At a Glance: Lollipop Chainsaw

Yep, Still Illegal in all Fifty States......
Honestly, when I first heard rumors of this game, I was a little hesitant. Coming at us from the fine folks over at Grasshopper Manufacture, the developer that brought you cult classic titles like Killer7, No More Heroes, and last year's highly under-appreciated Shadows of the Damned, I wouldn't have given this rather cheeky looking title a second look except for one thing: Zombies. Yes, zombies. They're like chocolate to a game's peanut butter.

And despite the reservations of playing a overly cheerful (even during a zombie apocalypse/outbreak), possibly illegal protagonist, the final hook that made me finally cave in and do a little digging is the fact that Tara Strong (the voice of Rikku from Final Fantasy X) will be lending her rather unique personality to Juliet Starling; the zombie slaying, chainsaw wielding cheer leading main character.

While I didn't find out too much about the story (ie. how zombies are somehow attacking a high school), I did find out that attacks basically switch between a sort of rhythmic light and heavy attack pattern. Juliet's light attacks consist of quick acrobatic kicks and punches with the intent of herding enemy zombies together. Her heavy attacks, primarily punctuated by the use of her chainsaw, finishes them off en mass. Doing this successfully eventually contributes to filling up Juliet's "Star Meter," which is just a fancy term for "extremely gratuitous super attack."

Which actually sounds kind of fun now that I thi...right moving on. Moving on.

"I think the biggest thing is that I wanted to make a game that was funny and which had a 'pop' type of feel to it instead of trying to be scary," explains Lollipop Chainsaw's Producer, Goichi Suda, who prefers to use the moniker of "Suda51." "I really wanted to make Lollipop Chainsaw a zombie game that any type of player could play and enjoy," he says.



We're Not Going to Have Zombies Dancing to "Thriller" Are We?
Another point in its favor is its rather unique use of...well...I really can't explain it in a word. Let's just say that, for reasons currently unknown, Juliet's boyfriend Nick, who is somehow a disembodied head hanging from her skirt, can be used in various battles with....unique outcomes. Various uses of Nick have been so far revealed to include being kicked at enemies by Juliet or being put directly on the body of a decapitated zombie, which gives Nick temporary control.

Early demo and hands-on reports are quick to compare this title to one of Grasshopper's earlier cult classic, No More Heroes. Suda51 did acknowledge the two games might, at first glance, appear and feel the same, but he was quick to point out the differences between the two. "[Sure], it might appear similar, but [the games] are different. Lollipop Chainsaw is the new sword action game, and it's the style that I believe Grasshopper Manufacture is best at. In No More Heroes, Travis is a guy, so his sword action is more masculine, but Juliet is a cheerleader. Her movements are flexible and very athletic. When combined with her chainsaw, Juliet's attacks are both hyper and powerful."

Another acknowledgment was Suda51's apparent admiration for the person who brought zombies to the forefront of entertainment. The one and only George A. Romero. "Many of my staff members love Mr. Romero," he gushes. "Some are so crazy about him that they really should be called his sons," he jokes.

Still yet another element crucial to the game will be the use of various musical genres to define the feel and look of some of the zombies that you'll be slicing and dicing around St. Romero high school. "Music plays a very important role," Suda51 explains. "For this game, most of the characters are based upon the different music types or music genre. You know, we’ve got B-funk....rock-and-roll [and so on]....but there are different styles of music that are reflected in each character." So don't be surprised to find yourself in a zombie fight with an afro-toting boss while bobbing your head to the tune of Wild Cherry's "Play that Funky Music."

And Just When You Thought It Was Safe.....
Seriously, as if this game's unlikely story wasn't quirky enough, the game's already amassed its fair share of the surreal. During a March 7, 2012 Warner Bros. press party for the game, a homeless man somehow managed to slip in and get an interview with Suda51 himself. According to unnamed sources, the homeless man managed to slip into the event with a group of journalists.

"Suda was conducting interviews with press for most of the night," said the unnamed source. "Later on in the evening a journalist from Edge arrived for what he thought was an exclusive one-on-one interview, but a second man checked in with him. There were plenty of drinks flowing at the event so nobody took much notice that this second 'journalist' was heavily soaked in beer. Warner thought the guy was with Suda's people and the journalist seemed to assume he was with Warner."

"He managed about 10 minutes seated with Suda, mostly stroking his chin and nodding his head," the source added. "Eventually it became quite clear he wasn't a journalist - he was in fact some homeless guy that managed to [get] himself all the way to the interview. PR staff quietly ushered him away and Suda seemed pretty speechless about it."

It almost comes across like an April Fool's Prank doesn't it? But hey, at least they're not trying to promote Lollipop Chainsaw with gratuitous and overly suggestive costume DL-




-CERIOUSLY?! Really guys? We're going to go this route?! REALLY?!?! She's still in HIGH SCHOOL for crying out lou.....alright alright alright. Calm. Calm down. Count to ten and try it again.

O.K.

I'm O.K.

I'm fine. I'll be fine. I mean....as long as they don't go overboard and, like, start churning out images of the poor girl dressed in skimpy "swimwear" that consists of sea shells and dental butt flo--



--oh. my. god.

HahHah...hah....eh...

....I suddenly feel mentally dirty now.

O.K. I'm an adult. I can handle this.

Really, I can.

Seriously though for every step forward in the march for equality between male and female gamers, there always seems to be that one thing that makes them have to take two steps back.

But I can deal with this. I can manage this. As long as there's no suggestive butt sh...



....iiiiiiit. That's it, I'm done. I am SO done. I suddenly have a headache.

Fox/Faux News is going to have a field day with this game.....

Good luck guys. You're going to need it.

Lollipop Chainsaw is set to lurch onto store shelves June 12, 2012.

And for god's sake, put some clothes on that poor girl.