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South Park Let's Go Tower Defense Play! on Game and Player

South Park Let's Go Tower Defense Play!

Ed Kirchgessner  //  October 14, 2009


Finally: a decent South Park game.

W

hile my experience with the tower defense genre would be described as limited at best, I've been a fair weather fan of South Park since 1997's "Cartman Gets an Anal Probe." The show's quality has fluctuated a bit since that premiere episode, but series' creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone have never strayed too far from their core objective: to comment on the events of the day as irreverently as possible. The boys of South Park are no strangers to video games, either on the show or the console of the day. Enter South Park Let's Go Tower Defense Play!, an Xbox Marketplace exclusive.

One couldn't ask for a better control scheme for a game like this on consoles.Tower defense games tend to follow a relatively simple formula: players use a variety of defensive structures and fortifications to slow and hopefully halt a steady stream of enemy invaders. Doublesix, Let's Go Tower Defense's developer, definitely played it safe with this release — what we have here is a traditional tower defense game in a South Park wrapper. Players will be placed in direct control of Stan, Cartman, Kyle and Kenny as they build up defenses and try to stop the classic foes that are besieging their beloved South Park.

One couldn't ask for a better control scheme for a game like this on consoles. At first, players control a single character (Stan) as they build up baseball cannons, lasers and snowdrifts. One interesting twist — not only are Stan and his friends builders, they're also active defenders. Players can move these characters around the screen, using them as attackers, engineers or loot collectors. The coins that dead enemies drop can be used to build new defenses or upgrade existing towers — lasers can become bigger lasers, etc.



Look out! Ginger kids!
In terms of its presentation, Let's Go Tower Defense is a grand success. Doublesix did an excellent job capturing the look and flavor of Comedy Central's long-running animated series, and the silliness that pervades the entire experience (such as the Engrish announcer that introduces each level) scream "South Park." Yet for everything that's been done right, there are a few glaring problems. Foremost, the game's difficulty curve — absolutely no strategy is required until nearly a third of the way through the campaign mode. While some could argue that this was to aid new players in learning the game's mechanics, the sudden ramping up of challenge at the end of the third level is bound to scare away those same novices. Tutorials would have worked a lot better had they been integrated into the core level design of the campaign, rather than be parceled out in separate video journals. As it stands, the game's single player mode serves neither tower defense veterans nor the beginner.

Casting aside these shortcomings, Let's Go Tower Defense is still a blast to play. Many of the single-player campaign's foibles can be overlooked once one discovers the outstanding cooperative multiplayer mode: each of four players takes control of one of the boys, taking turns building, defending and cursing like a sailor. If you're looking for the pinnacle of the tower defense genre, you should probably look elsewhere. If, on the other hand, you want to sit back and giggle while you remember the various plagues that have besieged the small town of South Park (ginger kids… tee hee), this is an easily recommended download. For a tie-in game done right, check out South Park Let's Go Tower Defense Play! for the Xbox 360.





South Park Let's Go Tower Defense Play!

System


Developer

Doublesix


Publisher

Microsoft


NA Release

October 7, 2009


Genre

Play Mode


ESRB Rating


In Favor

  • Reverence for series
  • Relatively simple
  • Ginger kids

Against

  • Difficulty curve
  • Tutorial implementation

G&P Rating

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