Memory Lane Monday: Tits & Ass, Blood & Guts, and Rock n' Roll (Some Spoilers)

(Note: Honestly, I was really having a tough time trying to get this review to feel right. I wasn't even sure if I had anything new to say about this game that wasn't already out there. It also didn't help that I was about 6 months late to the party -an eternity in tech and gaming time- but I guess that's a nice thing about my reviews; I'm not beholden to anyone but me. I don't have to feel influenced by anyone. I don't have to write a review for anyone but me. I like to take my time with a game and put my thoughts out there. I've been sitting on this review forever, mostly just out of personal insecurity. I received this game as a Christmas present -just in time for me to miss the Valentine's Day Edition- and completed the main storyline in less than a week. It's a quick play-through, but this review was killing me for some reason. So, sorry it's late if you were looking forward to reading it. But it's here now!)

Lollipop Chainsaw was released for PS3 and XBOX 360 in June of 2012. Me, being the poor-ish and slightly unemployed person that I am did not get a chance to play the game until several months later. Nonetheless, I shall tantalize your eyeballs with my magical words and opinions. You're welcome.

The main storyline of Lollipop Chainsaw follows our young heroine, Juliet. She's your all-American girl: she's spunky, she's clever, she's athletic, she loves lollipops -oh yeah, and she comes from a family of zombie-hunters. We meet Juliet as she is waking up and getting ready for a typical day at San Romero High School where she is also a cheerleader (duh, I said she was all-American) and it also happens to be her birthday, and she's meeting her boyfriend, Nick (he's like, totally on the football team, you guys) in the park so he can give her a birthday present. The day starts out normally enough with Juliet riding her bike to school (she's totes Eco-conscious) when suddenly, there's an outbreak of zombies right in front of her school! OMG you guys!  Thankfully, Juliet is always prepared and has her trusty chainsaw with her in her gym bag, and she's going to give those zombies what for! 

This is seriously the least pervy pic I could find in relation to this game.

During the prologue, you learn the basic mechanics of combat as Juliet chops her way through the school parking lot to get to Nick before he's attacked. Unfortunately, Juliet is too late and Nick is bitten on the wrist right in front of her. As Nick lays dying in Juliet's arms, Juliet casts some special zombie-slayer magic and (in one of the funniest cut-scenes in the game) separates Nick's head from his infected body. Thankfully, the magic worked and Nick has been saved...sort of. He is now only a head. But, he is a living breathing head, and not all gross and zombie-fied, and that's all that matters to Juliet. Together-(ish) Juliet and Nick must fight their way through the school and the rest of the town to stop the ultimate evil from ruining the world.
  
The game-play itself is your traditional hack-and-slash with the addition of several (required) mini-game sections in each stage of the main story line to sort of add variety to all of the aforementioned hacking and slashing.The game has some RPG elements to it in that you can level up Juliet by purchasing permanent power-ups and new attack combos at the Chop2Shop.zom kiosks that are rare, but sprinkled throughout the world. You pay for things by (how else?) killing zombies and collecting the coins that fall out of their decomposing bodies.

I really liked the comic book style of the game design, it makes the blood, gore and violence (and there is a lot) less icky, for lack of a better word, however, I would still not suggest this game for those with weak constitutions. Speaking of weak constitutions, while the violence didn't really gross me out, there is a level of crudeness in the dialogue and some of the situational humor that sometimes crossed the line for me. Most of the unpleasant dialogue comes from the enemies you are fighting and I understand it's supposed to be edgy and written to sort of egg you on in the fights, but at times, I did feel like it was a little gratuitous. I'd rather not list specific examples here as I'd like to keep my blog as tasteful as possible, but let's just say that in playing some of the boss fights in Lollipop Chainsaw, I acquired many new vocabulary words that I am afraid to Google the definitions to, but -with context clues- I'm pretty sure I can figure them out on my own. That all being said, Juliet and Nick have some of the funniest dialogue in the game even when it gets up there on the rude/crude gauge. I definitely have to credit a lot of the funny factor of the Juliet/Nick dialogue to Tara Strong and Michael Rosenbaum because they are hilarious and awesome at what they do.

