South Park: The Fractured But Whole

 Xbox One
Metascore
84

Generally favorable reviews - based on 31 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 30 out of 31
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 31
  3. Negative: 0 out of 31
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  1. TrueAchievements
    Oct 16, 2017
    100
    Housing a story that is both offensive, yet hilarious, ludicrous, yet serious is a rare achievement but this game accomplishes it. The overhauled combat also keeps strategy a key part of gameplay so tactical thinking is always rewarded.
  2. DualShockers
    Oct 16, 2017
    95
    A fantastic game. While there are some minor flaws, I couldn’t put my controller down. Aside from being one of my personal favorite games of this year, it also holds a special place in my heart as one of the best Ubisoft games I have ever played. If you are a fan of the TV series, as well as The Stick of Truth, I highly recommend purchasing this game.
  3. Windows Central
    Oct 17, 2017
    90
    A hilarious, entertaining role-playing game that is sure to entertain fans of the popular TV show for hours upon hours. Thanks to a strategic combat system, perfect presentation and excellent writing, The Fractured But Hole easily overcomes its shortcomings and stands as one of 2017's best RPGs so far.
  5. Generación Xbox
    Oct 17, 2017
    90
    South Park: The Fractured But Whole is an excellent continuation of its first title, which comes loaded with humour and action. Maybe there are more complete games among the RPG genre, but not as fun and endearing as the new South Park title, which is coming to try to please both fans of the series and newcomers alike. A must have.
  6. Attack of the Fanboy
    Oct 16, 2017
    90
    The Fractured But Whole doesn't remake the wheel that The Stick of Truth crafted so well. The first game made for a near perfect South Park experience, with bare bones RPG elements to make it all work. This sequel does mostly the same, only tinkering with a few things, making for a different but just as enjoyable final product.
  7. MondoXbox
    Oct 16, 2017
    90
    A highly authentic South Park experience, soaked in Parker and Stone's desecrating comedy and with very satisfying turn-based combat. A must-buy for any lover of the series.
  8. Stevivor
    Oct 16, 2017
    90
    Just like The Stick of Truth, The Fractured But Whole is 100% South Park. This is a must for fans of the show, while those who enjoy a challenging RPG will delight in cranking up the difficulty and working through its many systems.
  9. EGM
    Oct 16, 2017
    90
    The new combat mechanics add tons of depth and strategy to the experience, and new exploration abilities really give Fractured But Whole an overall deeper RPG feel. The game is also absolutely hysterical; if you love the humor of South Park in general, then Fractured But Whole is a must have.
  10. SomosXbox
    Oct 16, 2017
    89
    The most shameless, hilarious and politically incorrect sense of humour is back with South Park: The Fractured But Whole. The game brings us back South Park's true self, with its iconic characters, locations and superpowers. Despite not evolving enough from Stick of Truth, The Fractured But Whole offers us a funny and well executed adventure. Join Coon & Friends to save the world.
  11. AusGamers
    Oct 16, 2017
    88
    It’s for both South Park fans and RPG fans, but finding that balance between the two audiences might prove a bit tricky. However, if you’re a fan of both you’re in for a challenging and investment-heavy treat. The game’s polish was worth the wait. It’s combat is much-improved and the story -- if you care -- has some wonderful peaks across a South Park consistent delivery of social commentary alongside all those aforementioned dick, shit and fart jokes.
  12. Game Informer
    Oct 16, 2017
    88
    Every aspect is overloaded with both smart and immature jokes, the combat is an improvement, the game is bigger and longer, and the sneaky moments of sincerity make you recall the charm of childhood in surprising ways – just like the show.
  13. Gaming Nexus
    Jul 6, 2018
    85
    The Fractured But Whole is a solidly good RPG game that incorporates the South Park attitude with a lot less in-your-face crudeness than The Stick of Truth. It has a better fighting setup, an easier-to- digest storyline, and is still laugh out loud funny at times. What else do you need from a South Park game?
  14. Meristation
    Oct 23, 2017
    85
    The new South Park game is amazing. Its story is one step behind The Stick of Truth, but overall, the game is fun, entertaining, with a lot of things to do and with a great sense of humour. A must-have for South Park lovers in general.
  15. IGN
    Oct 16, 2017
    85
    Another epic-length episode of the humor that’s kept fans of the show laughing for 20 years.
  16. Destructoid
    Oct 16, 2017
    85
    It's really all that a South Park lover could ask for.
  17. 4P.de
    Oct 20, 2017
    84
    While the enhanced battle system is definitely a big step forward, a lot of other elements including the script don’t click as effectively as they did in “The Stick of Truth”. But Coon, Call Girl and Toolshed can be proud to be a part of the “Second best South Park game of all time”.
  18. GameCrate
    Oct 16, 2017
    83
    Yet another action-packed, turn-based role-playing game that makes you feel like you're directing a long, albeit rambling episode of the show. While it is very similar to South Park: The Stick of Truth, and just as much fun, the theme change from medieval fantasy to comic book superheroes makes this feel different and new. In the end the game may be funnier than it is fun, but it's still a good time.
