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Lollipop Chainsaw review

Game: Lollipop Chainsaw
Platform: Xbox 360
Genre: Action
Developer: Grasshopper Manufacture

Reader review by pickhut

June 15, 2012

In the gameplay department, Lollipop Chainsaw doesn't even try hard to be different from previous 3D hack'n slash titles; you'll fight waves of enemies using simple button combinations ad nauseam, activate a special bar for one-hit kills, lock-on to erratic bosses and evade their predictable attacks, and purchase new, powerful moves from shops. So if you're expecting a game changer from this title, you're in for a huge disappointment.

However, Lollipop Chainsaw shouldn't be dismissed immediately, as the game provides quite a bit of humor and style to keep you enthralled... to an extent. If you have played a Suda51 game, or at least know them, you're going to see the usual suspects here: loads of gore, excessive use of vulgar language, and just a straight-up, bizarre trek. In this plot written by James Gunn, you're in control of a highschool cheerleader, Juliet, who also happens to be a professional chainsaw-wielding zombie hunter. Her skills are put to great effect when, on her birthday of all days, a zombie outbreak occurs in and around her school, San Romero. In just the opening stage alone, zombies are sliced in pieces by the dozen, a bus filled with normal students explode, vehicles crash everywhere, and your avatar chops off her boyfriend's head to save it from his zombified body. Huh? Yeah, she performs magic to keep Nick's head alive.

The game is a rollercoaster ride of silliness, pitting you against zombie break dancers, using Nick's head during spinning attacks, and literally getting stuck in mindtrips where you're forced to fight giant birds. Lollipop Chainsaw is also loaded with pop culture references, new and old, Japanese and American, enough that every person who plays will spot at least one thing they know. People like Justin Bieber and Stephen Hawking are mentioned, a famous Fist of the North Star quote is uttered, and the song Mickey by Toni Basil always plays when you're exhausting the special bar. I was even shocked when Pac-Man Fever started playing at one point! The conversations between Juliet and Nick are amusing, too. Juliet will yell at Nick for being racist towards zombie cows, comments are occasionally made about his head being a fashion accessory, and goofy things are discussed during fights, ranging from favorite colors to pole dancing. There's enough here to make the standard gameplay bearable to the end.

You're not always going to be slicing and dicing throughout the game, though, as attempts are made to add variety, often to varying degrees of success. Examples include running around in a life-size Pac-Man maze while avoiding killer munchers, as well as dashing and jumping off ramps in succession on rooftops. They give you a break from the norm, sure, but I wouldn't go so far to call most fun. The ramps are abused to hell and back in the stadium stage to the point of being obnoxious, and you're even forced to mow zombies using a tractor a couple times in a condensed crop field. Sounds fun until you actually drive the slow-moving tractor that needs to kill anywhere from 100 to 300 undead. Boss battles, though easy, fair much better, offering better enjoyment in their approach. They range from fighting a zombie Viking who disintegrates into a bouncing giant head to a funkadelic pimp who talks with a synthesizer and floats around on a mini UFO with babes.

Lollipop Chainsaw is what it is, a Suda51 production featuring a unique style wrapped in basic play mechanics. I wanted to love the game much more due to its content and approach, but the glaringly simplistic gameplay and flow made the six to seven hour experience a tad repetitive. And the game includes zombies, a threat that's been used way too much this generation. I still recommend checking out Lollipop Chainsaw if you want to be amused, but I wouldn't advise rushing out to get it right away, especially at full price.

Rating: 7/10

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