South Park: Chef's Luv Shack

"A 2D South Park Game for die-hard fans to love."

Hey everyone. I decided to review South Park: Chef's Luv Shack for N64 as my first review because I read quite a few reviews before purchasing the game (against most reviewers' suggestion). I personally am quite the South Park fan, and unlike a lot of reviews, find the trivia hilarious, but I'll get into that in a bit.

The way Chef's Luv Shack works is simple. However, if it weren't for the graphics in the mini-games, I'd think it was running on an old Commodore 64. Basically you are one of the four main characters from the TV show, and you compete against each other on Chef's Low-Budget TV Game show because no one else will. Every couple questions, you play a mini-game. Very simple.

The Trivia.

The biggest problem it seems everybody has with this part of the game is that the trivia is ''too hard''. Never mind that it's multiple choice with only 4 options. I found that the twisted humour is very deserving of the pak's M rating, but was hilarious in the same way the TV show is. People have been complaining that the questions about Styx just aren't relevant to South Park fans. This is entirely untrue. Every question in every subject is somehow related to the show. Remember the episode where Cartman couldn't hear ''Come Sail Away'' by Styx without singing the whole thing through to the end? How about when Robert Smith from the Cure made a guest appearance? For me, I could pick out little clips from every episode in the first few seasons. True a lot of this isn't stuff ''South Park fans'' might know, but is it stuff a grade-schooler in South Park would know? It's all part of the same sense of humour. I couldn't help laughing when in a category called ''Firemen'' they referred to a hurting fireman, and the answer was a infection in the <ahem> male member. This is straight from the show, and I answered without thinking. Others, however, might not get it.

The Minigames

Probably the most fun to South park fans and non-fans will be the mini-games, since they are very fun in a Mario-Party kind of way, only with that South Park edge. Mimick Mr. Mackey's pattern of slapping the four-assed monkey, and he'll congratulate you with ''Wow, I can see someone has lots of experience spanking the monkey.'' Plus nicely rendered 2D (like the show) characters battling zombies, the ''chicken-lover'', and other games reminiscent of older Atari-style games like asteroids and the original Donkey Kong.

It may seem like I'm giving this game a glowing review. This is how I feel about it, however, I personally know maybe 4 other people who are as into the show as I am. I haven't gotten them to try it yet (but I'm sure they'll crack up), and I bought the game on discount for the same price you'd pay in a pawn shop. The biggest reason this game is a market failure is because the target audience is a very narrow portion of game buyers. People who are generally older than 18 (not for the swearing, which is minimal, but for the trivia and show appreciation) and experienced the 80's, who also like the brutal style of humour are hard to come by. Anyway, I wanted anyone interested (you wouldn't be reading this if you weren't) to know that there is hope, and of the three currently available South Park N64 games, this is the most true to the show.

Graphics 8.5/10
They set out to recreate the South Park characters and they did. However, in the trivia stage, even the simple 2D drawings look a little rough. The mini-games have had a lot more work put into them.

Sound 6.5/10
Everyone says this is the best part since they have original clips from the stars (Isaac Hayes, Stone and Parker), but the voice samples are choppy and get cut off for no reason, again mostly during the trivia stages.

Gameplay 7.5/10
It's kind of like they wanted to make a South Park/Mario Party type thing, but got pressured to release it after only completing 20 minigames. So they rapidly threw in a trivia section in a couple hours and shipped it. Since I love the show, I enjoy every second of the game anyway. It's like being part of an episode you've never seen.

Lasting Value 8/10
I'll keep playing for those mini-games, even if I had a repeat trivia question the second time through. True, if you always pick your favourite category, the questions will no doubt seem repetitive, so go for variety. If I could only pick the minigames from a opening menu… actually that would probably decrease the lasting value once you master all the minigames.

Multiplayer 9/10
Pretty much the only way to go. As IGN said, if you play by yourself, you always win. What's the point in that? Well, it's more fun than watching an old episode for the 20th time. And with all your South Park-obsessed buddies, it's always a blast.

I liked this game, but if you're into straight ahead games, like standard old FPS's, platformers, etc., this might not be for you. Like Seaman for the DC, it's a game for people who like quirky things only. And if you've never seen the show or movie, forget it. If you do see it in a pawn shop or used games store, I'd recommend giving it a try.

I give it a 7/10 to account for the many people who this game is not meant for. But for me it's somewhere between 8 and 9. If I have friends over, Perfect Dark is going to have to share.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 08/17/00, Updated 08/17/00