Lollipop Chainsaw Review
The Good:
The most fun you will ever have with Pompoms!The Bad:
Gameplay lacks depthSTORY You are Juliet Starling and you are the normal everyday bubbly, flirtatious, Head Cheerleader of San Romero High School and did I mention that you come from a family of Zombie Hunters and your High School has become totally over run with zombies? Oh and it’s your Birthday! It is Juliet’s sworn duty to [...]
STORY
You are Juliet Starling and you are the normal everyday bubbly, flirtatious, Head Cheerleader of San Romero High School and did I mention that you come from a family of Zombie Hunters and your High School has become totally over run with zombies? Oh and it’s your Birthday!
It is Juliet’s sworn duty to protect her school and the world for that matter from zombie plagues and she doesn’t come alone for the epic battle, she is accompanied by her trusty sidekick, her loyal and loving boyfriends head…yes I just said head! Due to the zombie attacks, Nick Carlyle was savagely attacked and the only way Juliet could save him, was to chop off his head and attach it to her chainsaw! Obviously!!!
Together Juliet and Nick embark on a zombie slaying mission to save the world from its untimely demise and root down the source of the zombie plague. From the wacky mind of Suda 51, the man who brought us Shadows of the Damned, No More Heroes and Killer 7 (to name a few), you are about to indulge on a random, crazy, hectic and more sexual innuendo then you have ever known to exist. Welcome to the world of Lollipop Chainsaw.
GRAPHICS
Lollipop Chainsaw is as a colourful wacky game that you are going to ever find and the graphics certainly fit its wonderfully insane world like a shoe. The graphics are deliberately designed to look straight from a comic book and with its cell shade; it looks like its fresh from the pages. Lollipop Chainsaw is a game that you cannot take serious and the visuals play a very big part in making sure you simply do not do just that. Though there are times that the lip sync does seem to be off, but this is a very minor gripe to a game that has visuals that complements its wacky story perfectly and it simply would not look right if done any other way.
Lollipop Chainsaw is a popcorn candy cheese fest and there are not many games that make you feel like you’re playing in an interactive comic book. Suda 51 is known for its use unique visualisation that only he knows how to do and if Lollipop Chainsaw’s image was created in any other way, then it simply wouldn’t be Lollipop Chainsaw.
SOUND/MUSIC
In many ways with Lollipop Chainsaw being such a cheesy wonderful game, the sound and music will play an even more pivotal role in making the game a success as it must complement its image as a whole. In many ways it can only enhance the game in making it an enjoyable unforgettable experience, but then on the other hand it can be just as much of a burden.
Juliet is a great warrior and a saviour in the human realm, but one thing’s for sure, she is also an airhead. She will say the most random and pointless things and this all just add to her character and kind of innocent charm. But then there are times that you would just wish that she would shut the hell up. So many times, especially during boss or mini game battles, she will repeat herself over and over, giving you the strong urge to hit the mute button as soon as possible. For example, there is one instance in the game where you must participate in a Baseball game, Lollipop Chainsaw style and Juliet repeats the same phrase over and over. It got so irritating that my left eye began to twitch and if I had enough hair, I would have pulled it all out if I had heard the words “Chainsaw Blaster” one more time! And a heads up for that particular section of the game, it may help you to turn off the Auto-Aim.
But with these minor irritations aside, Lollipop Chainsaw simply wouldn’t be as enjoyable if it had one ounce of sophistication. Lollipop Chainsaw is the video gaming equivalent to the 1980’s B-Movie horror flick and it all works wonderfully. All the cheesy dialogue, sexual innuendos makes the game what it is and it’s all about the unsophisticated charm of Juliet Starling.
And what game would be complete without a soundtrack? And this is without a doubt one of Lollipop Chainsaws strongest points. From the iconic song from the 1950’s “Lollipop” from The Chordettes and unforgettable (which can be very unfortunate) number one cheerleader song “Hey Mickey” and I’m sure I even heard an adoption of a song that referred to the “I like Turtles” Kid. The soundtrack to Lollipop Chainsaw simply couldn’t be any more fitting and the songs will be playing over and over in your head long after you’ve stopped playing….bom….bom….bom….bom….lollipop.
GAMEPLAY
One of the joys of Lollipop Chainsaw is that it’s an easy to pick up and play game, well most of the time. Hack n Slash games are traditionally fairly basic games to play and perhaps Lollipop chainsaw is among the simplest. This is a good aspect in one sense, as it adds to the games pick up and plays aspect, but on the other side it lacks the kind of depth that will keep you from having long gaming sessions. Lollipop Chainsaw is very much a game that will have you playing in short spells at a time.
