We don't want to overstate things, but South Park: The Stick of Truth is literally exactly what we hoped it would be when the game was announced. Like, exactly. In every way.
At E3 2012 we had a chance to see the developers at Obsidian play through a chunk of the game, and we were genuinely surprised by how often we were laughing out loud at the story, the dialog, and even the combat, which was so absurdly violent that we took turns cringing and giggling.
http://www.gamesradar.com/south-park-stick-truth-preview-first-ing-look/
Players begin their South Park journey as "the new kid," who enters into South Park and is sent off by his parents (who are planning on "wrestling" in the new bedroom) on the most difficult quest of all: making friends. After some wandering he ran into a group of kids fighting with fake swords, but they ignored him because he's new, and, thus, "lame." Shortly thereafter he found Butters, the only kid in town even lamer than the new kid, who immediately whisked him away to the kingdom of the wizard king.
Far from majestic, the wizard king was Cartman, and the kingdom was his back yard. We watched as the new kid was guided around by the big-boned star, and was introduced to different characters from the show who were scattered around the kingdom. Every character had the appropriate voice and tone, and visually, everything looked like it was straight out of the television show.
After giving the ten cent tour Cartman sat in a chair obviously inspired by Game of Throne's iron throne, and asked the new kid his name and class. Classes were typical RPG cliches like fighter and mage (it looks like they cut the "Jew" class talked about earlier in development), and the naming process pulled up the typical input screen.
"Ace" the developers typed in.
"So, your name is douchebag?" Cartman responded.
"No," the developer hit as the new kid scowled.
"Are you sure you want to be known as douchebag?" Cartman asked back.
Another "no," and it was set - henceforth, the new kid would be known as douchebag. It was a good play on both South Park's signature style and video game tropes, and we were happy to see the South Park writers tackling both in such a quick, effortless manner.
But before the new kid could be sent on a journey to City Wok to get Cartman some food, something signaled the alarm - elves (see: kids with bad fake elf ears) were attacking the kingdom in hopes of stealing the titular Stick of Truth, meaning the new kid needed to actually start jumping into battles. Combat was simple - obviously aping the Paper Mario series' action/turn-based RPG system, but it was given a signature South Park flare.
Characters would bash each other with wooden weapons, shoot bottle rockets to cast "spells," and do other mean things to their enemies. Later, we also saw a battle with vampires (see: kids who talked about their emotions and how much they sparkled), which ended in the new kid summoning South Park's Mr. Slave who literally shoved an enemy into his butt.
It's crude, it's crass, it's disturbing, and it looks like an absolute blast. South Park: The Stick of Truth is everything we want from a South Park game, and we absolutely can't wait to play it for ourselves when it releases next year.
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