Cheerleaders, zombies, chainsaws, cheerleaders.
For some people, that's going to be all they ever know about
Lollipop Chainsaw, but they'll want to play it anyway because of the aforementioned cheerleaders, zombies, chainsaws, and cheerleaders. What about the rest of us, however? Beyond the utterly superficial aspects of blood, zombies, and partial nudity what else is there, and why should anyone care? Well, here are four reasons that go beyond the old standbys of gaphics, gameplay, and story.
Lollipop Chainsaw if being developed by the legendary Suda-51 and his own Grasshopper Manufacture. Suda-51 is one of the only game developers referred to as an "auteur" meaning, basically, that his own personality is expressed in the specific idiosyncrasies of the games he develops. He's the mind behind
No More Heroes,
Killer7, and
Shadows of the Damned. In other words,
Lollipop Chainsaw will be shoes-then-socks insane.
Suda-51 is collaborating with James Gunn on the
Lollipop Chainsaw's story. Who is James Gunn? James Gunn began with Troma Entertainment, wrote the initial screenplay for George A. Romero's
Dawn of the Dead, directed geek-favorite Nathan Fillian in horror-comedy,
Slither, and, among too many other things to mention, directed black-tire (that's satire so dark, not even light can escape) superhero comedy
Super starring Rainn Wilson and Ellen Page. It's seriously one of the darkest comedies ever and it makes
Kick-Ass look like an episode of
I Love Lucy.
The music for
Lollipop Chainsaw is being handled by
Mindless Self Indulgence's Little Jimmy Urine, a.k.a. Jimmy Euringer. He hasn't done a lot of mainstream stuff that's really going to attract casual gamers; however, the five fans of
Mindless Self Indulgence that didn't already know about this are now wiping Mountain Dew off of their computer screens and there's something to be said for small-but-dedicated followings like he has. Also, his inclusion really furthers the "auteur" thread that seems to be winding it's way through every facet of the game's development.
The final reason is the voice acting. The game's central cast consists of Tara Strong (Harley Quinn in
Batman: Arkham City, and
more well-known characters than you can shake a stick at) as main character, Juliet,
Smallville's Michael Rosenbaum (Lex Luthor) plays Juliet's boyfriend, Nick, Linda Cardelleni of
Freaks and Geeks and
ER fame plays Cordelia, Sean Gunn (
Gilmore Girls) is Swan, Little Jimmy Urine plays Zed, while
Saw's Shawnee Smith and
The Walking Dead's Michael Rooker round out the central cast.
So there you go: the four biggest reasons why
Lollipop Chainsaw is more than just cheerleaders, zombies, chainsaws, and cheerleaders, and why if you care about videogames that are more than just cynical, overly-focus tested suit-jobs, you should care about it.
And if you're still unclear on what
Lollipop Chainsaw is all about, just watch the following collection of videos that shows off the cheerleaders, zombies, chainsaws, and cheerleaders in all their high-camp glory:
Lollipop Chainsaw hits store shelves tomorrow and is obviously rated M.
