Trey Parker and Matt Stone gave us some tantalising information on their new South Park title at Xbox's E3 press conference; but they showed precious little actual gameplay.
Not to worry, we managed to secure access to a VIP Microsoft event where the lead developer and producer from Obsidian were demonstrating small scenes of what they've made so far. The title is, of course, still in its early stages, so we were forbidden from taking any pictures. But memory is a powerful thing, and there was enough on offer for us to get a general idea of how South Park: The Stick of Truth is shaping up.
It appears that, at its heart, The Stick of Truth will be a side-scrolling 2D title with significant RPG elements. Parker and Stone were adamant that the game would only proceed if the art style was the same as the TV episodes, and a 2D side-scrolling set up seems entirely appropriate. South Park was never "high brow"; it's heartening to see that its creators feel the same way about its visual style.
This 2D environment does present its challenges, and it's hard making combat sexy with a 2D presentation, but it can be done. In that regard, it doesn't look like South Park is setting out to reinvent the wheel, as enemy encounters appear to follow the tried and true turn-based style we've seen in classic RPGs (like Final Fantasy). Apart from one battle between Cartman and your new character (more on him in a second), as well as two very short side scrolling segments that simply progressed the story, we didn't see much more than that. But it's still early days.
It looks like there will be a reasonable degree of sophistication in the title's weapon loadout and customisation, systems that also suggested serious thought was being put into how the RPG mechanic works. There is a range of armour and weapons to choose from, and all of them come with Parker and Stone's unique twist. For example, in lieu of a sword, your character can equip himself with Cartman's mum's dildo. Apparently it's quite ferocious.
