Paid Play Video Games

Lollipop Chainsaw Review PS3

Story


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The story took place at San Romero High School, where many of the students as well as teachers had become zombies. Juliet Starling, who happened to be eighteen when this event happened, went to the school while killing zombies on a bicycle. When she arrived to a fountain park, her boyfriend Nick has been bitten by a zombie, and Juliet did something that most people wouldnt expect to do if their beloved one is dying: decapitate his head to prevent him from being a zombie. Since Nick was still alive without his body, both of them traveled around together to find the source of this zombie outbreak.​
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The story is... absurd, crazy, funny, yet great. The theme of the story is a cheerleader girl killing zombies, but the story is told rather humourously, thanks to the writers. Like previous Suda51 games, the dialogue is simply funny and well-done, as well as having many crazy jokes implemented in the game. The characters in the game are rather memorable and funny as well, like Juliets crazy younger sister Rosalind, her father who impersonates Elvis Presley, a crazy zombie boss called Zed, and many more. Of course, lets not forget about Juliet, who is pretty much sexy and full of vigour that makes this game pretty much fun to play. There are few unanswered questions left after completing the game, but the story is so crazy that it is hard to take the story seriously.​

Gameplay


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Juliet has access to several moves, including her pompom attack and chainsaw attack. Pompom attack is the quick attack in the game, allows you to stun multiple enemies at the same time, but the attacks are not lethal, and they just simply knock down your enemies or cause them to be groggy. Chainsaw attack is the strong attack in the game, where you can deal powerful damage to enemies, albeit the chainsaw attacks are slower to execute. When zombies are in groggy star (stars spinning on their heads), you can kill them in one shot using the chainsaw attack. You can also use low attack, which is used to attack enemies that are lying down on the ground.​
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You can also dodge enemy attacks by pressing the Dodge button, where you can roll, leapfrog, etc on enemies. Since Juliet lacks any defensive moves, dodging is vital to avoid damage, especially from powerful zombies and bosses. You may also lock on to a single enemy, to focus on your attacks as well as allows you to see your enemy clearly.​
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If you decapitate three or more zombie heads, you will enter into a mode called Sparkle Hunting, which rewards you more Gold Medals and Platinum Medal(s). The more zombies you kill this way, the more you get. Juliet also can use her Star Soul Mode, which allows to her kill regular and special zombies in one hit, allowing her to activate Sparkle Hunting mode easier, as well as being invincible to damage. As you progress in the game, you will unlock new weapons, such as Chainsaw Dash, Chainsaw Blaster, Nick Roulette, etc.​
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There are several types of zombies, but it can be categorised to two main types. First, regular zombies. Regular zombies can be dispatched easily by using effective combo attacks using your pompom and chainsaw attacks. Secondly, special zombies. Special zombies are different that they are the only zombies that have health bar displayed when fighting them. Other special zombies also have names displayed, and should be killed in order to progress. Many of the special named zombies only appear in Hard mode and Very Hard mode. It is advisable to play the game from the start in Hard mode to avoid missing any special named zombies.​
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In all stages, there is a variety of gameplay sections, such as using a combine to kill zombies in a farm, playing a virtual game called Gondola to progress, etc. Fortunately, it prevents you from getting bored with the game easily. There are also QTE sections in the game, some of it being fatal if you do not press the correct button, some are required to progress in the game, etc. The QTEs are not difficult, but you need to be quick to input them correctly.​
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In most stages, you will encounter survivors that need your help to save them. Saving them rewards you Gold Medals, and is a prerequisite to get the Happy Ending in the game. To get the Happy Ending in the game, you need to save all survivors in the first 6 stages, except the last stage.​
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At the end of the stages (except Prologue), you will fight a boss. As you all may know, zombie bosses are tougher than regular zombies, as they have special attacks that can kill you easily. Each boss is uniquely designed, and each have their own unique abilities as well as difficulty. Most bosses in this game are not tough to beat, but some requires you to think a strategy to beat them.​
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As you defeat zombies, saving survivors, and when exploring, you will get Gold Medals. Gold Medals is used to buy items such as health powerup and new combo techniques. Platinum Medals is used to buy special stuffs in the game, such as new costumes, new artworks, etc. Unlike Gold Medals, Platinum Medals can only be obtained by killing special named zombies and activating Sparkle Hunting mode when killing more than 3 zombies at the same time.​
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After you beat a stage, you will be ranked accordingly how well you done, such as how fast you completed the stage, etc. You may also submit your scores from Ranking Mode online to see how well you do against other players.​
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Although the combat is fun and easy to learn, it feels repetitive and slow, especially if you do not buy any new techniques from the shop in early stages. What makes the combat fun is the Juliet looks flashy when executing her attack moves. In short, the combat is fun, but feels extremely repetitive. Also, the games completion time length is extremely short, lasting between 4 to 5 hours. I honestly feel disappointed about this, since the game could have been much better if the game is more longer, about 10 to 12 hours of playing time. Since the game has lot of unlockable stuffs, like costumes, music, and etc, the replay value may or may not offset the games playing time, depending on your point of view. Overall, mediocre gameplay, with the fun factor differs for each player.​
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Graphics


