Game Review: South Park - The Fractured but Whole

Hello Enthusiasts,

Back in 1997, a new animated show premiered to the world. Its animations were crude, its characters had few redeemable traits, and it was purposely offensive in its writing. This show was South Park, and while it has certainly grown since its early years, it still holds on to a number of these concepts. It has gained such a following over the years that it has had its own movie and a couple of video games. Today I will be focusing on the newest of these games (outside of the mobile game), South Park: The Fractured but Whole. Now, of course, there will be some Spoilers Below, as well as some potentially Offensive Content, so you have been warned.

So this game picks up right at the end of the previous game, South Park: The Stick of Truth. You play as the "New Kid", who will never be named, in the final battle in the medieval setting. In the same spirit as the last game, your character has incredibly powerful farts, and this game will only further this narrative from where the previous game left it. This power is used in this starting battle to gain the upper-hand in obtaining the Stick of Truth. However, before the stick can be obtained, Cartman interrupts the game as his super hero alter-ego, The Coon. He lets everyone know that they're changing games, and now it's time to play super heroes. Your character is eventually recruited into the Coon and Friends group, and you are able to select your starting class. Your starting goal is to get followers on Coonstagram in order to promote the Coon and Friends franchise so they can start getting movies and Netflix shows. It sounds normal enough, but anyone familiar with South Park can guess that the story will spiral well out of any kind of normalcy. The story explores a rivalry with the other group of heroes and Professor Chaos, as well as a conspiracy involving a cult that's causing all kinds of trouble in the small town. It's a crazy tale that is stuffed with hilarious dialogue and some disturbing visuals, which can be expected from a franchise like South Park. You can also expect call-backs to previous South Park episodes, all of which fit well within the story.

In terms of gameplay, this game is pretty simple, but fun. The fighting is turn-based, and you can control multiple characters. The battles are set-up on a grid, with attacks impacting specific tiles on the grid. There are different status effects that can be caused, such as burning or disgusted, though some enemies are immune to certain things. Attacks will vary from character to character, and each available class has different attacks. Apart from the regular attacks, your character is also able to use farts that can manipulate time itself, which can be used to skip turns or reverse damage. There are several items and assisting characters that can be used to help clear out a crazy battlefield. Outside of battle, the game allows you to roam free, collect items and talk to the citizens of South Park. As you unlock new farts and friends, you're able to access more areas throughout South Park that were previously inaccessible. Both in and out of combat, there is a lot more to the gameplay than it initially lets on.

While the game is very enjoyable, there are some things that feel like they could have been done better. In the previous game, you were able to both use an item and attack in the same turn, which could allow your character to heal and attack in the same turn. This was changed for this title, so using an item now is that character's whole turn. Being able to do both didn't make the game easy, but it did prevent you from ending up in a loop of having to heal or remove a status effect every turn while being attacked. Outside of that, there are also some repeated story beats from the previous game that lose their shock value if you've played both. One example of this is your "backstory" that Cartman gives you about the origin of your powers, which stems from seeing your dad have sex with your mom. This would have been a lot funnier if there wasn't a wildly explicit scene of your parents having sex in The Stick of Truth. While none of this destroys this game or anything, it does take away from the game enough to be noticeable.

Small complaints aside, this is a great game for fans of South Park and those who know what they're getting into. If you're easily offended, you should probably avoid this game (as well as South Park as a whole), but it's otherwise a great time. You're not going to find a terribly difficult game here, but it is wildly funny and enjoyable.

I give South Park: The Fractured but Whole a 7.5 out of 10.

Sincerely,

The Bored Enthusiast

Comic Book Review - The Unbelievable Gwenpool vol. 1

Hello Enthusiasts,

With all of the serious material out there, be it TV shows, movies, games, or books, it can sometimes be nice to enjoy something for the laughs and lighthearted nature. It was with this attitude that I hopped into the first volume of The Unbelievable Gwenpool by Christopher Hastings. There will, of course, be spoilers below.