The core gameplay mechanic is a simple one (which for me is a plus point) and here is a quick rundown of some of the basic core manoeuvres. ‘X’ is a quick lightweight attack, which will kick and punch zombies in the face (with your pompoms), this will then leave the zombie in a groggy position, leaving them venerable to a chainsaw attack. ‘Y’ is a heavy chainsaw attack, ‘A’ is a low attack and ‘B’ is jump, which for me can get very confusing as a naturally keep pressing the ‘A’ button to jump, which is the normal command button in the majority of games.
But you can upgrade Juliet’s health and abilities, so you can enhance on Juliet’s more basic manoeuvres. You can gain access to such upgrades via Lollipop Chainsaw’s in game shop, known as ‘Chop2Shop. Chop2Shops are located at various points through each level and you must use your in game currency to upgrade Juliet’s health and combat abilities, as well as other potential purchases. The currency in the game is conveniently called ‘Zombie Coins’, you get these coins each time you slay a zombie or rescues fellow classmates.
One of the other abilities that Juliet possesses (which you do not have to purchase), is the Sparkle Hunt. Sparkle Hunt can be gained by building up your power gauge via zombie slaying and collecting ‘Zombie Stars’, when the gauge is full, hit the ‘RT’ trigger. This will then trigger the cheerleader musical hit ‘Hey Mickey’ and you will be able to take down any zombies that are within reach of your chainsaw in one swoop. This is a very handy manoeuvre, especially when surrounded by the undead, but be warned, ‘Hey Mickey’ will stick in your head!
Speaking of heads, let’s get on to Juliet’s boyfriend, Nick. As you may already know, Juliet cut off Nicks head and attached it to her chainsaw to save his life. In the most part of the game, similar to ‘Johnson’ from Shadows of the Damned, Nick’s main purpose is to banter with Juliet throughout the game. But there are some points where Nick must get his hands dirty and help Juliet progress through the game. At certain points in the game, you will come across a headless blue zombie body. Juliet will temporarily attach Nicks head to the body, which will then trigger a mini game, winning the mini game will then allow you to progress. Maybe after Shadows of the Damned, they may have felt that Johnson could have served more of a purpose, other than for banter humour. So instead of history repeating itself, they gave Nick a job to do. But for me, my own personal opinion, they should have kept Nick attached to the Chainsaw as these mini games felt all to pointless and it was just a stale way to break up gameplay.
Lollipop Chainsaw is by no means a perfect playable game, but if you take Lollipop Chainsaw for what it is, a simple pick up and play game with its flaws and you do not set your standards to high, then like me, you won’t be too disappointed.
REPLAY VALUE
Lollipop Chainsaw isn’t the lengthiest game on the market, but that’s not an uncommon theme nowadays. I loved Suda 51’s previous game ‘Shadows of the Damned’, but the major down point to this hidden gem, was the absence of a New Game+. Now I know that all games do not require a New Game+, but games that have a levelling up system, I truly believe that this system adds so much more to the value of the product and encourages players to have another playthrough, especially if given the option to play the New Game+ on a higher difficulty. So with that being said, it makes me very happy to announce that Lollipop Chainsaw does feature a New Game+.
But also unlike Shadows of the Damned, once you have finished any level, you can go back at any point and replay it, carrying over all upgrades that you accumulated on your previous playthrough. This not only gives you the opportunity to go back and rescue all the classmates on that level, find the Golden Lollipops, beat your level times, accumulate a higher score and try to earn a higher end of level grade, all of which will be uploaded to an online leaderboard to compare against friends and other online members of the Lollipop Chainsaw community.
Lollipop Chainsaw may not be the longest of games and it may even get a little tedious and tiresome, but the New Game+ feature is a massive bonus. Lollipop Chainsaws replay value all depends on how much you want to put in and if you love it enough, you will be playing through the game trying to beat your personal scores for a long time to come.
CLOSING VERDICT
Lollipop Chainsaw is by no means a perfect game, it has its fair share of flaws, but it also has its fair share of good points to. So if you take Lollipop Chainsaw for what it is a simple pick up and play game with its fair share of flaws and you don’t set your standards to high, you will have one hell of a zombie slaying cheese fest. Lollipop Chainsaw is an unforgettable gaming experience (whether you love it or hate it) and I’m sure this game will develop a cult following. But one thing is for sure; your Lollipop Chainsaw experience will be one that you will be sharing with your friends.
This item is Copyrighted and owned by Richard Lee Breslin and must not be used in any other publications by any other persons without my consent. Anyone using this item without my consent is liable to be charged a fee.
Lollipop Chainsaw Review,
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Bravo! Summed up to a T here. Won’t be long before IGN & Gamespot start sniffing around for this guy.
Nice review, much more descriptive and makes more sense than the IGN one I read. One question about the game, does it feature new game + and chapter select, or is chapter select the new game +?
Cheers.
Glad you liked the review
Lollipop Chainsaw does contain a New Game+ feature and you can select to play any chapter at any point (once you have finished that chapter) and all the upgrades you gained will carry on over.