Lollipop Chainsaw

I rented this from Lovefilm, because I wanted to try it but thought it sounded utterly naff.

I played through it once , then immediately went on-line and purchased a copy of my own. I've NEVER rented a game and then bought it before.

I mean, come on, what's not to like: hordes of zombies, utterly bizarre end-of-level badies; fun and challenging mini-games (in one case almost TOO challenging); and hilariously unexpected one-liners that you definitely won't want to play when your granny, mum, sister, wife or girlfriend are in the room. And that's before I even mention the scantily clad, Madder-than-a-Hatter heroine in her little cheerleader outfit (or less, if you save up your reward medals and switch to something even skimpier. And her two mad sisters and Dad.

Oh, and her boyfriend, who unfortunately had to have his body amputated. By the chainsaw.

Utterly bananas, but the most fun I've had at my Playstation in a long time.

With lots of special attacks, perks, and difficulty levels to master, this game has a lot of replay value.

In short, super fun, if you're not too easily offended.

Lollipop Chainsaw seemed like my kind of game. A sassy female protagonist? Zombies? A completely bonkers storyline? Sign me up!

Sadly it did not live up to my expectations. Sure, it looks pretty, the soundtrack is awesome and it does have some funny moments but the hack/slash gameplay style is not my cup of tea and I found it to be a frustrating and repetitive round of button mashing. I also didn't love Juliet, the protagonist, her voice got really annoying fast. The humour is fairly childish and that is not a bad thing but the jokes did get old pretty fast. I feel a bit let down.

If you like hack/slash games you might find more to love than I did, but I personally think this is a title that you should rent and not buy. I wanted to like it but it just didn't do it for me.

I have to get something out of the way right now - how do like 90% of so called professional reviewers manage to not see the pure fun and genius of this game? Seriously, take Buffy the vampire slayer, cut out the angst, bung it into a big old grindhouse model blender then chuck in enough psychedelic colour in there to make a unicorn spew a shower of tie-dyed chunder, mix liberally with oodles of equally colourful language and a massive dose of OTT violence and you got yourself a perfect formula for the sweetest lollipop you're ever gonna taste! Read on to see what you'll love about grasshopper's latest bucket of ludicrous and what might tweak your teats about it in this handy, bite-sized, review!

THE GENIUS:

(+) This game is as inventive as they come - sure at its chewy core it's a beat 'em up as old as Double Dragon but there is so much nuttiness, chainsaw pole-dancing, graphical strangeness and zombie head pummelling that it just feels like one big blast! This is the gaming equivalent of getting drunk dumb with your best buddies and watching the cheesiest b-movie marathon this side of mystery science theatre 3000 and having an absolute riot!
(+) The graphical flair is insane, this is not to say the graphics are amazing because they are not, they're also not a complete dog either, but the sheer amount of inventiveness is superb. From the screen being split into two bloody chunk as you chainsaw a boss to pieces to an elevator from heaven coming down replete with 2d-cut out looking cherubs just has to be seen!
(+) The combat, contrary to what a lot of reviews say, is massively gratifying. Whether you are chopping a zombie in half from crotch to wig or simply decapitating a whole row of baddies in a plume of gore and rainbows it just feels nice and chunky.
(+)There is tons of cool stuff to unlock from costumes, to concept art, to new combos, to different flavours of lollipop. Great stuff.
(+) The soundtrack is unbelievably awesome. Eclectic but constantly rocking your ear slices numb it is one of video gaming's soundtrack highlights; some of which was put together by jimmy from MSI no less!
(+) The sound effects are great too with chunky splatters to crashes, bangs and chainsaw ripping noises of every kind.
(+) With a lot of emphasis being on nods to some of the greatest games of all time its hard for real, long time, gamers to not to get it and get it with a grin!
(+) The voice over's are cool, I banged subtitles on simply because I couldn't believe some of the things I was hearing at times. If you thought the graphics where colourful and inventive you haven't been privy to anything yet! The most unique and downright offensive insults I have ever heard in a video game to date.
(+) The overall presentation of the game has a grungy, comic book look which just oozes from the games every pore and is used extremely well in conjunction with the overall sound and feel of the game.
(+) Some of the mad characters practically make Juliet (our protagonist - a zombie slaying cheerleader with a chainsaw and a decapitated lover) look sane and I loved 'em all. The farer out they where the more they fit with the overall grindhouse brain explosion that is Lollipop Chainsaw. A lot of the characters are based on musical stereotypes or high school stereotypes which makes them that bit tastier to get your teeth into.

THE NOT SO CLEVER BITS:
(-) It is offensive, especially to women with misogyny flying left right and centre and I'm just not sure if Juliet is a strong enough lead to take all the flak and emerge unsullied in the mind of the player. It's a judgment call - I just took it all in the name of exploitation and had a ball - others may be a bit more sensitive.
(-) This is a brawler, a scrolling beat 'em up, if you never liked streets of rage or Splatterhouse and such like then don't expect this, as inventive and mad as it is, to skew your view.
(-) The rating system at the end of each level can be a little bit of a mystery to work out - I did the first level without so much as a scratch and combos where flying out of me like I was divine but I still only got a C+. Maybe it's just me being rubbish, i dunno.

CONCLUSION:
When was the last time you just had a rip-snorting giggle and a blast with a game? When did you last see foul-mouthed zombies getting taken to bloody, rainbow-sodden, chunklets by a hot cheerleader spinning round a stripper pole with a chainsaw? If you can't answer `very recently' to either of these questions then you ain't played Lollipop Chainsaw and if you're a fan of madness, grindhouse or beat 'em ups then you are doing yourself a disservice my friend - now be a good chap and pop out and get it!