Lollipop Chainsaw - Review

I like most types of games, with the exception of maybe sports.  I really like when I find games that are off the wall, crass and not afraid to take risks, naturally I like Suda 51 games.  In particular Shadows of the Damned and Lollipop Chainsaw.   I recently decided to replay Lollipop Chainsaw, and below is what happened.


I like the occasional lollipop, that's not a euphemism.  I think it's because it reminds me of being a kid again, and enjoying being childish, I mean I still act childish now but not as much.  Chupa Chups is one of my favourites, I like the cola ones the best.   Playing Lollipop Chainsaw I found myself asking was this my cola flavoured lollipop?

Story

Juliet Starling is your average high school cheerleader.  Well apart from the fact she is a zombie hunter along with the rest of her family.  She has a regular popular high school boyfriend Nick...well sort of.  Due to a recent run-in with a zombie and a little ritual magic he is now living life as a head who now hangs off Juliet's hip.   Juliet with a little help of her family and Nick must save their town from the apocalypse.

Overall the story is a lot of fun, it's crass, and has a lot of subtle and not so subtle sexual innuendo.  It doesn't pretend to be more than it is and that's what makes it perfect and thoroughly enjoyable.

Visuals


You may expect that a game about zombies and the apocalypse would be quite dark and bleak.  In fact, it's almost the opposite.  The game is quite colourful, well apart from when you take on the bosses who are all evil musicians.   The visuals are in keeping with the fun and silly vibe of the game which is part of its charm.


Overall the visuals manage to blend colourful, dark and fun together seamlessly.


Music 


The music is a blend of 80's and 90's pop music mixed with rock and a little metal.  The composer of the soundtrack is composer Akira Yamaoka.  His works include, Killer is Dead, Silent Hill Collection HD, Shadows of the Damned, Silent Hill 4: The Room, and Sparkster.


The soundtrack runs at well over two hours and apart from the music composed by Akira Yamaoka there is also music by Sleigh Bells, Human League, Joan Jett, Dead or Alive, Toy Doll, Skrillex and The Caradettes.  My favourite tracks include, 'Eat This, Yumil', 'Bowel Purge', '1000 Cigarettes', 'Lollipop' and 'Riot Rhythm'.


Overall a fun soundtrack that suits the tone of the game.

Gameplay

Lollipop Chainsaw is a naughty blend of comedy and horror and has you take control of cheerleader Juliet Starling.  It's a fun hack and slash game which starts with some basics attacks that later grows to slightly crazier attacks.  Juliet has her chainsaw and body to defeat zombies, her secret weapon is her boyfriend Nick.  The aim of the game is to kill all the dark purveyors and eventually the defeat the ultimate evil.   The only real issue it suffers with are on occasion some awkward camera angles.


The game is full of crass comedy and sexual innuendo and some of the dialogue used in the game had me in stitches.  Some of my favourite Juliet lines being, "...you're like a cute little kitten that can't speak Japanese", "...the dumbest, most explodiest birthday cake ever", and "don't be a racist against cows Nick".


Overall it's a fun game and as long as you're not easily offended and enjoy killing zombies you'll love it!




Final Thoughts

So, after little over five hours how did I feel?  Pretty damn good!  It was great revisiting Lollipop Chainsaw and who knows next time I might try to finish it on the Very Hard mode.  The story is fun and often inappropriate, visually it's colourful, musically it's pretty good and the gameplay is lots of fun.  Overall this one gets a solid 4 out of 5

The Quiet Man - Review

I recently received an email from Square Enix, it was reminding that The Quiet Man was being released soon.  I hadn't heard of it so decided to check it out.  It seemed intriguing, the idea of the protagonist being deaf and the only language he knew being conveyed with his fists.  It got released this week and I thought why not give it a go?


I like snack foods, they are not filling but they are tasty.  Naturally, when I see a snack I haven't tried before I get excited.  Snyder's Pretzel Pieces Hot Buffalo Wing Flavour is a snack I tried some time ago, they were...not very good.  I liked the idea but, it just didn't work.  Playing The Quiet Man I found myself asking was this a bad choice of snack?

Story

The story is set in the 1920's and features John Wayne...wait...no...no that's not right.  That's the movie The Quiet Man, my bad.  The game has you play a deaf man called Dane, it seems that he has a troubled past and his present is not much better.  He is on the hunt for a kidnapper who looks like a birdman, who uses a wax seal of himself that looks a cross between the logo for Sonic and Knuckles and a Plague Doctor mask. 

The story has some interesting elements but never quite meets the mark.  The issue of playing a deaf character (and me not being great at lip reading) is that you miss most of the story, some of it you can work out but a lot of it you can't.  Nearer the end of the game things get really weird to the point it felt like the writers got fired and were replaced.  Their replacements glanced over the script and decided to try something out that just didn't work.  Overall a pretty disappointing story.

Visuals

'The Quiet Man is an immersive story driven cinematic action experience that seamlessly blends high-production live action, realistic CG and pulse-pounding action gameplay that can be completed in one sitting' says Square Enix.  Well, part of the statement is true, just not the part that says it seamlessly blends high-production live action with realistic CG.  The live action part looks good but as soon as you take control of Dane it all kind of falls apart.  The parts where you take control of Dane are dull and quite jarring.  In theory, it sounds cool but in practice, the visuals just aren't there.  

