Schools out, Mmkay?
After the runaway success of ‘The Stick of Truth’ and ‘The Fractured But Whole’, South Park returns with Snow Day! Developed by Question LLC in collaboration with South Park Digital Studios, Snow Day takes the franchise into the fully 3D realm in this hack and slash adventure game. Taking place after the events of the previous two entries in the series, Snow Day finds the town of South Park engulfed in a deadly snowstorm, causing school to be closed. You take on the role of a player-created character (as in previous games) who once again is the new kid in town. It’s the easy option to assign the player the role of new kid but one they could have innovated from the previous games, mixing up the formula. Character creation has a decent amount of customization options to help you design your player, but could have used more unique outfits for the player to utilise.
The story of Snow Day is pretty simple: Cartman has prayed for a day off school, resulting in an intense blizzard covering the town of South Park. With school cancelled, the town’s kids decide to play a game together, but the kids are split into factions and are at war with one another. Donning fantasy costumes, Cartman humorously informs you that the new kid has broken the rules in the past two games, (a fun reference to Stick of Truth and Fractured But Whole) resulting in brand new rules for this game. Besides a couple of moments later on in the game, this is quite literally the plot. The game is set over 5 different chapters which boil down to defeating each main South Park character: Stan, Kyle, Kenny and Cartman, with an iconic character being revealed as the main villain at the end of the penultimate chapter. Unfortunately, it’s a way to shoehorn all characters into the game which I found lazy and uninspired. Stick of Truth and Fractured But Whole loom large over this game and if anything, this shows how good and unique the stories for those games were.
The story suffers greatly from the staggering lack of comedic moments and dialogue from the characters. No real gross-out moments, risky commentary or crude humour make their way into the game, bar for a few moments. As a fan of the show and a huge fan of the previous two games this is a real disappointment. There is only so many reused Cartman and Mr Hankey lines to carry the humour as far as it can.
Into the 3D unknown
Graphically speaking, this is a new venture for the franchise as the game has been created and made in full 3D. This decision could have paid off and created a new unique look for the South Park universe but ultimately, I found the 3D visuals bizarrely uglier than the deliberate 2D design. Characters look like cheap knockoffs of the beloved characters at times, the choice for 3D is an understandable one, considering the gameplay but it just looks and feels off.
Environments look bland and bare, with no real care or time taken to create unique moments for the player or cool little easter eggs for fans of the show. I can appreciate the developers trying something different with this game and its art style but I feel as though it hasn’t paid off and bizarrely has made the town and its inhabitants look worse. It’s not all bad though; the cards which give you abilities are animated with childlike drawings which actually looked unique and stood out from the rest of the game. In terms of sound design, the classic characters are voiced faithfully, still giving you that unique connection to the franchise and its legacy. The enemy sound design can vary, with some enemies just regurgitating and repeating the same line of dialogue every time you defeat them. The music of the game is a strong point, with varying soundtracks for the five chapters making each chapter feel different in tone and scope. The developers have done an excellent job making a fun soundtrack for the game.
Dark Matter, Matters
Unlike the turn based combat in the previous entries, Snow Day attempts to create a hack and slash beat ’em up style combat system for the player, with disappointing results. Playing this game, the combat feels sluggish and repetitive; at best it feels serviceable for the player while at its worst it is just downright button mashing. Whether it’s the axe, sword or daggers, each weapon feels virtually the same with its 3 set moves. Bow, staff and wands can create some variety in how you want to approach the enemies but ultimately it just feels so repetitive it can become boring incredibly fast. Levels consist of fighting enemies in an area and then moving forward, only to fight enemies again before leading up to the boss at the end of the level. Powers within the game are unlocked through completing combat tasks and story completion and are unique to the South Park universe. Whether it’s using fart gas to jump up high, or use cat piss to revive the dead, the developers have at least brought the unique humour of the show into the game.
It’s worth noting this game can be played in online co-op or solo. I completed the story in co-op which was enjoyable at least to play with friends and mindlessly attack enemies. It was only when I played solo after the story did I discover the horror of the AI. The AI companions are some of the worst AI I have come across recently. They mindlessly walk into enemies, getting stuck in environments and they eventually get downed by the enemies. They are utterly terrible, the less said about them the better. Conversely, the enemy AI is also wildly inconsistent with some enemies stun locking you, making it impossible to escape.
The only mechanic within the game that changes up the pace and leads to some unique gameplay moments is the card ability system. At the start of each mission, the player must choose an ability card from a set of three. Dependent on which weapon and power they have selected in their loadout, the cards can increase their effectiveness, allowing the player to test different abilities on different levels to find what suits them best. Players are also given the selection of powers for the level, with my personal favourite being laser eyes. These have limited uses but can help in a tight spot. Along with the ability cards are the bullshit cards, a humorous and unique way to show the player the enemies’ abilities specific to the level. These can range from bubble shields making them harder to kill, or giant size, creating tougher enemies for the player to defeat. While these are welcome additions, they cannot save the core gameplay from feeling stale. At least the cards are delivered with humorous lines from Jimmy.
Roguelike Smoguelike
The game tries to sell you on the fact it has some roguelike inspired elements but these are few and far between. Classing each attempt at a chapter as a ‘Run’ is generous at best, as in reality, the game just doesn’t have a checkpoint system, therefore you are required to play each chapter start to finish. The addition of the dark matter upgrades from Mr Hankey are welcome as they act as permanent upgrades for the player. Whether you want pure damage upgrades or speed upgrades, the developers have created a varied skill tree for the player to select if they so wish, providing the player can force themselves to play long enough to unlock all these perks.
The downright worst part of the game is the horde mode. Tacked on and terrible, the horde mode plays like you would expect, fighting enemies wave after wave. What is utterly bizarre about this mode is some horde levels literally have a 7 wave limit. Who would choose 7 rounds?! Just a very odd choice by the developer. This mode really is the worst part of the game.
Verdict
Compared with how much I loved the past two South Park games, I am deeply disappointed with Snow Day. Mindless, boring and repetitive, this game could have really been a cool and different entry into the franchise. Instead, the art style, combat and story leave the player wanting so much more. Playing in co-op is fun for a time and while the music can be excellent, the game just makes me long for another RPG style South Park game. Mmkay.