  19. Atomix
    Oct 16, 2017
    82
    South Park: The Fractured but Whole has a more polished combat system than the first game, but it still has some of its basic flaws that makes it feel monotonous. Either way, you'll enjoy it the most if you're a fan of the animated show. The plot is intelligent, irreverent and with a few surprises, though it lacks a few epic moments.
  20. NZGamer
    Oct 31, 2017
    81
    In the end South Park: The Fractured But Whole makes me very happy, and I do think farts are funny – at least funny enough for two games.
  21. Official Xbox Magazine UK
    Dec 12, 2017
    80
    A winning tribute to TV's crassest kids, wrapped up in a fresh and fun RPG shell.
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  22. TheXboxHub
    Oct 29, 2017
    80
    Despite the massive overhaul to the battle system and more subtle changes elsewhere, TFBW feels like a very safe sequel to The Stick of Truth. It’s still a great journey with characters that fans of the show know and love, but I am unsure why this game was delayed so much when it appears to have re-used a lot of the assets from previous.
  23. ZTGD
    Oct 24, 2017
    80
    South Park: The Fractured But Whole is the epitome of a sequel. Almost to its detriment the game delivers more of what we loved about the first one. There is plenty of content, excellent writing, I just wish it took more risks in the game play and pacing department. Otherwise this is yet another stellar game in the already crowded 2017 lineup.
  24. GameSpew
    Oct 24, 2017
    80
    While The Fractured But Whole is bigger than its predecessor and its combat more strategic, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t slightly disappointed by it. The Stick of Truth was phenomenal, while The Fractured But Whole is simply great.
  25. The Sydney Morning Herald
    Oct 22, 2017
    80
    Anyone who enjoys South Park is bound to love this game, as it's essentially a 20-hour-long episode where you get to direct some of the action. The video game aspect of the experience isn't perfect — aside from still-pretty-basic combat system navigating around the town is a bit clunky and the crafting system is mostly an excuse for you to find humorous things in people's trash — but this is a cool RPG wrapped in an excellent and uniquely South Park adventure.
  26. Impulsegamer
    Oct 20, 2017
    80
    The Superhero context and Civil War setting between rival superheroes is excellent and I especially liked how there are modern references to online and social media. And while the game presents a slick RPG experience, dynamic combat, and plenty to explore and do, the focus on more generic fart jokes and lack of depth of South Park history jokes leaves the game feeling more video game generic, and less South Park specific.
  27. Xbox Achievements
    Oct 18, 2017
    80
    South Park: The Fractured But Whole is a case of one step forward, two steps back. From a gameplay perspective, it’s infinitely better than it was in the previous outing, but as a piece of entertainment, The Fractured But Whole simply doesn't measure up to The Stick of Truth. There's no censorship this time, which is good, but it almost feels like the whole thing got self-censored somewhere along the way.
  28. Giant Bomb
    Oct 17, 2017
    80
    As the story progressed and the combat grew deeper, however, I realized that this sequel is an improvement on The Stick of Truth in just about every way. That game gave us our first novel experience of playing through a world that’s virtually indistinguishable from the show, but this sequel is longer, deeper, and more surprising throughout. It may feel like a cavalcade of poop jokes and easy callbacks in the early hours, but the South Park humor and charm shines through more and more as the story progresses.
  29. Yahoo!
    Oct 16, 2017
    80
    The Fractured But Whole hits all the right notes from the show’s best episodes. The writing is some of the best you’ll find in a game, and it improves on “The Stick of Truth’s” combat and mechanics enough to make it well worth picking up.
  30. Digitally Downloaded
    Oct 16, 2017
    80
    The social commentary in this game is pretty spot on and I got more than my own fair share of laughs, even at my own expense at times as some jokes hit close to home. The fact that this is an RPG that plays really well and has a solid and surprisingly deep battle system is just the icing on the cake.
  31. GameSpot
    Oct 16, 2017
    80
    Fractured But Whole succeeds as an interactive South Park mini-series, while effectively emulating the show's current style of adult-targeted entertainment and satirization of political correctness. In other words, it's consistently amusing and provocative without the edginess the series used to be known for.
  32. XboxAddict
    Oct 30, 2017
    73
    With the great story and new gameplay mechanics its not hard to imagine that the score for this game would have definitely been higher, as the game was good up to where I couldn't progress any further. That being said, since I couldn't fully enjoy South Park: The Fractured But Whole with the bug that stopped me, I'm left feeling mediocre about this game. It's kinda of sad too, as I was enjoying much of what I played, but to have the game 'break', and leave me stranded, is a big letdown, and something that affects how this game scores overall.

