South Park: Let's Go Tower Defense Play! Review (Xbox 360)

As a T.V. show, South Park has been through quite an evolution over the years. In the beginning it relied more on its outrageousness and intentional crappiness to get the laughs. But over the years, the show has developed into something far more clever, a show that is politically and culturally subversive on one level, and hilariously vulgar on another. It remains relevant after all these years by staying more current than one could imagine an animated show being.

As an inspiration for video games though, the intellectual property of Trey Parker and Matt Stone has had a very spotty history. Mostly appearing in poorly conceived, budget-quality titles, the foul-mouthed kids of South Park have never really done anything impressive in terms of video games, unlike other animated institutions like The Simpsons, which have had a few decent adaptations to the gaming world. The one exception I might make is South Park Rally, which I had an unhealthy obsession with for a week or two back in 2000. For the most part though, no one has seemed all that interested in making a really interesting South Park video game.
It’s fair to say that the new South Park game for Xbox LIVE Arcade, South Park Let's Go Tower Defense Play! is at least interesting. But it’s also fair to say that it’s a bit more compelling than that. Surprisingly, not through some amazing adaptation of the characters or story, but rather through an innovative approach to the Tower Defense genre, a cornerstone of “casual” gaming. South Park Let's Go Tower Defense Play! is a familiar game type with some new and unfamiliar ideas that make the entire genre better somehow. As a game, it’s pretty damn fun, as a South Park experience, it’s still pretty damn hilarious.
he episodes of South Park I always like best are when the kids are just being kids; playing, making up fantasy worlds, hatching ridiculous juvenile plans. That’s what they’re doing in South Park Let's Go Tower Defense Play!, playing an elaborate kid’s game. Though this one does have a little bit more blood and guided missiles than the ones you might have played as a kid. Something or someone is invading South Park, sending legions of familiar bad guys in constant streams towards our four heroes who must defend the town with snowballs, snowdrifts, and weapons of mass destruction that could have only sprung from the minds of the creators of this show.