Cheerleader, her decapitated boyfriend, zombies and a killer soundtrack for 10 Euros, sound like a deal right? Well, it might be for right kind of person. On the outside Lollipop Chainsaw seems to have lot going for it, but underneath there is simple and basic arcade action game that feels like a cold dead corpse from the past, rather than new fresh and vibrant modern game.

Key word here is surface value: you get a girl in a skimpy outfit, sometimes witty dialogue and brilliant, but rather small soundtrack. Digging deeper result in disappointment: fighting mechanics are too basic, lack of polish and combo scoring system is flawed, having a problem of seeming to be rather random with the results.

Even with the looks department Lollipop Chainsaw has some problems. Levels tend to be simple (yet overly long), linear and boring looking. Brightly colored places are rarity here, might come as surprise. Also most of the 3d things have a cheap look to them. Speaking of levels, they seem to be rather empty, making huge zombie killing fests rarity in a game that has little nothing else to offer.

For a game that has huge emphasis on high score runs, everything is planned very poorly. Loading screens take a lot of time and there are plenty of them. You have to quit to main menu to change difficulty levels, quit to map to change clothes, go to level to see rescued people data in and to so the shopping. There are plenty of other bothersome quirks, that I will not list here. Also some levels are very time consuming for highscore runs, taking something like 30 minutes for one run. As bonus if you die because of missed quicktime event or failed some minigame, you will have to start level all over again.

So, Lollipop Chainsaw has lots of negative things, but I kind of like it. I think this mainly has to do with its pure arcade-, score hunting nature. That said it is a very short game that is really hard to recommend to anyone – even with 10€ price tag.

ALERT:

I am thinking of turning this into a review and as I don't speak English natively, I would like some feed back and tips how to improve the text.

Cheerleader, her decapitated boyfriend, zombies and a killer soundtrack for 10 Euros, sound like a deal right? Well, it might be for right kind of person. On the outside Lollipop Chainsaw seems to have lot going for it, but underneath there is simple and basic arcade action game that feels like a cold dead corpse from the past, rather than new fresh and vibrant modern game.

Key word here is surface value: you get a girl in a skimpy outfit, sometimes witty dialogue and brilliant, but rather small soundtrack. Digging deeper result in disappointment: fighting mechanics are too basic, lack of polish and combo scoring system is flawed, having a problem of seeming to be rather random with the results.

Even with the looks department Lollipop Chainsaw has some problems. Levels tend to be simple (yet overly long), linear and boring looking. Brightly colored places are rarity here, might come as surprise. Also most of the 3d things have a cheap look to them. Speaking of levels, they seem to be rather empty, making huge zombie killing fests rarity in a game that has little nothing else to offer.

For a game that has huge emphasis on high score runs, everything is planned very poorly. Loading screens take a lot of time and there are plenty of them. You have to quit to main menu to change difficulty levels, quit to map to change clothes, go to level to see rescued people data in and to so the shopping. There are plenty of other bothersome quirks, that I will not list here. Also some levels are very time consuming for highscore runs, taking something like 30 minutes for one run. As bonus if you die because of missed quicktime event or failed some minigame, you will have to start level all over again.

So, Lollipop Chainsaw has lots of negative things, but I kind of like it. I think this mainly has to do with its pure arcade-, score hunting nature. That said it is a very short game that is really hard to recommend to anyone – even with 10€ price tag.

ALERT:

I am thinking of turning this into a review and as I don't speak English natively, I would like some feed back and tips how to improve the text.

I personally groaned when I got to the combine mini-game. Reminded me of how terribly boring No More Heroes was with the lawnmower mini game.

Hmm while I respect your opinion I disagree with you in fact Lollipop Chainsaw made its way on to my top 10 games of 2012 list. Absolutely loves it and I paid full price.

@Demoskinos said:

Hmm while I respect your opinion I disagree with you in fact Lollipop Chainsaw made its way on to my top 10 games of 2012 list. Absolutely loves it and I paid full price.

I hear you. Even though it has tons of problems, game has hooked me enough to try to get the platinum trophy. Still, I could not ever recommend this at full price.

Suda 51 is an...interesting developer. His games are always grande in scope, but only turn out okay, yet they have this something that just hooks us, despite the glaring problems. I'm kinda okay with Lollipop Chainsaw being mediocre in gameplay, probably because I expected it. It's still a really fun game.

Here's what I thought!

I basically agree to a large extent. There's stuff to like in here, but it's buried under an avalanche of problems big and small.

I can agree with most of what you said. It sounds fair, and at least you never paid full price for it, so it's easy to forgive and then forget it.

I really wanted to like the game and actually enjoyed the combat system, but I truly hated the mini games and the occasional line of dialog such as, "I'm totally gonna masturbate to you tonight." just made me want to play something else. I was constantly switching from laughing and having a good time to groaning and wanting to stop playing. I eventually gave up on it and moved on and at this point I still have so many games I need to play that I don't see me going back and finishing it.

As far as feedback I've never been keen on images being centered and would much rather them be on the left or right with the text wrapped around it. Other than that I enjoyed reading it and would love to read more. =)

I didn't find it Suda51 enough. Similar to No More Heroes (one of my favourite games; the reason I bought a Wii) in format and structure, but I didn't find the humour and style were there. It was too... trying too hard, know what I mean? Trying to go for mass appeal (tits and overdone zombieshit) and that trademark Suda jut wasn't there. Can't wait to see what happens when he gets back in the director's chair for Killer Is Dead.

I bought it for $60 at launch and still haven't finished it. I got bored then other stuff came up and then I forgot. This has made me want to jump back in and finish it. 
 

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