Lollipop Chainsaw Review–Hacking up Something Good

Goichi Suda, better known as Suda 51, is celebrated by fans for developing imaginative and over the top games with his studio, Grasshopper Manufacture. From Killer 7, to Shadows of the Damned, Suda 51 has never shied away from graphic material, and raunchy, but hilarious jokes. Lollipop Chainsaw is no different with its zombie hunting 18-year-old heroine and edgy storyline.

Lollipop Chainsaw
Developer: Grasshopper Manufacture
Price: $59.99
Platforms: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 [reviewed]

I’ll cut straight to the chase with this one: I really enjoyed my time with Lollipop Chainsaw, and can’t wait to finish this review so I can jump back into it.

Lollipop Chainsaw doesn’t do anything groundbreaking, but it’s imaginative and unique when it comes to story and style. The game is unapologetic with its edgy story, ridiculous humor, and vulgar language. Lollipop also provides a fun dose of variety for its gameplay, which allowed the game to stay clear of some gameplay fatigue.

The story stars Juliet Starling, an 18-year-old cheerleader who comes from a zombie hunting family. Her high school, San Romero High (cleverly named), is overrun with zombies as she fights to find her boyfriend, Nick. The story turns on its side when Juliet discovers that a more sinister plan is at work, as she has to fight five zombie rock lords who were previous students at her school in order to save the day. Just to add an extra layer of “odd” to the story, Juliet carries around her boyfriend’s decapitated head after a zombie bites him. Thanks to her power, and unwavering love for him, she is able to keep Nick alive and as a sidekick on her crazy journey.

The story was written by Hollywood director and writer James Gunn whose credits include Slither, and Dawn of the Dead. Gunn, who is known for his cult humor and edgy storytelling, is a perfect addition for a Suda 51 game. He adds a certain flavor to the game that allows its oddity to feel natural and immersive. A lot of color is written into dialogue between Lollipop’s unique characters to make this a fun and humorous ride.

The gameplay, as I mentioned before, offers plenty of variety to stave off some of the typical gameplay fatigue found in hack n’ slash games. Our heroine wields a chainsaw against the army of undead. Imagine the amount of blood and severed limbs encountered throughout Lollipop Chainsaw, then throw in a few extra buckets of blood and decapitated heads, and you have a chainsaw worth wielding. Players have three main attacks: a low sweeping attack with the chainsaw; a more powerful chainsaw attack that comes in handy for delivering the final blow; and players can even wield Juliet’s pompoms for cheerleading routines to stun zombies and link together combos.

Players can also activate Star Soul mode, in which Juliet can launch devastating attacks that can instantly kill her enemies. When attacking enemies in this mode, or even decapitating them without the mode activated, enemies will burst into a rainbow along with their blood and flying limbs; it’s a nice colorful scene of death and mayhem.

There are several mini games that break-up the action, too. Most of the mini games unlock when Juliet receives upgrades to her chainsaw. For example, when Juliet unlocks the Chainsaw Blaster, which fires explosive rounds from her chainsaw, she is able to play a game of Zombie Baseball. There is also Zombie Basketball, where Juliet can send zombie heads flying into a hoop. Even her decapitated boyfriend, Nick, can join in on the fun. Whenever the player comes across a blue highlighted zombie, she places Nick’s head onto the already headless zombie for the player to execute a series of button prompts in order to clear a path for Juliet.

An in game store allows players to purchase new combos and upgrades to Juliet’s health, strength, and other abilities. Although it’s necessary to purchase upgrades for health and strength in order to deal with the game’s later challenges, it’s totally possible to get away without buying any new combos. With that said, I recommend picking up the combos purely to watch Juliet tear the zombies up in acrobatic and satisfying fashion.

There are a few issues that can’t go unnoticed in Lollipop Chainsaw. For one, the camera became a problem during a few sections of the game. The camera will swing around the character without notice, making it hard for me to focus on the enemy I was attacking. It was not much of an issue for a good portion of the game, however when it did become an issue, it really downplayed some of the great gameplay that was going on.

The length of the game may also trouble some players. I finished the story in around five hours on the normal difficulty. On the other hand, I felt the story was nicely packaged in its short length, and it could have easily dragged on if it went any longer.

For those looking for some extra meat in Lollipop Chainsaw, there’s an online leaderboard attached to each stage in the game. Players can enter Ranked mode where they can compete in a score, time, or medal run in each stage. Besides the leaderboard, there are plenty of collectibles, alternate costumes, and a harder difficulty unlocked after finishing the story to keep players coming back for more. Oddly enough, the chainsaw upgrades are not available for the lower levels of the game after finishing the story, which was a little disappointing.

The tone and atmosphere is set early on with Lollipop Chainsaw’s cell shaded art style and solid soundtrack. The cell shaded art style fits in well with Lollipop, and allows all of the colors to really pop when things get crazy. The music was directed and composed by Akira Yamaoka, who is famous for his work in the Silent Hill series. Yamaoka collaborated with Mindless Self Indulgence’s Little Jimmy Urine to give Lollipop Chainsaw an original score along with music from several artists, including my favorite for the game, Cherry Bomb from The Runaways as the main menu track.

The Final Word

Lollipop Chainsaw never delivers a dull moment. Lollipop’s story is fun and humorous, and is only improved by its colorful characters. The gameplay is not only intuitive, but fresh when it comes to the variety Grasshopper Manufacture offers to players. Suda 51 has proven again that his talent for making video games is something unique and original in a market focused on delivering realistic experiences. Now excuse me while I go hack off a few zombie heads to the sounds of Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch Cherry Bomb.

– MonsterVine Rating: 4 – Good