Lollipop Chainsaw is an edgy over the top game full of violence and gore, raunchy jokes, and panty shots of a barely legal cheerleader that definitely wouldn't fly today, and actually wasn't really acceptable back when it originally came out in 2012. That's kind of why we loved it back then, though. That period of 6th/7th gen edgy humor and violence was rapidly winding down and a very loud minority of people on the internet would screech at you if you played a game with hot girls in it, so Lollipop Chainsaw was like a big middle finger in their faces.
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In 2024, however, I don't know that I love that aspect of it so much anymore. The humor is crass and crude in such an over the top way that it flies past parody and is just cringey. It's funny to think how normal it all seemed in 2012 but it's genuinely shocking to hear some of it these days. For good and bad, it's impossible to play Lollipop Chainsaw and not think "ResetERA will definitely hate this" with a sick twisted smile. What I do know is that Juliet is still hot, and some of the costumes are amazing. And I also know that Juliet's little sister Rosalind is the most obnoxious annoying terrible thing in any game ever. She's like Tiny Tina times 1000, which is 999.9 times too much.
The gameplay has also aged sorta poorly, but gets better the more you play. The gist is that you're a zombie hunting cheerleader and have to pummel zombies with your pom poms to soften them up before decapitating them with your chainsaw. Killing multiple zombies with one chainsaw attack is called Sparkle Hunting and grants you special currency you can use to buy extra spicy costumes and other stuff in the in-game shop, so the idea of the gameplay is to sort of round up as many zombies as close together as possible in order to maximize your Sparkle Hunting opportunities.
At first, I didn't really have a great time with it. It's just kinda clunky and awkward and enemies interrupt your moves and knock you down way too easily and it's frustrating. But it has to be said that the game gets a lot better as you unlock new abilities and upgrade Juliet's stats a bit. By the end of the game when you have a ton of moves avaialble and Juliet's homing attack locks onto zombies from miles away, suddenly the combat is fast and satisfying and is a lot more fun than it seemed at first. Going back through early levels with maxed out stats is like a whole new game, so it has pretty solid replay value.
As far as this remaster goes, I'd say it's fine. My secret special ability is to think that pretty much every remaster is "fine", though, so I'm not especially picky. Some people have weird expectations for remasters, but I'm almost always just glad to be able to play stuff on newer hardware and have a new set of achievements to unlock.
RePop isn't super ambitious or anything as far as remasters go, but I'm happy enough with it. It looks better and has had some QOL changes to make the combat a little easier and flow better than the original, and the prices in the in-game shop are cheaper so you don't have to grind nearly as much to get the good stuff. The graphics haven't been super upgraded or anything, but it is definitely sharper and clearer but with a definite Xbox 360-ish look to it. The most noteworthy change is that all of the licensed music from the original game has been removed, which might be a bigger deal to some people but I just sort of shrug and move on. I don't have fond memories, or any memories at all to be honest, of how the licensed tracks were used in the original, so I didn't really feel like I was missing anything with the replacement tracks. The new music is fine.
The other change in this remaster is the addition of RePop mode that tones down the gore and makes it all a bit more cartoony. To be frank, I don't really understand the point of Repop mode. I suppose the idea is that it makes the game more kosher for streaming and social media posts, but it's just pointless. Thankfully, you have the option to stick with the original mode.
It should be noted that none of the content has changed in this remaster. All of the panty shots and filthy jokes directed at Juliet are all present and totally unfiltered. People were worried that they would have to clean up the game to meet 2024's boring stuck up fuddy duddy social standards, but it's all still as rude and crude as it was in 2012.
The $45 MSRP is maybe a bit of a stretch, though, especially considering another 7th gen Suda 51 game remaster Shadows of the Damned Hella Remastered only has a $25 price tag. I'll leave it up to you to decide how much you're willing to pay.
To sum it up, I was a little disappointed playing the game again, at least at first. The humor has aged pretty poorly and the gameplay isn't very fun when you start out. But the more I played it and leveled up, the better the gameplay felt to the point that when I beat the game I was eager to play through again with my powered up stats and deeper well of combos and special moves to use.
Ultimately, I'd have to say I'm glad Lollipop Chainsaw RePop exists. It's a perfectly acceptable remaster that is let down mostly by the fact the game itself hasn't aged especially well, but if you're of the right mindset and in the right mood for playing a very 2012-ass game in 2024, you can still have a lot of fun with it.
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