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Even if you know nothing about it, you probably already know if you'd like Lollipop Chainsaw by looking at its cover. If you can answer a question as simple as "would you enjoy playing the role of a high school cheerleader who must rid her town of zombies with the aid of a chainsaw and her decapitated boyfriend's head?" then you can clearly decide if this game was developed for you or not. And for me it was a no-brainer for a very long time before the cover art had even been released.
 
Suda51 has certainly become a favorite developer of mine this generation. Though I arrived to the party rather late - though I did play a bit of Killer7 years ago now, it wasn't until the 2011 PlayStation 3 re-release of No More Heroes that I started playing close attention to Goichi Suda and his Grasshopper Manufacture. In fact I've since investigated much more of his work. And though the half-dozen or so Suda games I've played have all been really intriguing, Lollipop Chainsaw is probably my favorite at this point. However instead of just talking about the game itself, I thought I'd talk about its parts. That is to say, while No More Heroes felt like Suda's Kill Bill with its plot and themes; Lollipop Chainsaw is more along the lines of his own original work in the vein of Tarantino's mixtape-approach to creation.




The first piece of the puzzle is James Gunn. Gunn wrote much of the dialogue, and it really shows. For those unfamiliar, Gunn is responsible for fun but morbid films as diverse as Slither, the Scooby-Doo reboot, the Dawn of the Dead remake and perhaps most importantly, Tromeo & Juliet. Yes, although Lollipop Chainsaw had a pretty decent budget there was a definitely a lot of Troma spirit in there. Be it the humor of Juliet (ooh, I just noticed the name!) saying that her friends considered her dad a "DILF," or any number of low-browish jokes that seem to stradle the line between 'fun' and 'offensive.'  One of the lines that actually made me laugh out loud was when Nick, the decapitated head looks up at the final boss and says that yesterday he had stubbed his toe and thought to himself 'man, this is the worst day ever.' And (presumably) Gunn's taste in horror and b-movies finds its way into the script as well with references to everything from George Romero and Lucio Fulci in abundance.




Speaking of movies, I think it's safe to assume that there's at least an inkling of Buffy the Vampire Slayer in there. That said, early screens of the game could have certainly worried folks that this would be too much a rip-off of Buffy. Thankfully the game has so much of its own personality that it's also miles away. Sure Juliet is the pretty cheerleader doing all the dirty work, but it's also far more gory and vulgar. In a sense it's a bit like taking the best ideas from Buffy and combining them with the schlock of Oneechanbara and coming up with a game that's better than any game in either of those franchises.




Retro gaming itself is also a strong influence on the final product. In one of the absolute best stretches of the game it becomes overly apparent that this is a game made by folks who grew up loving games. Indeed, Fulci's Arcade will find you hopping from cab to cab playing bits of the level based on classic arcade titles such as Pac-Man, Elevator Action and Breakout. It's an aesthetically incredible section that never falls into the trap of "being retro to be retro," and instead just feels like a very natural part of the gameplay wrapped up in wonderful homage.




And much like a Tarantino movie there's layer upon layer further to be discussed. I could spend time on the wonderful soundtrack mixing new bands I've never heard of with a score by Mindless Self Indulgence and a bevy of interesting licensed material from the classic "Lollipop" or cheerleader-associated "Hey Mickey" or girl-with-edge "Cherry Bomb." It's all so perfect. Or we could get into the No More Heroes-ish fondness for subarban samurai with the introduction of Juliet's sensei. We could wax philosophical about the symbolism of Juliet's boyfriend being reduced to just a head that she carries and controls at all times or the boss battle where misogynistic words are literally a weapon used against Juliet. Hell, we could ponder the design decision of making the final action in the game a simple and unchallenged Quick Time Event.

And perhaps that's what makes Lollipop Chainsaw so great. As brief as it is, and as shallow as it may appear to outsiders, actually experiencing it is exploring a whole world of awesome shit that you want to experience again and discuss with others who have as well. And for that I say bravo.

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