South Park: Rally
South Park: Rallyby Acclaim
Platform: PlayStation
ESRB Rating: Mature
ASIN: B00001WQIR
Check price @ amazon.com , amazon.ca , amazon.co.uk
Product Description: 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 police 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 opponents, 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
GameSpot Review: South Park fans have been let down time and time again by the poor quality of Acclaim'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 shot. Once you get the bow, you must get enough distance between yourself and the other drivers so you can get off a few shots 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 opposition for a brief period of time. There are also little Terrance and Phillip boxes filled with gas, 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 amount 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 Crash 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
From the Manufacturer: In South Park Rally all of your favorite characters are screeching around their sleepy Colorado town in dozens of sweet vehicles that could only exist in the demented world of Comedy Central's South Park! With Cartman on his police tricycle and Chef in his station wagon, the town will be in a shambles before anyone crosses the finish line!Special features include: tracks include South Park Forest, Big Gay Al's Big Gay Animal Sanctuary, downtoen South Park, and more. Multiple secret characters and shortcuts. Demented gadgets include Mexican Staring Frog, rats, chocolate salty balls, and more. Multiple race modes and race objectives. Hundreds of hilarious soundbytes created specifically for this game by South Park's creators, Matt Stone and Trey Parker. Sweet multiplayer action in Head to Head, Challenge, or Team modes.
Customer Reviews:
A FUN AND CHALLENGING GAME!, January 5, 2002
Reviewer: Andrea Ritter from Singapore, Asia
This game is what you call challenging and fun. You get to be a lot of the South Park characters such as Stan, Kyle, Kenny, Cartmen, Wendy and many, many more. You earn characters as you accomplish the different race courses and some you earn for more challenging stunts. I like this game because it is not a game you can finish in a day. Some games are sooooo easy that you are able to do this. Before you go buying this game, I would suggest renting it first just in case it is too hard of a game for you.
A GREAT AND CHALLENGING GAME!, January 5, 2002
Reviewer: Andrea Ritter from Singapore, Asia
This is what you call a hard game. If you want a game that is fun but has some difficulty and humor in it, this is the game for you. This game is mostly recommended for South Park fans like myself. Don't buy it if you're not a big fan because you won't get the humor in it. I recommend renting it before buying it in case it is too challenging for you.
Rent, don't buy., November 23, 2000
Reviewer: John J Ronald from Houston, Texas United States
I am a big SP fan, but I can't recommend buying the game like I did. Yes, the voice-clips are funny and some of the zany action is fun (even if you know you're going to loose there is some fun in tormenting the other charaters with the games' weapons, etc), BUT YES, the novelty does wear off, and I was very frustrated to find you can't save and keep advancing from the saved point but have to start ALL OVER...that's just ridiculous, in any game--why the heck does anyone SAVE a game in the first place?? Ultimately, I sold my copy for store credit and bought Medal of Honor instead...much much more fun...if I want South Park I'll just watch the show/movie(s).
Good game, August 27, 2000
Reviewer: Homeboy Eric from The Westside
The first game of South Park was a disapointment. In South Park Rally, the creators improve considerably. The characters aren't blurry and you don't get sick. Even though each race involves an extensive learning commitment, the game is fun and excting. The game has more characters, such as Bebe, Homeboy Eric, Ragiddy Andy Stan and Braveheart Chef, and the racetracks give you feel for the game and the show. The only thing that needs improvement is the driving. If you fall back in a race, you can pretty much call it quits. If you have to run away from every contestant, they usually catch up to you. Some of the cars move too slow, and the reversing is terrible. Good game but driving needs improvement.
SP rally rocks!, July 3, 2000
Reviewer: Monty Python from Nebraska
Ok, the first time I tried this wonderful game was when my step-dad rented it for me...........and my mom was having a bridal shower and one of the idems on the list was SP rally.........so I went out and bought it for them and I have been hooked!
Most of the games these days are so easy to finish but this one is so different......I mean you have to go through all of the race tracks in chapionship and you have to get 1st place everytime and it is really hard and that is why I like it......so if you like SP or hard to finish games then this is the one for you......
A GREAT IDEA...BLOWN UP BY A LAME GAME, June 19, 2000
Reviewer: A gamer from Rutland, Massachusetts
I am into SOUTH PARK hardcore, So when I heard there was a racing featuring all of the SOUTH PARK characters I bought it. BIG MISTAKE! The graphics are terrible....the sound f/x and voices are ok....the control is so bad you cannot steer straight. I have played my copy a total of three times...hoping it would get better...now I use it for a coaster to put my glass on.
Tedious, not fun, April 17, 2000
Reviewer: A gamer from San Antonio, TX
My husband and I were sorely disappointed with this game. The sound bites are hilarious, but that is about it. The vehicles are next to impossible to steer, and the tracks are confusing. Crash Team Racing was much better.
A hard game but a great challenge, February 27, 2000
Reviewer: A gamer from LA, California
The biggest problem I have with games these days is that you can finish them so quickly. South Park Rally was a refreshing difference. It really is quite hard toplay to start with, that is until you get use to the fact that you are not driving in circles and that you infact have to think to play.
The game has over 30 characters but as yet I havn't unlocked nearlly half that.
fun, but tedious (yes, even for South Park), January 31, 2000
Reviewer: A gamer from Clinton, Arkansas
I was honestly surprised at the high quality of this game (you'll understand if you ever played the original South Park shooter game). With challenging and original missions, nearly every character you can imagine, hilarious sound bites and great boards this game has the potential to be really awesome, but it is nearly impossible to advance or unlock the additional features since you have to start at the beginning of the Championship Series EVERY TIME! And with only a limited number of credits when you start (5 credits, but you can find extra credits hidden on the race-boards) this gets very time consuming very quickly. You can practice a specific race in Arcade mode as much as you want after you have unlocked it in Championship, but you still have to slave away through the other races. To (almost) quote Cartman: "Race is never finished, massa got me workin', somday massa give me a cheat"
The N64 version is slated to come out in late February, and though it might be a bit more expensive I would definitely recommend waiting to see if they fix these "problems." Much as I love South Park and have enjoyed discovering the few things I have managed to acquire in this game, it is really starting to get boring.