The next South Park gaming is rumored to become 3D, but it should emulate South Park: The Stick of Truth and not be considered a sequel to South Park Rally. The Stick of Truth ended up being a surprise success, due in no small part to Trey Parker and Matt Stone's involvement elevating the genre and franchise. The sequel, Fractured But Whole, were built with a new combat system and greater story, and today Question Games, founded by some ex-developers on Bioshock, have landed the contract to produce a new untitled South Park game rumored to be 3D. The RPG South Park games were great, however the supposed switch to 3D raises some concerning comparisons to past N64 and PlayStation games that weren't just like their modern counterparts, for example South Park Rally.
South Park Rally would be a racing game that received mixed reviews back in 2000. Even with a sizable roster and a sizeable amount of tracks, the sport was seen as a middling kart racer. The controls were finicky and also the graphics weren't the best in comparison to the sprite work of Mario Kart. It's still been 22 years since its release, and the gaming landscape has changed significantly to be a smaller amount focused on licensed properties. South Park experimented with multiple game genres over the last two decades, but because Rally demonstrates, not every title worked.
If, theoretically, a sequel to South Park Rally could fix all of these issues, still it would not be worth pursuing in 2022. There'd be a lot of new material when it comes to characters, locales, and vehicles, but gameplay-wise, a kart racer still doesn't have exactly the same pull like a full-blown adventure game along the lines of The Fractured But Whole. Creating a sequel to South Park Rally will be a mistake due to the marketplace being oversaturated with similar titles and due to fans expecting more from licensed video games.
A New South Park Game With no Story Would Disappoint
Currently, Mario Kart leads those when it comes to arcade racing games and there is a quantity of titles behind it, like Chocobo GP and Garfield Kart. There isn't much need for another mascot-based kart game, especially since many don't have just as much content like a full-fledged adventure game. Given that The Fractured But Whole ranks highly when compared with other South Park games, South Park Rally will be a huge step-down and wouldn't take advantage of the reputation the series has generated up.
After two solid RPGs with surprisingly good humor for any gaming adaptation, it might be disappointing revisit the era of gaming development that merely used IPs instead of telling unique stories with them. Even besides RPGs, the franchise has better prospects like action-adventure games or even a return to shooters. Any game that can tell a tale is much better for South Park like a brand than a basic racing game.
Fortunately, there isn't much reason to believe that Question Games is working on a game title like South Park Rally. The studio's portfolio includes The special moment Circle and The Blackout Club, two games that are much more explorative and narrative-focused than Rally. There's also reason to think by using the games parodying so many areas of gaming culture, a reference or perhaps a joke in the in-house South Park team of developers to either the first games or Rally could display in the latest version. There's little information surrounding the new South Park title, but hopefully, it'll concentrate on storytelling and make use of the license fully.
