It is always sad when a potentially good co-op game arrives and turns out to be less so. This was the case with South Park: Tenorman's Revenge. The 4 player co-op title could have been a great platformer, but poor controls and awkward level design made it a low 2 out of 5. Rather than rest on their laurels, developers Other Ocean Interactive have come back with a major update that may just save the game.
The original Co-Optimus review highlighted a number of areas that proved troublesome when playing the game, including twitchy controls that made platforming difficult and, therefore, the game as hard as nails. Another poor design choice was the inability to switch between characters mid-level, this meant that you potentially had to replay each area several times to grab all the time cores and open the next level - not fun.
Praise should go to Other Ocean Interactive for taking these criticisms on board and pushing out some major tweaks to the gameplay which include the ability to move faster and jump higher. The game also now allows you to switch characters mid-level, fixing the problem with the time cores. Finally a bug has been fixed so dropping out of a local co-op game no longer reboots the level.
There are loads of tweaks with the new Tenorman's Revenge update that are sure to make the game a more pleasurable experience:
Gameplay Additions
• Players can now drop out of a local game without the game ending
• Resume Game menu option & Custom Match online searches will automatically highlight last completed map
Player Controls Tweaks
• Walk/Run speed increased by 31%
• Horizontal jump distance increased by ~5 tiles
• Angle/drift of player after jumping on enemy head reduced from 9.0 to 3.0
• Height gained by player when jumping on enemy head increased
• Ladders are slightly more “sticky” requiring longer press against side before dropping off it
Difficulty Tweaks – Health/Lives
Base # of lives increase from 6 (“x5”) to 8 (“x7”)
• Dead players resurrecting at checkpoints get 3 hearts (previously 1) and 3 lives (previously 1)
• Superhero pickups refresh health of the hero who can activate them
Difficulty Tweaks – Maps
• Time Core requirements significantly reduced for Manbearpig level and onward (ex., …Best Served Chilli was 120 and is now 69)
• Additional checkpoints added to levels and branches throughout game
• The following levels adjusted in 1 or more ways:
South Park 2546
A Ginger is Born
South Park Sewers
Poop!
Park County Dump
Leopold’s Last Stand
War in The Clouds
Depths of Hell
Temple Trouble
Difficulty Tweaks – Enemies
• Most enemies now have 33% chance of dropping 1 heart when killed or more hearts depending on # of players
• Spiky Gingers will reveal their spikes within a 35% larger radius of player
• 2-hit enemies will not damage a player who touch them while they’re taking damage
• Enemies hit from the side will get knocked back briefly instead of continuing to walk forward
• Landing on Spiky Gingers uses butt bounce for easier avoidance of a 2nd hit
Art Tweaks – Maps
• Coloring/spotlight revamps to South Park 2546 & A Ginger is Born
• Legibility changes to decay platforms, oil in Junkyard, Toolshed tiles and Belly Barge walls
Help System tweaks
• Tutorial, How To Play screen, Controls screen & Loading Tip added for Character Swap
• More Loading Tips added in general
• No entry graphic added to all branch exit doors
• RB button icon flashes above countdown graphics for any player outside of multiplayer camera bounds
• Name of each character appears on Character Select Screen
• Graphical indications of online Multiplayer ping strength adjusted to more informative thresholds
Audio Additions
• Character Swap sound effects
• Several VO variants added to:
o Player get hit sounds (frequency of playback increased too)
o Character Select Screen
o Character Swap selection
• Player VO triggers at checkpoints (50% chance of playing)
• 5 new instances of “triggered” VO in various levels
• South Park 2546’s branch music now plays in main trunk and vice versa
Bugs Fixed
• Client-side Achievement awards functioning properly
• Megaman score properly applying toward total Level Score
• Towel Production Facility score no longer mimics that of Tynacorp Labs
• Diamond of Pantheos’ hidden area sparkles now show for all players and pickup is always stored in Host’s profile
• Various online multiplayer bugs
• Various art & camera bugs
If you own the game why not post your opinions on the new update below so the Co-Optimus community can decide whether to give the game a second chance?
Source: Trueachievements.com