Diverting away from the ongoing topics from E3, I want to focus this blog on a game that I feel does its source material justice. Obviously, I am talking about South Park: The Stick of Truth. It has been a few months since the game released, but its impact with how licensed games have been produced has been felt across the industry. Considering that the game was heralded by Matt Stone and Trey Parker (the series creators), it was no wonder how well this game did. Any future developers and publishers who seek to make a video game based on a television show, comic book, manga, or movie series should take notes because The Stick of Truth got it right. In my opinion, South Park: The Stick of Truth is a success and raises the bar further for licensed video games.
If you have seen my reviews of Aliens: Colonial Marines, The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct, and Deadpool, then you can pretty much get the gist that I am one for holding up the integrity of the source material a game is based on. These three particular games that came out in 2013 only succeeded in giving your wallet more space. They offered little for the price they asked for and all of them were blatantly not finished in one area or another. Aliens, The Walking Dead, and Deadpool deserved better and we damn well know it.
The Stick of Truth's strengths are primarily from gameplay, music, atmosphere, and references. Also having the series creators write the script and detail the story helped immensely, too. Does that mean that when developing a licensed video game that the developer needs people who worked on the original format to the license? No. It most certainly helps, but it's not completely necessary. What would be needed is a clear understanding and respect for the license. Of course, just because one could have understanding and respect for a license that doesn't mean that the game will immediately reflect that.
Once again we look at probably the biggest license flop from last year known as Aliens: Colonial Marines. Despite claims made by the developers from Gearbox of loving the Aliens franchise and taking inspiration from the movies and apply it to their own work, Aliens: Colonial Marines proved to be nothing more than a shallow and halfhearted attempt to make a video game worthy of the Aliens franchise. The problem with the game was that it was in development hell for many years and was passed along to other development teams. There was an obvious lack of focus and polish that did not warrant this game to be released in the condition it was in or be sold for the price they wanted.
The same could be said of The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct and Deadpool. Both games were pretty much set up for failure given the publisher in the equation. The publisher in this case was Activision and we know how most licensed games are when it comes to Activision publishing them. They are weak, unfinished, buggy, and pricey for what they ask. Deadpool may have had a better chance than Survival Instinct did given that High Moon Studios developed it, but just because you make a couple of good Transformers games doesn't mean squat if you don't put as much effort into another licensed game. Terminal Reality developed the well done Ghostbusters game; however, their Walking Dead game did not have the same luxury of time and effort that Ghostbusters did.
South Park, on the other hand, had all of the right moves going forward. Matt Stone and Trey Parker wanted to make a game they felt would reflect well on both its core appearance and gameplay style. Both are fans of role-playing games and Trey Parker is a fan of Obsidian's games. The earlier video games made from the South Park license were heavily criticized by Stone and Parker who vehemently grew protective of South Park and they don't lend out the license as a result. It's understandable considering how poorly done the first few South Park games went.
But then that makes quite the statement, doesn't it? The creators of the license despise the games that came out prior and end up keeping the license out of the reach of others who they feel may do more harm than good. It shows a huge divide between original license creators and video game developers and publishers. I think that developers and publishers need to take this seriously if there are to be successful licensed video games. These are not their licenses they are developing games from. These are already established franchises that have a reputation and fanbase. As a developer or publisher, you are not just making any ordinary game. You are making a game that has to (yes, has to) live up to the license. There is a reason why people love Aliens, The Walking Dead, Deadpool, and South Park and why you cannot get lazy with its development by turning it into a cash-in.
The same could be said of movie adaptations. How often have we seen comics, video games, television shows, and manga film adaptations pale in comparison to their original source? The answer is many, many times. The gaming industry has the ability to do better and it shows with some companies.
Rockstar developed a great game from The Warriors film and Rocksteady has done a phenomenal job with Batman. Obsidian has joined their ranks by making a game that does it right by the source material. Other developers and publishers need to look at these examples and realize that they need to put as much thought and effort when using licensed media.
The Stick of Truth looks genuine to the series. Although South Park in the game is smaller than what we would have expected, it still has a rather good size for an open world. The gameplay is amazingly deep and addictive. The nods and callbacks to the show are constant through character interactions, collecting junk, and even looking in the closets of the boys. Well, except for Stan because Tom Cruise won't come out of the closet. A lot of time, effort, and frankly love went into this game. Matt Stone and Trey Parker did what they set out to do.
Through trial and error, South Park managed to get the game that it deserved. With the original creators' backing and motivation, Obsidian managed to develop a video game that (although took awhile to develop and had a few bumps along the way with publishers) was loyal and well done for the license. South Park: The Stick of Truth shows that when the right minds and talent come together with understanding and professional courtesy, then they can create a video game that does the original license justice. This game raises the bar even more for licensed games and should there be any future licensed games this year, then they can expect comparisons to other well done games like The Stick of Truth.
Farbridge's upcoming VR RTS Homeworld: Vast Reaches will be available for Meta Quest headsets from 2nd May 2024.
You'll know of EGX. You'll know of MCM Comic Con. Today the two events have confirmed that they'll be coming together under one roof
Supercell has released its new squad-building action game Squad Busters in Spain, Mexico, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Canada, and Singapore. This game features characters from different Supercell titles, such as Clash of Clans, Brawl Stars, Hay Day, Clash Royale, and Boom Beach.
I liked it too.
Also, as crap as the N64 South Park game was, the anti-gravity UFO multiplayer level made for some fun deathmatches. Terrance vs Phillip floating around firing nerf darts at eachother, good times.
The reason why the licensed games you listed are so beloved is because they were not on the crappy time tables most licensed games get. Any movie tie-in always seemed to have a very short development cycle and led to very subpar quality. These games did not have that restriction, so actual time, effort and genuine love and care could be put into them. the approach is to stop the tie-in approach and let the developers have their own time table.
I love The Stick of Truth. It's not a stretch to say that it's literally like playing an episode of South Park yourself and that's exactly how it should be. I completely agree with you on this blog. I personally feel that fans of any given source material should work on creating games that take from that source material. It's the only surefire way that due respect will be given.
Havne't played TSOT but I've seen and/or heard great things about it. The problem I typically have with licensed games is how they think just stapling on a typical formula without little consideration of how that works in the source material's context. Spiderman 2, a lot of Star Wars games, and the Batman Arkham series have mechanics that feel right and show great inspiration by the devs.
Then when you look at the Ghostbusters by Digital Extremes, which looks and sounds like you'd remember, but is translated into a third-person shooter.
It had to for the cosmos to forgive Stone & Parker for SP's previous VG endeavors.