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The graphics is colourful, unique, and pleasant to look. It is hard to say whether this games graphics surpasses Shadows of the Damned graphics, since both games have very similar graphics, with different visual style.​

No glitches or bugs found when playing the game, but I found that there are few screentearings when watching cutscenes in the game. It is not gamebreaking, but noticeable to players.

Sound


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The game has great voice acting, especially Tara Strongs performance as Juliet Starling, Michael Rosenbaum as Nick, and others as well. Tara Strongs voice fits perfectly as Juliet, reflecting her bubbly and energetic personality in the game. Other voice actors did great job as well, like Zeds voice actor (Jimmy Urine) and many more.​
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The soundtrack is awesome, especially the instrumental tracks by Akira Yamaoka and Jimmy Urine. Although Akira Yamaoka composed the stage themes, Jimmy Urine (Mindless Self Indulgence) composed all boss battle themes. I find that their combination in this soundtrack is great, with rock/metal being the main focus on the soundtrack. The game also use licensed music, such as Lollipop by The Chordettes, and many more. In many cases, the licensed music is implemented well in the game, fitting the games theme perfectly.​

Replay Value


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If you are willing to play the game again to unlock stuffs such as art, music, costumes, etc, you will find that this game has good replay value. Otherwise, you wont find much to play unless you want to play Ranking Mode in the game.​
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Conclusion



The game is fun to play, with lots of cool looking moves by Juliet, as well as her sexual appeal and personality to the game. Unfortunately, this game is extremely short, lack of gameplay modes, as well as having repetitive combat. Although the game fulfill its promise of using a sexy and hot cheerleader girl as well as offering some fanservices, the game does not fulfill its promise from being an excellent game to play. I advise all players to avoid buying this game until it gets cheaper due to its extremely short playing time, unless you are extremely rich, or wants to get your hands on the sexy cheerleader girl on action called Juliet Starling.

Score

Story: 8/10
Gameplay: 5/10
Graphics: 8/10
Sound: 9/10

Final Score: 7.5/10 or 30/40

Pros and Cons

Pros

- Juliet Starling is extremely hot, sexy and cool in this game.
- Absurd, crazy and good story.
- Great and humourous dialogue.
- Awesome looking human characters and zombie bosses.
- Great licensed soundtrack by various artists.
- Great instrumental soundtrack by Akira Yamaoka and Jimmy Urine.
- Good voice acting by all voice actors, especially Tara Strong.
- Simple to learn gameplay system.
- Variety of gameplay sections in stages.
- Pretty looking graphics.
- Good replay value. Replay value varies on players willingness on playing back the game or not.
- Stylish looking attacks by Juliet.
- Creative boss fights.

Cons

- Extremely short. The game lasts between 4 to 5 hours without playing back.
- Combat is extremely repetitive. Fun factor on the combat varies for each player.
- Story feels too short.
- Not many gameplay modes.
- Minor screentearing during cutscenes.
- In-game jokes can be offensive to certain people.