Lollipop Chainsaw: Review

Gameplay

From an action hack-and-slash perspective, Lollipop Chainsaw is a excellent. The combos are easy to learn, use and master. Triangle for heavy attack, Circle to jump, Cross for low-aiming attack, Square to melee with pom-poms. When used in sequence, other special combos are activated. But that's not all. There's also sparkle hunting (decapitating 3 or more zombies together results in bonus medals which are used to buy items), Nick Roulette (Nick is Juliet's boyfriend), Chainsaw Blaster (the camera goes into first-person shooter mode and you use your chainsaw as a bazooka) and so much more. The combat system is rich and intuitive, making battles fun and it doesn't feel like grinding even if you're replaying cleared stages.

Graphics

The graphics are comic book-style mixed with HD cutscenes. Apart from a few minor graphical glitches when using Nick Roulette near walls and 1 grainy moment in the ending, the graphics are great. The camera is responsive but doesn't always show you the way because in some areas the camera is locked, making targeting zombies a little difficult. 

Longevity

Lollipop Chainsaw's main story can be completed in roughly less than 10 hours on first playthrough without guides. This is not a game you're looking for if you want a long-winded story, rather it was designed to be replayed multiple times to collect everything there is in the game.

Music

The music in Lollipop Chainsaw consists of punk, metal, groovy, funk and rock n' roll. Each category is based on the theme of the stage it is found in. I'm not really a fan of rock music so I can't comment here. I did enjoy some of the classics here such as 'You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)' by Dead or Alive and the theme of Lollipop Chainsaw, 'Lollipop' by Ronald & Ruby.

Replayability

I've played the Prologue stage over 20 times and I'm still not bored. The combat system really extends the life of this game. You have to play each stage at least 3 times if you want to unlock every trophy, costume, soundtrack, artwork and combo in this game. Theoretically, it is possible to unlock everything in two playthroughs, but that would be if you used a guide (which spoils the joy of discovery). Also, some stuff are only unlocked on harder difficulties. And, you need to register a high score online for leaderboard rankings if you wan absolutely everything this game has to offer.  

Story

Quite original for a survival horror action game. I won't spoil it. The story is simply put... unique.

Trophies

On your first playthrough, you will most likely unlock 10~ bronze trophies, assuming you took your time and went over eveything meticulously. After your initial playthrough, you can replay older stages now with experience of where everything is and Juliet (main heroine) is also now stronger and able to take down zombies with less difficulty. Hence, more playthroughs are needed for silver and gold trophies. The excellent combat system helps make it fun and replaying stages never feels like a chore.

Conclusion

Lollipop Chainsaw is an excellent hack-and-slash action game that is on par or even better than God of War, Bayonetta and the rest of the action game legends. This game received mixed reactions due to the abundance of fanservice content. I'm thinking "WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH THESE PEOPLE?!". Since when is fanservice a bad thing? Go to hell, haters. I'm loving my upskirts and panty shots. <3 Juliet forever <3