few set boss fight encounters to give you things to do. It was all fairly by the numbers really and I had really hoped for something more explosive to really wrap up the Fractured but Whole world. There some moments of clever writing especially in the random dialogue exchanges you get to have with the Gas Station Attendant who is constantly warning you not to do all the classic horror B movie tropes such as going down dark roads.
The combat has been made more difficult though adding a new edge to the turn based fighting as you take on the various random monsters that spring up. Enemies now have more powerful attacks and can move your team off their set places on the grid as well as often outnumbering your team and calling in reinforcements. My favourite new addition was when combat was triggered on the Indian Burial ground area which made certain spots on the grid capable of bringing back knocked out enemies to life with the only way to defeat them being to move them to a position without one of those spots. Boss fights are also tougher with the majority having the ability to corner your team off by shrinking the playable grid with massive area affecting attacks only giving you one turn to move your team out the way but with normal enemies all having the ability to use knock back is not as easy as it sounds.
It was nice to visit one of the most iconic South Park locations in Lake Tardicaca but I was hoping for a bit more on the knuckle humour and story and whilst it is still fun to play for the short duration of the story along with many collectibles to find to really complete the DLC, it all felt a little meh to be honest. Perhaps the standout new content that this DLC brought has to be the many various horror film related superhero costumes to add to your collection and in particular had to be the very Teen Wolf looking werewolf costume which you can see in the screenshots above. I also felt that by this DLC release, my ‘New Kid’ character is just super powerful now after completing the main story as well as previous DLCs so I had more than enough consumables and super powers to handle any situation really without too much trouble or frustration.
Bring the Crunch is a fairly routine DLC to end the current Season Pass content with, and rather short at just over two hours to complete but overall if you are coming into this game fairly new, all the content from the main game and season pass is still a great experience for South Park fans and as I opened with, the turn based combat is something I really enjoy about this game and putting together a hero with just the right super powers to use in a fight is still great fun along with deciding on a look for New Kid.
For me though having played this since it launched it is starting to suffer from a little repetition and fatigue. The fart jokes and toilet humour is already old by the time of Bring the Crunch and little is added in terms of anything fresh or new with this DLC. It is not terrible by a long shot but it is just not the big finish final content I was hoping for.
