Product Description
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Take a wild tour of South Park, Colorado, in the most
twisted rally racing game this side of nowhere. Cruising through
South Park Forest, downtown South Park, and sites familiar from
the TV show, racers forego the typical lap-to-lap racing style
for a treasure hunt-style game. All of your favorite South Park
characters are joining in the quest, including Cartman on his
tricycle and Chef in his station wagon. Collecting a
variety of items from various locations, racers have a number of
tricks up their sleeves to thwart fellow competitors. Mexican
staring frogs, chocolate salty balls, and Mr. Hanky, for example,
inflict damage to competitors' vehicles in ways that are better
seen than explained.
Single racers are pitted against computerized nents, while
up to four players can team up, go head-to-head, or race in
challenge mode. South Park Rally carries a "Mature" rating due to
the fact that it's set in South Park's twisted little world.
--Eric Twelker
Review
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South Park fans have been let down time and time again
by the poor quality of Accl's South Park titles.
Unfortunately, South Park Rally, while easily the best of the
South Park games, continues this losing streak with poor control
and graphics. The story, as if this game really needs one, is
that the good townsfolk of South Park commemorate every holiday
by holding a go-cart event. These events range from simple races
to events where one racer needs to hold on to an item for a
certain length of time. For instance, on Valentine's Day everyone
assembles at Big Gay Al's place to shoot one another with cupid
arrows. The catch is that there's only one bow, making it a fight
for control of the bow while trying not to get . Once you get
the bow, you must get enough distance between yourself and the
other drivers so you can get off a few s without losing it.
This setup makes the gameplay fast paced and even frantic at
times. To help you fend off or prevent the other racers from
passing you, the levels are filled with an arsenal of offensive
and defensive objects. There are dogs, cats, and alien lasers,
all of which can stall your sition for a brief period of
time. There are also little Terrance and Phillip boxes filled
with , giving you a momentary speed boost. You can even pick
up Mr. Hanky, who patrols around your vehicle, keeping you free
from harm for a limited time. The gameplay, while fairly fun, is
hampered by poor control and physics that make the game hard to
play. The biggest problem with the control is the vehicles'
turning speed. If you get yourself in a tight situation where
competitors are coming right at you, you might as well just take
it head-on, since turning around takes forever. As does getting
your vehicle back on its wheels after it flips, which happens a
lot since the car physics are way too floaty, resulting in
vehicles bouncing all over the place. Graphically, South Park
Rally looks downright sloppy. The one exception is that all of
the characters and their vehicles look pretty decent. The levels
and objects on the levels, however, look poor and washed out. A
copious a of pop-up rounds out the depressing graphical
presentation. The raunchy quips from the game's characters are
funny at first, but they quickly become tiresome. In the end,
South Park Rally's charm, even for the biggest South Park fan,
wears thin fairly quickly - especially when compared with C
Team Racing, a similar, yet nearly infinitely more entertaining
PlayStation game. South Park fans may want to rent this game, but
it's far too limited to consider for purchase.--Ryan Mac
Donald--Copyright © 1998 GameSpot Inc. All rights reserved.
Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without
express written permission of GameSpot is prohibited. -- GameSpot
Review