So, what could the story for this kind of title possibly be? Well, to start out, this Gwen is not that Gwen, a point that she does make in this comic. No, this Gwen is just someone who loves comics and has spent years of her life reading marvel titles. She is wildly familiar with a number of different characters, both the main ones and some of the unknown ones. But one day she gets sucked into a comic and becomes part of the marvel universe. She immediately realizes that she needs to get a costume, as standard folks are likely to get killed or held hostage in this universe. She soon decides that this must be her comic book, so she should be able to get out of most scenarios and survive most things, and decides to take on mercenary work from there. Along the way she needs to find a way to fit into this insane universe and fight off some of the worst beings in the marvel universe, all while making some friends too. It's actually a very clever premise that is well executed, something that I have come to expect from Christopher Hastings (for anyone who didn't read my glowing review of The adventures of Doctor McNinja, you can find that here).

The humor in this comic is almost always spot on, with Gwen getting herself into all kinds of trouble as she stumbles her way through her own comic. There were several laugh-out-loud moments for me throughout the volume. The artwork is also very well done, capturing a variety of emotions from characters and really popping off the page. Gwen herself is also a very fleshed out character, despite spending so much time goofing off during the story. She obviously feels isolated and out of place sometimes, and knows that she is trying to get by in a world that is inhabited by supernatural beings. There are threats that she doesn't exactly take seriously because she sees so many heroes deal with them, only to find that it is much more difficult than it looks.

In terms of complaints, they are few and far between. I'm not crazy about the design of her costume, though it is serviceable for the story.  It also seems like more characters should believe her about what happened to her considering the world that they live in. It's fine to say that half the planet were actually Skrulls in Secret Invasion and that there are LITERAL GODS that live in Asgard and travel to Earth, but not that someone is from a different reality where their world is comics? I mean, they know that there is a multiverse. Again, some small things, but not too much to come down on.

Overall, I really enjoyed this story. I think if you want a fun, goofy story, a tale of a misplaced comic book lover in the world of Marvel can be a perfect fit. There are imperfections, but they don't take enough away from this one to take away a solid recommend. I look forward to volume two, as well as reading Hastings' next project, Deadpool: Secret Agent Deadpool. 

I give the first volume of The Unbelievable Gwenpool an 8 out of 10.

Sincerely,

The Bored Enthusiast

Game Review: Marvel's Spider-man on PS4

Hello Enthusiasts, 

It sure has been a while since my last review, eh? Well, it took a highly anticipated game involving a well-known comic book character to bring me back in, but here I am, and I have written up a longer one here. Today, I will be reviewing Marvel's Spider-man on PS4. Now I won't be giving away the ending of the story here, but you can expect Some Spoilers Below. 

Let's start with the story, because it's not what you may be familiar with. Peter Parker is not a kid anymore, he's already gone to college and is working as a lab assistant. At this point he's been Spider-man for 8-10 years, so he knows a thing or two about being a hero. The lore is a bit different than the comics though. He hasn't been a member of the Avengers or anything, he doesn't even seem to know much about the other Marvel heroes (for example, if you take a photo of the Sanctum Sanctorum, Peter just comments that the building always seemed a little strange to him, but he doesn't seem aware that it's Doctor Strange's place). You also find out early on that Peter's job has him working for Otto Octavius prior to him becoming Doctor Octopus, and it seems that the Green Goblin has not made any sort of debut since Norman Osborn is mayor and Spider-man doesn't bring anything up about that. 

The playable starts out with Wilson Fisk's arrest, which Spider-man is, of course, a big part of. The Kingpin doesn't go down easy, but our favorite web head takes care of it in what is one of my favorite tutorial missions to-date. However, as Fisk is being put into the back of a police van, he tells us that he's what's been keeping crime organized, and the city will fall into chaos without him. Everyone seems to brush t off as something he would say to get out of jail, but, of course, we all know foreshadowing when we see it. 

And so begins the story of NYC without the Kingpin, and what a wild ride it is. I don't want to give anything else away for those that haven't been keeping up with this title, but know that this story hit all of the beats that you want it to, as well as some that you may not have expected. The fact that so much of the story is different than we know from years of Spider-man history only means that so many of these turns feel incredibly fresh. Peter's relationship with Mary Jane and aunt May feels so different, and it's done so well, that I ended up being in it for the story as much as the gameplay. 

Speaking of which, let's talk gameplay. How's the swinging? The fighting mechanics? The webbing? The pigeon hunting?

