South Park: Chef's Luv Shack

"Chef doesn't like to be kept lonely."

Let's get this out of the way first. South Park: Chef's Luv Shack has one thing similar to Sex. It's no fun alone. If you have no friends, and you've got no interest in being a collector on obscure N64 games, don't buy CLS from any Pawn shop, online store, or homeless guy with only the game to his name.

Now then, for the rest of you out there, who don't lock themselves in their room to play WoW and still have friends come over to play a game offline, you will love this game, as long as you don't mind the crude humor that the series the game is based on is known for.

Chef's Luv Shack is a game show shown on South Park Public Access, in which hot women compete for a romantic weekend with the host of the show, Chef. However, because all of the hot girls were unavailable, the contestants instead consisted of 4 young boys from the 4th grade. We're not sure if the prize stays the same. We can only hope not.

The game is played like this. After choosing how many people are playing, who they're playing as (Either Stan, Kyle, Cartman, or Kenny), and how many rounds they're playing for. Each round consists of 4 questions, followed by a mini-game.

The trivia for the game can be based on anything, from the 1993 Denver Broncos, to Chef himself. This may not suit perfectly with the majority of the teenage crowd, as the game, being released in 2000, was before most of their time in paying attention to the media. People who know their 90's trivia and the first 3 seasons of the show should have little problem answering.

The collection of Mini-Games is where this game truly shines. The games are many and varied, from simple pattern games like Spank the Monkey (Think of Simon only with a monkey that has 4 rear-ends.); to games that parody classic games, like Asses in Space (Asteroids), and Picnic Panic (Galaga/Donkey Kong 3). Each is easy to pick up and play, and carry some of that South Park charm in each of them.

As I mentioned before, the single player in this mode is boring, simply because, with the exception of a few of the games, there is no AI to play with. When you're playing alone, you simply playing for a high score, and that's hardly a good time when the game was made for 2 or more players.

The graphics in the game resemble those of an early South Park cartoon, which by all means is great. The Audio however, is not all great. Voiceovers from the cast of the show may be nice, but can be hard to understand, especially the squeaky pitches that Stan, Kyle, and Cartman have. Music is all right, but won't find yourself humming anything from here hours after you turn the game off.

South Park: Chef's Luv Shack is funny, fun, and a blast at parties if your buddies don't mind breaking out the ol' 64-bit consoles once in a while. It's appearance and the subject material shows it's age easily. But if you're a fan of the N64 as I am, and you think having obscure games from 7 years ago is as much of a chick-magnet as I do, there's no reason to find this game, call over your buddies, and have a game night with Chef.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 01/26/07