Junkman
Dec 13 2004, 05:48 AM
Game: Scream In South Park
Creator: Subwoofer
Genre: Adventure/Miscellaneous
Description: A psycho disguised killer is in the loose on South Park, threatening to kill the kids. Help them outsmart the killer into a variety of different gameplay types.

Rating: 86%

Review: If you mention the name "Subwoofer" to any South Park gaming fan or a South Park fan at all, chances are that this person will mention this game to you. Well, this game or South Park Star Wars. Subwoofer has left his mark on the SPG community with his collection of games based upon a certain theme featuring many different styles of gameplay. There also have been his South Park drawings of the kids which ended up being used in about 50% of the gaming community so you see, many people do know Subwoofer. This game further proves the influential role that Subwoofer had on the South Park gaming community.

For starters, if you do not know what Scream is, you either don't have a television or you never get out of your house on Halloween. It's that corny horror movie where a killer wearing this funny looking mask then arrives into town in order to kill people for no apparent reason. This killer now wants to kill Stan for some reason and he and his friends will need to battle him out and find out his real identity. It's far from being the smartest storyline ever (like if the Scream movies were any smart to begin with) but it's in the same style than the movies and it sometimes have that South Park touch in the cutscenes at times, managing to be occasionally funny.

What about the gameplay now? Through the whole game, you will get to play as Stan, Kyle, Cartman, Kenny, Chef, and Officer Barbrady as you try to evade the killer and eventually, stop him in his tracks for good. Yet, you know how strong the villain usually is. He can always stand lots of abuse whilst he can kill everyone else with a few knife stabs. Through the many levels of the game, you will shoot, slice and dice the killer with the many characters and weapons you've got at your disposal. The gameplay slightly changes from one level to the other with the introduction of a new weapon/character whilst some levels go on a completely different route with a totally different objective (such as the Cartman bicycling level, for example) so this helps in keeping the player's interest high as he advances through the game. Where as a great deal of the levels are well executed, some of the early levels where the kids must face the killer are a bit too simple at times. The AI is rather primitive and you can easily win by getting the killer stuck on a wall where he'll never be able to reach you, whenever you'll manage that, you can beat the killer senseless until he retreats. With that minor quirk aside, the game's actually pretty fun to play thanks to its variety.

Graphics are a mixture between Chris Pirillo's well known icon set whilst complementing them with Subwoofer's own drawings. The levels are nicely presented and filled with a lot of background details, thus making them enjoyable for the eye. There are some rare graphical bugs at parts, but it's one of those few games that look like the show. Subwoofer's graphics are pretty nice looking and have been rendered famous thanks to them being borrowed by countless game makers such as I who aren't bothered to draw graphics on their own. Sound effects are borrowed from the KNP sound effect archive up to good use. There's little to no music within the game at all, sadly.

In the end, there's hardly any reason to pass on this game. This is one of the most influential games that have graced the South Park Gaming community and it's quite easy to see why. It has got the makings of a great game and it's really fun to play. It's a 1999 game, but it still is as strong as it used to be in the past. If the name Subwoofer only recalls you a piece of stereo equipment, download this game and you'll see why many people kept quoting Subwoofer amongst their favourite game maker in the older days. It's well worth your time.