South Park: The Game lead designer Matt MacLean has spoken out in a video with Game Informer explaining the game's combat system, which he calls 'deceptively meaty.' The game will use a turn-based system similar to Nintendo's Paper Mario series, where players can use precision button inputs to deal extra damage or block more successfully. The game will be turn-based so players can both control their main character, the New Kid, while also controlling the actions of the other South Park characters who join your party.

Players will be able to select one of five classes for the New Kid: Fighter, Thief, Mage, Cleric, or Jew (yes, in the spirit of Cartman, they went there). MacLean describes the Jew as a high-risk, high-reward class comparable to the paladin archetype. Jew players get more powerful as they take damage, but must somehow survive fights with as little as 1 HP in order to use their full powers. The actions a player can take in combat are described as 'kids being kids', with an emphasis on crying, bleeding, and taunting. Some attacks will be as simple as name-callin and kicks to the groin, while others will take more elaborate advantage of the character class a kid is pretending to be.

For instance, there will be a “magic missile” spell kids can eventually cast, but it will in reality just be throwing flaming garbage at your opponent. MacLean compares this aspect of the game to the famous “Good Times With Weapons” episode, that by the end features Butters getting graphically stabbed in the eye with a ninja star. Overall, the game is meant to appealing to fans of the show who may have never played an RPG before, but will also include features meant for RPG fans like optional high-difficulty bosses and weapon customization systems.

SOURCE: Good Times with Weapons: The Combat of South Park the Game [Game Informer]