Developed by: South Park Digital Studios/Other Ocean
Published by: Capcom+
Genre: platformer
Platform: Xbox Live Arcade
Play it if: You want a challenging platformer and don’t mind the humor
Skip it if: You’re a parent, and not comfortable with your child playing a game with so much profanity
[rating:4/5]

I had always been an advent South Park fan, and my main concern with Tenorman’s Revenge was its inability to capture the humor that makes South Park so unique. However, when the game opens with  future sea otters retelling the story of Eric’s awesomeness and his plight against his evil ginger half-brother Tenorman , I already knew my fears had been squelched.

The story is simple. Tenorman has stolen Cartman’s X-box hard drive, and as any X-box player will tell you, we are more than willing to time travel and battle ginger robots to get it back. The game says it the best: ‘Who really wants to watch all those L.A Noir cut scenes all over again?!’

As a platformer, I truly find this game to excel. I found myself… frustrated, more than once and while this may seem like a complaint about the game, it is indeed, quite the opposite.  Growing up, I loved Battle Toads and Megaman, but I use to curse up a storm playing them, (granted I was pretty young so my selection of words was limited and well out of the ear reach of my mother). There are many moments in Tenorman’s Revenge where I found myself using my mature selection of swear words frequently. This is the greatest compliment I think I could use for a platformer; Revenge challenged me, it forced me to think past the idea of button mashing, it retaught me the importance of patience, and when I succeeded, I felt empowered, as though it was my true skill that allowed me to win. Too many times are we faced with a platformer that is mundane, and blatantly points out some simple mechanic that allows us to pass a level, but Revenge, refuses to do that. It keeps it fresh, with challenging levels, unique bosses, and so many hidden gems that it taunts us to find them.

Speaking of which, the replay value of this game is quite high. The game gives you the choice to replay all of its levels using one of the four South Park boys we have come to love. This may seem like a nice, if unneeded feature, but Revenge, gives you incentive. Each boy has a unique power, and if you’re an achievement junkie, this game demands that you replay these levels. In order to collect all the time coins, you are faced with certain obstacles only certain characters can overcome. Only Cartman can burst through walls with his girth, and only Kyle can transform into ‘Kite’ to float around. If you don’t like the idea of replaying every level by yourself four times over, you are more than welcome to the games multiplayer function, rather it be online or locally. At the time of the review, I found the online multiplayer to be a bit slow and unpredictable, but I can say, having my brother join in locally was a tremendous help. I can see this being a great game to enjoy with friends, or an excuse to yell at each other for ‘nubness’ as my brother and I quickly found out.

The Blast Factor: This game truly captured what it means to be a platformer. Challenging levels, annoying enemies, and remembering what precise timing actually is. That being said, I still feel this game falls short of the 5 star mark. There are too many control issues I was running into consistently, and the humor aspect of the game did tend to lose its luster throughout the hours. There is a reason the episodes of South Park only run 30 minutes, and it is to avoid comedic stale meant as this game ran into. Still, this game is well worth the time to sink into it, and it is refreshing to see a game that remembers what it means to be a platformer.

This review is based off a copy of the game provided by the Publisher. South Park: Tenorman’s Revenge is available now for Xbox Live Arcade.

About The Author

Derrick Kasianowicz is a Blast Magazine correspondent

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