Apparently I’m talking about video games this week or something. Today’s victim is Lollipop Chainsaw, Suda51’s latest WTF-fest.
As is the fashion, I have a complaint about the complainers. I keep hearing people say “it’s not weird enough to be a Suda51 game.” It’s a video game featuring a cheerleader named Juliet Starling who hunts zombies with a custom chainsaw that has a rainbow effect when she swings it. Her family are demon hunters and she trains with a pervy old sushi chef. She wears her boyfriend’s reanimated, decapitated head on her belt. How much weirder do you people want this to get?
The head in question.
It’s not a very long game. Mister E beat it in two days and is on his second playthrough, which is mainly because he’s after all the achievements. And let me tell you, the achievements are hilarious. There’s one for peeping under her skirt called “I swear! I did it by mistake!” and when he got it he spent hours trying to get another achievement so it wouldn’t look like he was some sort of pervert by only getting that one during his session. Unfortunately, the other two he got during the same session were called “Fingered” and “Watch Out for the Balls” so it didn’t make it much better.
The game is pretty much on rails the first playthrough, but as you finish the different stages you can go back and try to beat your score or your “Dad’s” score to get achievements. At times I sort of felt like I was watching a really sophisticated platformer (and not just in the retro section) but in a good way. There are also pickups and stores everywhere, so the chances of your dying in combat on the regular or easy setting are pretty slim. Mini-games are a different story, as Mister E will gladly swear. Repeatedly. And with vigor.
All in all, it’s a really fun game to watch him play. Juliet and Nick (the head) have great lines, the rest of her family is equally hilarious and my new favorite phrase is “my sisters and I wear our vaginas proudly.” With all the vagina-talk going on in Michigan, I think it’s an excellent time to be proud of one’s vagina. I know I am.
I was kind of worried when I first saw the promo pics for it because I was a little afraid of how they were going to portray Juliet. Thankfully, she ended up a lot more like Buffy than Lara’s latest incarnation. You know, if Buffy acted like an actual teenager instead of a scowl-factory. Don’t get me wrong, I like BTVS as much as the next guy, but I also like that they didn’t make Juliet a snarky thirty year old in pigtails and a cheerleader costume.
Yes.
Also of interest is the fact that Tara Strong, who does the voice of Twilight Sparkle, also does the voice of Juliet. This is both awesome and disconcerting, as I’m pretty sure that even on her worst day Twilight Sparkle has never said “what the dick?!” That fanart there is from Tara’s Twitter and I am very fond of it.
So if you’re wondering whether or not to play Lollipop Chainsaw, I’m recommending that you do. Mister E tells me that it’s as much fun to play as it is to watch, even if he can’t seem to Sparkle Hunt more than 4 zombies at a time and I keep telling him to put on the Mom clothes. It’s not a game that requires much heavy thinking, and you can put as much or as little time in on it as you want. If you’re planning on a single playthrough situation, though, I might advise waiting a couple of months for the price to drop a little.
The Geekerella Report 