Awards & Rankings

21
#21 Best Xbox One Game of 2017
31
#31 Most Discussed Xbox One Game of 2017
40
#40 Most Shared Xbox One Game of 2017

User Reviews

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User Score
8.1

Generally favorable reviews- based on 154 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 123 out of 154
  2. Mixed: 15 out of 154
  3. Negative: 16 out of 154
  1. Xbox_Alive
    Jan 2, 2018
    9
    I absolutely loved The Stick of Truth and when The Fractured But Whole was announced to say I was excited would be a massive understatement.I absolutely loved The Stick of Truth and when The Fractured But Whole was announced to say I was excited would be a massive understatement. Thankfully the game pretty much delivers in all areas and in some ways it’s better than The Stick of Truth. The story in the game is once again fantastic and it had be giggling like a child on more than one occasion. Accompanying the fantastic story is some very good and enjoyable exploring. The map is incredibly fun to explore and the game allows you a lot of freedom when exploring, which makes things even better. You will without a doubt sink a great deal of hours into the game and thankfully it has lots of content that has a lot of variety going for it. There are quite a few improvements over The Stick of Truth, but the most significant improvement is definitely the combat. The combat in the game is awesome and they’ve done a wonderful job of making the combat both simple and strategic at the same time. There is also a lot more customisation in this game, which is great. You can literally change everything about your character and the customisation is almost endless, so you will have a lot of fun doing this. My only gripe with the game is that the puzzles are not challenging, which in turn makes them a little boring. The presentation side of the game is absolutely stunning. The visuals and sound design combine together perfectly and it amazed me how well they’ve made the South Park style become a game. At the end of the day South Park: The Fractured But Whole is without a doubt one of the best games I’ve played in quite a while. It has managed to take all that was good in the first game and somehow make it even better, and as far as sequels go it’s probably one of the best I’ve ever played. Fans of the first game will adore this because I was a fan of the first game and I adore this, and I can’t recommend this game enough.… Full Review »
  2. dustinthewind2
    Oct 18, 2017
    9
    A first-impressions early review:

    South Park: TFBW feels very much like Stick of Truth. To make it as plain as possible, if you liked SoT,    A first-impressions early review:

    South Park: TFBW feels very much like Stick of Truth. To make it as plain as possible, if you liked SoT, you'll probably like this game, too.

    The biggest immediate change to combat is the grid system, which adds new depth to combat. However, they've also taken away some of the combos, at least in the early hours of the game, that sort of balances it out so that the combat is different, but not necessarily more or less difficult. Parrying remains intact, thankfully.

    The story obviously revolves around the Coon & Friends from the TV show, and much like Stick of Truth, you feel like you're watching a long South Park episode while also being emersed in the world of the show.

    The humor is still there, toilet and otherwise. The game is presented in a way that makes it difficult to know what's really happening "in real life" to our characters while they imagine that they have super speed or laser eyes. We get little hints of it, such as them having to pause a fight to move out of the way of oncoming cars.

    One annoyance is that you can't skip the cutscenes of your superpower. That's fine for now, but I can see it getting pretty annoying later.
    I'm disappointed they doubled down on the fart mechanics because I never really liked that aspect of the SoT, but it's a small complaint. Like SoT, they're able to get away with much more than on the TV show (much like they did with the movie). I've already started seeing this in the early hours.

    The graphics are noticeably better. I've read about framerate issues but haven't experienced them yet. The load times are semi-often but pretty quick. Some last only 1-3 seconds, like when you're walking down the street and there's a load point.

    It seems to have more RPG elements than its predecessor. It's different enough that it's worth a play, even if you (re)played (like me) SoT recently. I've read it's about 20 hours, but if you're like me, you'll spend more than that looking around, doing sidequests, and backtracking unnecessarily because I'm not paying attention to the map.

    You basically have a phone with apps now. The "social network" aspect has been heavily expanded, the main platform now seemingly Instagram. It's a bit weird to ask an 80-year-old woman for a selfie, but how else are you going to raise your social network influence.

    Again, the simplest way to put this is that if you like South Park and you like Stick of Truth, you're most likely going to like this game.    … Full Review »
  3. Seta
    Nov 11, 2017
    10
    My biggest problem with The Fractured But Whole is the lack of a New Game+ Mode. Aside from that i loved it and the fact that you can makeMy biggest problem with The Fractured But Whole is the lack of a New Game+ Mode. Aside from that i loved it and the fact that you can make your character look however you wish without it effecting your stats. if you love South Park you'll probably love this game. i found it to be extremely funny and it even felt like i was playing episodes of South Park.… Full Review »
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