South Park Phone Destroyer: A Must-Have for Fans
The lyrics: “Going down to South Park, gonna have myself a time.…” are extremely familiar to viewers of the long-running Comedy Central adult cartoon, “South Park”. These are lyrics in the opening theme of the show and well, now with two critically acclaimed video games, “The Stick of Truth” and “The Fractured But Whole”, South Park has finally made its way into the world of smartphone applications.
While I was skeptical about downloading “South Park: Phone Destroyer,” after having played it for more hours that I would like to admit, the truth of the matter is: “South Park: Phone Destroyer” is a must-have for fans of the hit series.
Beginning The Game
Right as Phone Destroyer loads up for the first time, the game reminds phone users to turn off in-app purchases. Phone Destroyer is a ‘Freemium’ application, meaning that you can unlock all of the in-game content without actually spending money but, if you’d like to speed up that process, you have the options to do so.
Much like in “The Stick of Truth” and “The Fractured But Whole,” the player (you) is the new kid in South Park and they are invited to play with the established characters. In the world of “South Park: Phone Destroyer,” the player joins the game of Cowboys vs. Indians and they are on the team of cowboys.
The player goes through “Tutorial Town,” where the majority of the game mechanics are explained by Cartman. To play the game, you have a deck you are able to fill with cards. Right off, you mainly have “cowboy era” cards and, while several are common, there are plenty of other cards that can be obtained later in the game such as mystical and sci-fi cards, that are considered rare. Only two types of cards may exist within one deck of cards so I have one deck that is sci-fi and cowboys while my other deck is mystical and cowboys.
Once Tutorial Town has run its course, this leads to the first official in-game battle.
Past The Beginning
Each level has a boss but, to get to them, you must fight off their minions. Once you’ve reached the boss, even then you’ll have to worry about their minions while trying to get to them. Each boss can be fought up to 15 times. After beating them 15 times, you still have the option of playing that fully-completed stage if you would like to. But, you do not have to beat them 15 times in order to move to the next boss.
But, using your chosen deck of cards and building it strategically, you should be okay. Your decks can be rebuilt and changed at the Home Base station in the game.
Another mechanic in this game is PvP Battles or Player vs. Player Battles. Every so many levels, the player must win however many PvP Battles before being able to move onto the next section of the story. The opposing player in PvP battles is randomly chosen via an internet connection. Depending on one’s settings, if the WiFi ends up disconnecting and the app is not able to use data, the battle will end in defeat for the player whose WiFi connection was lost.
Plus, while the game was released November 9th, 2017, there have been a few in-game events that required completing PvP battles in order to receive some sort of reward such as rare cards. One of these was the Water Bear Event which referenced a more recent episode of “South Park” while the most recent event involves Medusa Bebe and Hercules Clyde.
New Kid Gimmick
All of these South Park games might seem to be using the situation of a new kid coming to South Park as sort of a gimmick but, that certainly isn’t the case.
*WARNING: MILD SPOILERS AHEAD*
The games “The Stick of Truth” and “The Fractured But Whole” are both connected. There are direct mentions of the “Stick of Truth” in the game play of “The Fractured But Whole” whereas, “South Park: Phone Destroyer” stands on its own.
Sure, all three games very much call back to bits and pieces of the TV series itself but, they are quite literally worlds apart.
Meaning: “The Stick of Truth” and “The Fractured But Whole” share a world/universe while “South Park: Phone Destroyer” is happening in an entirely separate world. While the battlefield changes depending on who the player is facing, they will be facing the same bosses (with different costumes, however) quite often rather than the varied array of bosses on the console games.
And, “Phone Destroyer” gives us different versions of our favorite characters without just going directly to their superhero alter egos again. I only recently moved to the area of “South Park: Phone Destroyer” where the South Park gang is playing as their wizard versions which were used in “Stick of Truth” but, still: save for a few costumes here and there, “South Park: Phone Destroyer” has completely different in-game dynamics, especially since it’s on a smartphone.
In-Game Dialogue and Visuals
South Park is very unique and, with all the cookie-cutter applications in the world, it is very nice to see that “South Park: Phone Destroyer” makes sure to keep the genuine feel of the cartoon.
Each character’s different costumes and various battle cries are very in-character; they might be playing pretend but even so, the beloved gang of misfits all scattered about never lose the established personalities us fans have grown to love or hate; the same way that Nathan hates Jimmy and makes sure to tell the player when he’s summoned from their deck.
The in-game visuals are a lot of fun as well. The loading screens show future bosses, enemies, and allies. Many of which could make their way into your collection of cards sooner than later.
Overall…
Overall, “South Park: Phone Destroyer” is a treat for South Park fans. It’s a very well thought out game and never strays away from what makes the series so uniquely one of a kind.
My only real complaint if any, is that I want some action figures of the gang in their cowboy gear and, I would love a plush of Gizmo Ike. But, if you’re a fan of South Park and aren’t playing this game already, go and download it.
Or, if you’re not a phone gamer, the full-cut scenes of “South Park: Phone Destroyer” have been uploaded to YouTube but, watch with caution: it ultimately spoils the game.
“South Park: Phone Destroyer” is available for download on both the Android and Apple app stores.