The good folk at Comedy Central were kind enough to set us up with a copy of South Parks latest Xbox Live Arcade title . For 800 live points ($10.00) you can chase down the evil Scott Tenorman to reclaim Cartmans stolen Xbox hard drive. Chasing Tenorman through time and space created in a style that can only mean South Park was a reasonably fun jaunt. The story isn’t anything that will win a Pullitzer but it gives you a reason to guide Kyle, Kenny, Stan, or Cartman through the levels. The boys are all equipped with different abilities to navigate the multitude of levels provided. Certain unlockables can only be reached when using the powers of a certain character. This lends two types of thinking if you aren’t playing online multiplayer. The first is awesome I get to play through this level four times to unlock every item I need to continue on! The second is where I fell, it was wait a minute, I have to go through these levels again?

Not wanting to repeat the levels I jumped into the Xbox Live arena. The matchmaking loaded flawlessly and I was in a game in minutes. This was the only easy part of the multiplayer. The controls which were already a bit sluggish became laggy. I found myself making sure that I pressed the button about half a second before I wanted the action to be completed by my character. That aside once I adjusted to the button delay the three others and I began flying through levels. It was definitely built with the intent to grab some buddies and blast through the story. I’m certain that with a crew of your usual gaming cronies you could blow through the game in an hour and have an absolute blast while giggling at the usual South Park humor, dodging atheists as they blast their wands at the ginger bots, and navigating the various platforming elements.

Everything about the game is geared to five you the most fun possible while keeping everything we love about South Park completely intact. For the most part that goal is achieved, and the zany game keeps you excited to continue. I wish the controls were a bit tighter especially online, and the sound track supported the game well enough but wasn’t insanely memorable.

This game doesn’t redefine anything in the world of multiplayer or platforming but it gets a few items right. If you have 3 other friends to play with you, the price is right. If you’re playing alone I’m afraid you’ll find yourself forgetting the game very quickly.

Score

• Story: 8
• Sound Track: 6
• Controls: 6
• Multi-player: 8
• Replay: 5

• Total: 6.75