‘South Park’ Plays It Just for Laughs but Not for Kids

Like the cartoon on which it is based, the “South Park” video game is not for kids. Its characters curse, use pooh as a shield, slaughter alien turkeys with a toilet plunger and wolf Cheesy Poofs as a regenerative. Hardly the sort of role models responsible parents want for their darlings.

Yet thousands of them will no doubt shell out $60 so their tots can play “South Park” on their Nintendo 64s. And thousands more adults will buy it just because they are so starved for an N64 game designed for people old enough to drive.

“South Park” is the kind of game I wanted to hate. I popped the cart into my N64 with a sneer and a snort. This would be, I figured, a game driven not by its inherent value, but by the value of the franchise it exploits and expands. Surely some marketing guy got a promotion for devising yet another way to separate game players from their money with an empty title in a pretty box.

I was wrong. As much as I hate to admit it, “South Park” rocks.

The game looks as good as the cartoon, which I suppose is not really that hard. With the Nintendo 64 Expansion Pak, the graphics glide along with nary a glitch and not much background fog. Dozens of enemies fill the screen at once, moving frantically in dozens of directions.

This is a game with more kinetic energy than any I’ve seen in a long time. And it’s funny. Sure, characters curse and, yes, that is a girl in Chef’s bed, but this is a game--as the box clearly states--for “Mature” players. Some parents will no doubt interpret that to mean their 7-year-old kid, but that’s their problem.

Players can play as Cartman, Kyle, Stan or, yes, Kenny. This being a video game, everyone dies in the end, so playing as Kenny doesn’t hurt. The boys fight their way through a series of episodes in which they do battle against turkeys, cows, robots, dollies and clones.

Control is smooth, but initially can be a little awkward for those unfamiliar with the button layout from “Turok the Dinosaur Hunter.” After a few minutes, it feels natural. But it’s still not quite as easy as the controls for “Turok’s” sequel.

The original “Turok” debuted the first-person shooter genre on N64 and was one of the most graphic titles on any platform at the time. Wounded enemies writhed in agony or grabbed their throats as blood spurted across the screen.

With the Nintendo 64 Expansion Pak, the gore is even gorier in “Turok 2: Seeds of Evil.” Happily, few of the enemies look even slightly human. Most are monsters wandering through temples and ruins that look as if they came straight out of a dream. The ethereal environments drip with evil.

The new control layout makes getting around much easier, although I noticed a small degree of difficulty in climbing some ladders. With the thumbstick, it can be tough to stay straight--especially when being chased by bad guys.

Although the story mode is a great way to waste a weekend, the multi-player games with names such as “Bloodlust” and “Frag Tag” offer hours of enjoyment as friends pummel one another with all sorts of fantastic weaponry.

Together with “South Park,” “Seeds of Evil” gives adult owners of Nintendo 64 a reason to believe they made a good investment. I would easily stack them against grown-up games such as “Goldeneye,” “Rogue Squadron” and “The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.”

Of course, adult Sony PlayStation owners have never had reason to complain. For two years, it’s been the undisputed favorite among maladjusted children of the 1970s, offering a steady diet of sports, violence, sex, strategy--and a profound appreciation for history.

In “Duke Nukem Time To Kill,” for instance, players guide Duke across time and space to blow away aliens in locales such as Los Angeles, the Old West, ancient Rome and medieval Europe. Taking a cue from “Tomb Raider,” “Time to Kill” eschews Duke’s normal first-person perspective in favor of third-person. Needless to say, it works much better than “Tomb Raider.”

Duke is easy to control and as surly as ever as he wanders strip bars and pool halls in search of alien butt to kick. Those looking to vent murderous rage can ask for no better.

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Essentials

Turok 2: Seeds of Evil

* Platform: Nintendo 64

* Publisher: Acclaim

* ESRB* rating: Mature

* Price: $59.95

* Bottom line: Bloody good fun

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Duke Nukem Time To Kill

* Platform: Sony PlayStation

* Publisher: GT Interactive Software

* ESRB rating: Mature

* Price: $39.95

* Bottom line: Come get some

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South Park

* Platform: Nintendo 64

* Publisher: Acclaim

* ESRB rating: Mature

* Price: $59.95

* Bottom line: Hilarious

*

Next Week: “Apocalypse,” “MediEvil,” “Uprising X,” “Wild 9”

*Entertainment Software Ratings Board

Times staff writer Aaron Curtiss reviews video games every Monday in The Cutting Edge. To comment on a column or to suggest games for review, send e-mail to aaron.curtiss@latimes.com.