8) South Park: The Stick of Truth
While South Park certainly hasn’t gone the way of The Simpsons just yet, it’s managed to survive for almost two decades with hardly a stumble to be seen. That is, if you’re not paying attention to their video game releases, all of which have been notoriously bad and downright ugly. Wanting to do things right, Trey Parker and Matt Stone decided to work closely with Obsidian Entertainment to finally create a faithful adaptation of their life’s work.
Not only did South Park: The Stick of Truth turn out to be a good game, it actually ended up being one of the year’s best. Taking more than a few notes from Paper Mario, the turn-based RPG elements were surprisingly well-done (if not a tad simplistic), and the trademark brand of humor that Stone and Parker brought to the game kept it from getting stale.
It’s hard to remember the last time a game this funny was also this much fun to play, so extra kudos to both Obsidian and the South Park team for crafting a genuinely hilarious game that doesn’t hurt to experience. Stuffed full of moments that had fans laughing for weeks just thinking about them, The Stick of Truth may have saved some of the best laughs from the past few seasons for itself.
Licensed games have been surprisingly great this year, and The Stick of Truth was one of the best in 2014. Remaining faithful to its source material, both visually and in attitude, it served as a reminder that not every game based off of a successful series has to be a shameless cash-grab. Rather, they can give you a chance to battle gnomes underneath your lusty parents.