Video interviews with Tara and Michael here

While Lollipop Chainsaw is as funny and entertaining as a hack-and-slash game can be without feeling repetitive, there are definitely some game-play design flaws that tripped me up. The chainsaw is an awesome weapon with seemingly endless combos to unlock, and the game designers thought outside the box when designing the chainsaw and the upgrades for it. At one point in the game, the chainsaw can be upgraded to the Chainsaw Blaster which is exactly what it sounds like: a chainsaw shotgun combo. The Chainsaw Blaster is useful for dealing with far away enemies and flying (yes flying) zombies, it is also rather unwieldy. I'm the first to admit that FPS are not my strongest suit, but the blaster's aiming is clunky and frustrating to use even if you turn off the auto-aim feature. Also on the topic of clunky and frustrating, the camera angles you can use in the game are obnoxious and without an auto-center option, there were a couple instances of rage-quitting for me simply because I couldn't see what I was doing. Combine that with the suddenness that the cut-scenes often occur, and with how short the game as a whole is (only 6 stages) it feels like the game was rushed. I could forgive the game being so short if a couple of the stages didn't feel so repetitive (stage 2 is borderline boring, and it's the part of the game that garners the "drug reference" warning on the Mature Rating label.)

Doesn't stop people from buying it

The game holds mixed opinions for me as far as quality goes, gathering from various blog posts and articles I read about the game, Lollipop Chainsaw definitely produced some mixed opinions elsewhere. I even read a blog accusing the game of touting itself as female-empowering while being disguised as misogynistic and degrading. While, I can see where this blogger may have reached this conclusion -and they have every right to express that opinion- I have to respectfully completely disagree with them. Is the game sexual? Yes. Is it violent? Yes. But is it misogynistic? I didn't feel so. Misogyny is a word I feel like gets thrown around a lot by people who don't necessarily know the definition of the word. Misogyny, in a nutshell, is the hatred or dislike of women/girls simply because they are female. It can be classified as the objectification of women or the dislike of women simply because they don't conform to certain expectations. So, I have to wonder if people who played this game and still cry misogyny actually played the whole game or if they just completely missed the entire tongue-in-cheek part of the humor. In fact, there is an entire part of the story where Nick accuses Juliet of only treating him like an object or an accessory instead of a person. Helloooo? Am I the only one who got the joke? Maybe.

Accessorized Nick is not amused.

Juliet is a strong sexy female protagonist. Is she overly sexualized in the game? Maybe. It is possible to unlock many "sexier" outfits for Juliet that push the limits of objectification. Remember the Jessica Nigri debacle at PAX East 2012? Her pink "outfit" was one of the unlockable costumes from Lollipop Chainsaw. I didn't know that at the time, and I'm pretty sure no one else did either, especially since the game had yet to be released. I guess my point is, that the game designers designed a sexy character, but she's tough, clever, witty, and caring. She feels like a real person, not a caricature. She has moments of imperfection, and moments when she is vulnerable without coming across as weak. That is something I don't see a lot of in female protagonists in games, and I'd like to see more. Are the skimpy costumes necessary? No. But, if you're a guy/girl who is playing this solely to watch a sexy blond run around in revealing attire, that's cool but I think you're missing the point. I may have just opened up a whole can of worms, but it's out there internet, bring the pain.

Bring it.

So, after that little diatribe, what is my rating? Overall, I really enjoyed the game. It was entertaining.  It has a decent replay value with the online leader boards and trying to unlock all of the unlockables, plus it's great for a quick way to release some aggression after a bad day. Even though some of the game mechanics feel a little clunky and/or sloppy, it's not a bad game, it just feels like the release may have been rushed before getting out all the kinks. I enjoyed playing the game. I would recommend buying it used or renting, but not shelling out $60 for it.

I give the game 3 out of 5 severed Nick heads

Little Big Vroooomeh: A Game Review

I pre-ordered LittleBigPlanet Karting back in October 2011 and was out of town on its release date in November, so Boyfriend was kind enough to go pick it up for me. As payment for his kindness of walking down the street and getting my game for me, I gave him permission to play it while I was away. While talking on the phone throughout the week I was away, it was clear that Boyfriend was enjoying playing it, but I could tell he wasn't quite as excited about it as we have been with other games.

