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

game show A game show (or gameshow) is a genre of broadcast viewing entertainment where contestants compete in a game for rewards. The shows are typically directed by a game show host, host, who explains the rules of the program as well as commentating a ...

-style

party video game A party video game is a genre of video game that stems from in-person party games, involving player-to-player interaction as the central gameplay element. These games are often defined by simple controls which can be easily picked up and understoo ...

and is a sequel to the 1998 video game ''

South Park ''South Park'' is an American animated sitcom created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone, and developed by Brian Graden for Comedy Central. The series revolves around four boysStan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, Eric Cartman, and Kenny McCormickand the ...

'', itself based on the American animated sitcom of the same name. Developed by

Acclaim Studios Austin Iguana Entertainment, later known as Acclaim Studios Austin, 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 ...

and published by

Acclaim Entertainment Acclaim Entertainment, Inc. was an American video game publisher based in Glen Cove, New York. Originally founded by Greg Fischbach, Robert Holmes, and Jim Scoroposki from a storefront in Oyster Bay in 1987, the company built a global develop ...

, it was released in 1999 for the

Dreamcast The is the final home video game console manufactured by Sega. It was released in Japan on November 27, 1998, in North America on September 9, 1999 and in Europe on October 14, 1999. It was the first sixth-generation video game console, prec ...

Microsoft Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...

PlayStation is a video gaming brand owned and produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), a division of Japanese conglomerate Sony. Its flagship products consists of a series of home video game consoles produced under the brand; it also consists ...

and

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

. 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 th ...

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 to negative reviews. It is the second of three ''South Park'' video game titles developed by Acclaim after ''

'' in 1998 and preceding '' South Park Rally'' in 2000.

Gameplay

In the game, the player takes the role of one of four characters:

Eric Cartman Eric Theodore Cartman, commonly referred to as just Cartman, is a fictional character in the adult animated sitcom ''South Park'', created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone. He is voiced by Parker, and is one of the series' four main characters, ...

Kenny McCormick Kenneth "Kenny" McCormick is a fictional character and one of the four main protagonists in the adult animated sitcom ''South Park'', alongside Stan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, and Eric Cartman. His often muffled and incomprehensible speech—th ...

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

, or

Stan Marsh Stanley "Stan" Marsh is a fictional character in the adult animation, adult animated television series ''South Park''. He is voiced by and loosely based on series co-creator Trey Parker. Stan is one of the series' four central characters, along ...

in a game show hosted by

Chef A chef is a professional Cook (profession), cook and tradesperson who is proficient in all aspects of outline of food preparation, food preparation, often focusing on a particular cuisine. The word "chef" is derived from the term (), the di ...

. 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

The Dreamcast and Nintendo 64 versions received mixed reviews, while the PC and PlayStation versions received unfavorable reviews. Blake Fischer of '' NextGen'' said of the Dreamcast version, "If you've already burned out on '' YDKJ'', and you need some more game-show luvin', this is your only option, so you're stuck." The Enforcer of ''

GamePro ''GamePro'' was an American multiplatform video game magazine media company that published online and print content covering the video game industry, video game hardware and video game software. The magazine featured content on various video ...

'' said of the N64 version in one review, "If you're a fan of the show – which you almost have to be to answer a majority of the questions – you'll have a lot of fun with ''Luv Shack''. Its whimsical comic take on the series makes for a fun time on a rainy Saturday afternoon." In another ''GamePro'' review, Scary Larry said that the same console version "will remain one of those few games that dedicated fans enjoy and deserve, and everyone else should avoid. There's no ''Luv'' here." Nash Werner said of the PC version, "So we're left with another ''South Park'' game that falls into the 'could've been better' category. Fans of ''South Park'' will love the audio quality and voice-overs done by Isaac Hayes. Pick it up if you must own everything ''South Park''--it's fun for a few days." Tim Weaver of ''

N64 Magazine ''NGC Magazine'' (''N64 Magazine'' until October 2001 (issue 59)) was a British magazine specialising in Nintendo video game consoles and software. It was first printed in 1997 and ran until 2006. It was the successor to ''Super Play'', a maga ...

'' gave it 83%, calling it "a triumph of simplicity and design, and offers a significantly different playing experience to ''

Mario Party is a series of party video games created by Hudson Soft and owned by Nintendo. It features List of Mario franchise characters, characters from the Mario (franchise), ''Mario'' franchise in which up to four local players or Artificial inte ...

''."

Notes

References

External links

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