It's all fantastic, even the pigeon hunting. 

For anyone who read my list of top 5 Spider-man Games (which can be found here), you know that I had a small difference of opinion about the best Spider-man game thus far, with Web of Shadows being my favorite of them all (Spider-man 2 was a close second, I promise). I felt that almost everything from Spider-man 2 had been improved upon, especially the combat. However, this game makes all of Web of Shadows improvements seem minimal at best. The combat in this is beyond amazing; it's all very acrobatic while maintaining an exciting amount of difficulty. There have been several comparisons to the combat from the Arkham series, and there is an element of that, but this is really something else. Having a dodging mechanic doesn't make it a copy, and the fact that dodging in this game doesn't automatically cause damage to the enemy like Arkham does separates it plenty by itself. Add onto that how much the game emphasizes using in-air combat and web throws, and it makes it something entirely unique. Some of the larger fights include some quick-time events, but they always feel well-managed and necessary for the cinematic moments in a fight. 

The game does return to having a limited amount of webbing in a way, though it recharges quickly on its own. Plus, there are plenty of other gadgets and webbing types that can be used, so you'll never really find that you're out of options. Things like web-swinging and web-zipping don't impact your webbing at all either, so while it may seem like a step-back initially, it really is a non-issue. 

Speaking of web-swinging and traveling around the island, Spider-man has never felt more fluid than he does in this game. His webs do need to attach to something in order to use them, which adds a level of realism, but swinging is just one part of it. Web-zipping, both in general and to a specific spot (called a Point-Launch) while traveling, is really the best part. Spider-man's years of experience show through as you traverse through the city as he will launch through the support beams of a water tower or use his webs as he runs up the side of a fire escape. Additionally, the controls are pretty intuitive, though they do take a few attempts to really get the hang of. Once you have them down though, it all feels like second nature. I have spent hours just roaming through the city and stopping for the occasional crime. 

So we've discussed the story and the mechanics, but what about side missions? Well, there are plenty to go through, though none of them will take more than a few minutes. There are labs around the city that have been set up by Harry Osborn that need attention, there are pigeons to catch, there are towers that unlock more of the map, and there are even old backpacks to find, all of which include an old piece of Spider-man or Parker memorabilia. There are warehouses and strongholds to storm, locations to photograph, and characters that you encounter throughout the game will open up even more of these side missions. There are also small mini-games which either have you connecting circuits or breaking down chemicals. These mini-games themselves are fine, though they can get a little tedious later on. 

Now, I mentioned the backpack collectables a moment ago, and that brings me to the unlockables in the game. There are different gadgets and skills that you can unlock, with the skills in a skill-tree that you can complete by the end of the game if you're staying on top of your side missions. However, the highlight are the suits. There are several different suits to unlock, all of which have their own power (which can be transferred from one to the other once unlocked). Plus, there are suit mods that can be used as well, such as reduced bullet or melee damage. The variety is outstanding, and you unlock more by completing the side missions in the game to earn different tokens that can be spent on whatever suit or ability you want.  

I think cartoon Spider-man wandered through the wrong door here

So, is it all gold then? The perfect Spider-man game? Well, no, there are a couple of things that do take away from the experience. There are a few stealth missions where you play as characters other than Spider-man, and they feel very forced. It feels even worse because there are stealth missions where you do play as Spider-man, and those are great. Playing as non-powered individuals seems like a way to break the rhythm in a game where I did not want a change of pace. Also, which I am a huge fan of a good skill tree, some of the skills in the tree ended up being things that I rarely used, such as the ground strike. However, any complaints are small and don't take away much from the game overall.

So, to wrap up, Marvel's Spider-man on the PS4 is spectacular. It has just about everything a Spiderman-fan or gamer could want. It's challenging and equally rewarding, with fluid motions and excellent fighting mechanics. It's a definite recommend, and could really be a system-selling title for Sony. There are a few parts of the game that may be annoying, but it is an enjoyable and amazing experience.

I have to give Marvel's Spider-man on PS4 a 9.5 out of 10. If my system allowed, I would give it a 9.9, but it's all in increments of .5, and it doesn't hit that perfect 10 for me.

Sincerely,

The Bored Enthusiast