MadCap's Game Reviews - Lollipop Chainsaw

Xbox-360 Box Art

Lollipop Chainsaw is a weird game. Now, this is a Suda51 Game, so you're probably going "Yes, Madcap, Lollipop Chainsaw is weird. Also the sky is blue and Val Kilmer is the greatest swordsman that ever lived." But seriously, just hear me out. Weird does not do this game justice. The brainchild of Suda51 and Hollywood Director James Gunn (for those of you going "Who?", he wrote the live action Scooby Doo movies...that's about all most people would know him for). So, with the master of peanut butter and banana sandwich crazy and an acclaimed Hollywood director at the wheel there's no way this game can be anything less than utterly spectacular, am I right?

Well, actually, yes I am.

The game begins with young, plucky, energetic Ms. Fanservice by the name of Juliet Starling heading off to the park to meet her boyfriend Nick, only to find out that there's been a zombie outbreak in the town of San Romero (I see what you did there!). So like any rational person, Juliet immediately breaks out the chainsaw and starts to tearing her up some zombies...yeah, you'll quickly learn that Juliet is anything but rational. More like a few straps sort of a full straitjacket. As it turns out, if the title and the description here aren't enough, Juliet is a zombie hunter (and a Demon, Sasquatch, and Frankenberry hunter...yes, Frankenberry), a secret she keeps from her beloved boyfriend.

The secret is so shocking to poor Nick that he loses his head...well, his body. Juliet decapitates him early on to keep him from becoming a zombie and uses a voodoo ritual to keep him alive. And thus, she has a head...that she carries around on her hip and uses as a projectile weapon. ...oh, trust me, that's normal compared to some of the stuff in here. But with her head of a boyfriend in tow, Juliet learns from her sensei - a perverted Japanese man, who would have thought? - that someone has opened the wall between the "normal" world and the "Rotten World", which has released a deadly gas that turns people into zombies. Thus, Juliet and Nick must slay Five Demon Overlords summoned by Swan (and "evil goth" at her school) to save the town of San Romero and the world!

The gameplay is pretty solid for a beat 'em up hack and slash, even if it brings nothing new to it. Then again, hack and slash works pretty well on its own principals, why change the formula? Juliet has light chainsaw attacks and heavy attacks, though I found myself using the heavy attacks more and more. Sure, using the slower heavy attacks might be just what zombies need to take an advantage, but the heavy attacks do more damage and between them and Juliet's acrobatic antics, I found myself rarely even touched by the (in Juliet's words) "gross, stupid, undead douchebags".

Besides the chainsaw itself, Juliet can use Nick as a weapon using "Nick Cards" that are scattered about, doing such exciting things as shooting Nick out of a cannon and whipping his head around to hit enemies. She also receives a "chainsaw shooter" that runs on ammo that is scattered about the later levels. It in and of itself is actually more effective than the chainsaw, though the ammo tends to run out quickly when surrounded.

And, as you probably expected from the title, lollipops are brought into the game as Juliet's favorite food as well as health pickups. They are collectable as well throughout the world as Juliet apparently collects the wrappers of various kinds as well.

Killing zombies (which, rather than drop in a crumbled, bloody mess, actually explode into a bunch of sparkles once decapitated) also will net Juliet medals in gold and platinum, which she can then use to buy various upgrades, supplies, and even alternate outfits from the Chop2Shop.zom stores throughout the stages.

All in all, the game is very much Scott Pilgrim vs. The World crossed with every single good zombie movie ever.  It's got the horror elements of the latter, but has the bright, cheerful world where the strangest things happen that are delightfully unexplained of the former.  Is it a good mix? Most definitely. Lollipop Chainsaw is lewd, rude, and unapologetic of how in your face about its bizarre, twisted world is. And you know what? I can hardly remember when I've had so much fun playing through a game.  See ya next time!

Lollipop Chainsaw is now available from Grasshopper Manufacture, Kadowa Games, and Warner Bros Games on Xbox 360 and Playstation 3.

This review is based on the Xbox 360 version of the game.