Eventually, I did get to play for myself. LBPK is pretty much exactly what you would expect if you are a fan of the previous 2 titles in the franchise. The sack boys are just as cute with fun new costumes available, the karts are fully customizable, and the unlock-able stickers and goodies are just as tricky to find and obtain, except now with the added challenge of racing/winning. The race courses are challenging and creative, the music is happy and fun, and the design is true to the LBP world. The storyline even picks up right where LBP2 left off, except now you have to race against the evil Hoarde to prevent them from, well, hoarding everything in the Craftverse. Also, much like its predecessors, some of the best things in Karting are the user-made levels online. Overall, the game is fun and adorable.

Wiki

All of this being said, after playing through it, I'm not as super excited about this game as I want to be. I can't really find anything "wrong" with it other than the frustratingly vast difference between the "Casual" (easy) and "normal" modes of the game, and that some of the non-racing levels were repetitive and frustrating- so much so that you almost need to use multi-player to beat certain levels.  Perhaps my expectations were so high for this game that I was bound to be a little disappointed even if the game were made of gold-encrusted diamonds and shat out of a Unicorn. (Well, that would be pretty neat-o-rific.) Or, perhaps I've just *gasp* out-grown racing games.

This review post has been a long time coming. I've owned this game for over 2 months and while some holidays got in the way, I really have to be honest in saying that I procrastinated writing and posting this review. I did this mostly because I was so bummed that I didn't like this game more. The first two games set the bar so unbelievably high that no racing game could possibly live up to the expectations. I feel a little guilty being so brutally honest because I love Sackboy and LBP so much. But, in all honesty, it did not and could not live up to expectations. As a stand-alone game, it's delightful and fun and happy, but it is most definitely the weakest game of the the 3 LBP games. It just isn't a game I could sit and play for hours like other games I own. It's not ground-breaking as far as LBP or racing games go, but I am glad that it is part of my collection. I must say that I enjoyed LBP2 much more than this game and I could have lived without pre-ordering it too. (Sadly, it looks like I am not alone in my lukewarm feelings about Sackboy's latest adventure.)


On my patented scale, I give LittleBigPlanet Karting 3.5 out of 5 Sackboys. It's a fun party game with friends. For about an hour or two. 

Wiki

And Then There Were Robots. Lovable Lovable Robots. (A Short and Sweet Game Review)

After months of waiting, Girls Like Robots was finally released last week! Produced by Popcannibal LLC and distributed by [adult swim] games, it is available for Windows, OSX, iPhone, iPad, and Android.  I had the pleasure of meeting and interviewing Margaret Scott, the sister of Popcannibal's founder, Ziba Scott, at PAX East in April of this year. She was delightful, charming, and informative. After talking to her and playing the demo at their booth in Indie Alley, Girls Like Robots was definitely one of my most anticipated games of this year.


Copyright Popcannibal LLC

  When I spoke with Margaret in April, the projected release date was set for July, so I have been eagerly waiting for the game's release since then.  I was disappointed when the game was delayed, but if they needed those extra months to make the game better, then it was totally worth the wait. Girls Like Robots is a puzzle/logic/seating arrangement game, simple in concept and design, but also adorable and tricky in execution. There are darling animations, cut-scenes, and a pleasant string band soundtrack accompanying the 100 levels of increasingly difficult and creative puzzles.

In the tutorials, you learn that girls like robots (obviously) and robots like girls, but not too many girls. Nerds like robots too, but robots feel very "meh" about nerds. Nerds like girls, but girls hate nerds. Nerds also hate other nerds. The game starts you off with a simple grid of "seats" and a bank of characters off to the side. Based on the relationship criteria, you must arrange the characters in the most ideal way on the grid to fill up your happiness meter. It sounds easy, but the combinations continue to get more difficult as the game goes on; the grids change shape and size, and new characters with new relationship requirements are introduced. 



Copyright Popcannibal LLC

Believe it or not, there is a plot to the game as well. A budding romance between a loner bug-loving girl and goofy sporty guy need your help to go to the dance together. The silly story-line leads you through town (and up into the stars) where you meet some charming characters, are bombarded with puns and one-liners, and there's pie. Lots and lots of pie. While the plot of the game isn't exactly a nail-biter, it is an added touch of charm and humor in this already creative, cute, and devilishly challenging game. Girls Like Robots is completely worth the $.99 price tag on iTunes.  For those who enjoy puzzle and logic games, this app will appeal to the casual as well as the more hard core of gamers. I found this game to be delightful!

On my patented scale of 5 nerdy things, Girls Like Robots scores a solid 5 Happy Robots!  

Copyright Popcannibal LLC