''South Park: Chef's Luv Shack'' is a 2D

game show A game show is a genre of broadcast viewing entertainment (radio, television, internet, stage or other) where contestants compete for a reward. These programs can either be participatory or demonstrative and are typically directed by a host, ...

-style

party video game Party games are games that are played at social gatherings to facilitate interaction and provide entertainment and recreation. Categories include (explicit) icebreaker, parlour (indoor), picnic (outdoor), and large group games.Frankel, Li ...

and is a sequel to the 1998 video game '' South Park'', itself based on the American animated sitcom of the same name. Developed by

Acclaim Studios Austin Acclaim Studios Austin (formerly Iguana Entertainment) was an American video game developer based in Austin, Texas. The company was founded in 1991 by Jeff Spangenberg, previously lead designer for Punk Development, and originally located in ...

and published by

Acclaim Entertainment Acclaim Entertainment, Inc. was an American video game publisher based in Glen Cove, New York. Originally formed by Greg Fischbach, Robert Holmes and Jim Scoroposki out of an Oyster Bay storefront in 1987, the company established a worldwide ...

, it was released in 1999 for the

Dreamcast The is a home video game console released by Sega on November 27, 1998, in Japan; September 9, 1999, in North America; and October 14, 1999, in Europe. It was the first sixth-generation video game console, preceding Sony's PlayStation 2, Nint ...

, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation and

Nintendo 64 The (N64) is a home video game console developed by Nintendo. The successor to the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, it was released on June 23, 1996, in Japan, on September 29, 1996, in North America, and on March 1, 1997, in Europe and ...

. Its gameplay involves playing

minigame A minigame (also spelled mini game and mini-game, sometimes called a subgame or microgame) is a short game often contained within another video game. A minigame contains different gameplay elements, and is often smaller or more simplistic, than t ...

s and the ability to play against other players in a challenge for the most points. It also involves trivia questions about ''South Park'' and other topics. ''Chef's Luv Shack'' was met with mixed reviews. It is the second of three ''South Park'' video game titles developed by Acclaim after '' South Park'' in 1998 and preceding ''

South Park Rally ''South Park Rally'' is a 2000 kart-style racing video game based on the American animated sitcom ''South Park'' published by Acclaim Entertainment (near the end of the third season of the show) and released for the PlayStation, Microsoft Windows ...

'' in 2000.

Gameplay

In the game, the player takes the role of one of four characters, Eric Cartman;

Kenny McCormick Kenneth "Kenny" McCormick is a fictional character and one of the four main characters in the adult animated television series ''South Park'' along with Stan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, and Eric Cartman. His often muffled and incomprehensible speech ...

;

Kyle Broflovski Kyle Matthew Broflovski is a fictional character in the adult animated television series ''South Park''. He is voiced by and loosely based on co-creator Matt Stone. Kyle is one of the series' four central characters, along with his friends Stan ...

; or Stan Marsh; in a game show hosted by Chef. The game intermittently switches between questions and mini-games, with a mini-game preceding every three questions. Players score points by correctly answering questions and mini-game ranking. Players lose points for questions answered incorrectly. The game is exclusively multiplayer; when played by one player, there is no AI, so that player always wins, even with a negative score. Players have the option to "shaft" (pass on) a question to another player after opting to answer the question. The "shafted" player can then pass the question on again or choose to answer the question. When "shafting", a question will always be answered by the last player to be "shafted". Despite ''Chef's Luv Shack'' appearing on all the major home gaming consoles at the time, the only instance of the game taking advantage of the then-modern hardware is the up-to-four player multiplayer game featured in the Nintendo 64 and Sega Dreamcast versions. The PlayStation version supports four players with an adapter, and the PC version allows 2 players to play with a keyboard and 2 more players to play with Joysticks.

Reception

''South Park: Chef's Luv Shack'' was met with mixed to negative reviews. Aggregating review website GameRankings gave the

version 50.88%, the

version 50.21%, the PC version 47.50%, and the PlayStation version 41.95%. Blake Fischer reviewed the Dreamcast version of the game for '' Next Generation'', rating it two stars out of five, and stated that, "If you've already burned out on '' YDKJ'', and you need some game-show luvin', this is your only option, so you're stuck." ''

The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper ...

'' gave the game three stars of five stating, "Not for the solo player but a great party game. Unfortunately, it is short on questions."

References

External links

* {{Iguana Entertainment 1999 video games Acclaim Entertainment games Dreamcast games Multiplayer video games Nintendo 64 games Party video games PlayStation (console) games Video games based on South Park Video games set in Colorado Windows games Video games developed in the United States