Overall the visuals fail to deliver and while the live action parts look good they can't make up for the bad CG.

Music 

The game only really features ambient noise, which I suppose makes sense considering you play as a deaf man.  The sounds are created by Human Head Studios sound engineer Jun Soo Noh, I was unable to find anything about his previous work.  There is, however, one song called 'The Quiet' by singer-songwriter Imogen Heap.

Overall there is nothing of note to mention, the closing song isn't bad but feels out of place with the rest of the game.

Gameplay

The Quiet Man is a Single-Player third person experience.  I don't want to start on a negative note but considering the rest of the review, I don't think you will be that surprised.  There is very little actual gameplay and is generally broken in two to three-minute chunks of combat before returning back to more live-action. The combat itself is clunky, attacks won't always connect and enemies getting stuck in doors and walls are commonplace.  Due to the fleeting combat sequences, there is never any time to get proficient in fighting and it often feels like you are winning based on luck rather than skill.  The same enemies will appear again and again and with the exception of 'boss' fights, there is no big change up.  There was a section close to the end where you have to fight off a large number of enemies in a bar, it took me a dozen tries to beat them and by the time I did I was close to rage quitting - which is something I just don't do.

Overall some dull, broken gameplay that needs a lot more work before even being mildly entertaining.

Final Thoughts

So, after three hours how did I feel?  Bad, really bad.  The story started out okay but then lost the thread of itself, visuals...next, music wasn't there and ambient noise was exactly that, the gameplay...just no.  I am unsure as to how Square Enix approved this game but they did.  This one gets a disappointing 1 out of 5

Persona 4 Golden - Review

A good number of years ago I worked for HMV and all was well.  I used to get a great discount and being a gamer this really helped.  I took it all for granted and alas they eventually put themselves out of business.  When this happened I was both sad and unsure as to what I would do next, it was at this point in my life I found Persona 4 Golden.  It helped get me through a tough time in my life and forget my woes.


Jacobs. Mini. Cheddars.  Mini cheesy biscuits, a great snack and you can never have enough of them.  I recently tried a new flavour, Red Leicester, they are a game changer.  They are super cheesy, so much so it feels like my eyes were rolling back in my head. Basically, they are good, really good.  Playing Persona 4 Golden I found myself asking was this super cheesy biscuit heaven?

Story


The story has you play as the high school student Yu, your parents send to you to the quiet town of Inaba to live with your Uncle.  Shortly after you arrive a strange spate of kidnappings and murders occur.  It turns out Yu along with some of his newly made friends might be able to stop all of this from happening.  That is the bare basics of the premise, and honestly anymore than that might spoil it for you.


There is a slew of side missions and activities to complete so you will never be stuck for something to do.  You can hang out with your friends, study, fish, work and that is just some of the things available, all of which have their own stories.


Overall Persona 4 Golden has a really great well-paced story, and anytime you want to take a break from saving the town of Inaba you will find plenty of other things to do.

Visuals


When you are dealing with a handheld console you automatically need to reduce your expectations visually, if for no other reason then the fact they aren't powerful as a standard games consoles.  However, playing Persona 4 Golden my expectations were exceeded greatly.  The cute style of the town looks great and works really in making the various dungeons you will visit stand out more.  As if this was not enough they also have a healthy sprinkling of high-quality anime sequences which look amazing.


The character designs are really cool, especially the Personas you can summon, and some of the enemies look so outlandish, but in a good way. Similar to the story I don't want to mention any of my favorite areas as it is difficult to do so without revealing too much.


Overall Persona Golden is visually impressive and a delight to explore.



Music


The score is like an onion, that has many layers to it.  There is the upbeat pop style layer, the somber layer, and the 'things are getting intense' layer.  This interesting onion is composed by Japanese composers Shoji Meguro and Atsushi Kitajoh.  They have worked on the Shin Megami/Persona Series, Catherine, and Trauma Centre New Blood.  The vocals are supplied by Shihoko Hirata and Rie Kugimiya.  The two of them combined has worked on Persona 4 The Animation, Catherine, Persona 4 Dancing All Night, Bleach, Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood and Fairytale to name but a few.


The score runs at over two hours, my favorite tracks include...well I didn't list any.  The reason being is that there were so many I liked it was easier to list those I didn't like...which is none.  Overall a fantastic score that I never get tired of listening to.

Gameplay


So...much...gameplay!  Persona 4 Golden is a JRPG, and while I have played a number of RPG's I've never played a JRPG.  The best and worst part of Persona 4 Golden is the amount you can do in it, there is literally so much, in fact, it can be a little overwhelming.


First, you have the combat system, it's turn-based, which is my preferred playstyle with RPG's.  There are good old fashioned physical attacks and Persona attacks.   The Persona attacks can vary hugely depending on which ones you use.  Personas can be collected or fused together to create whatever you need to overcome any enemy.


The biggest appeal for me was all the things you could do when you weren't fighting.  There is making friends and building those relationships, which in turn has a direct effect on the Personas you can create.  There are jobs which can be a great way to make money but also have the added benefit of creating new relationships.  There are clubs like basketball, soccer, and band.   There is fishing, butterfly catching, model making, reading, gardening and those are just the things I can think of off the top my head.


The second playthrough was even more than my first, due to the experience I had gained from the first time around.  Overall the gameplay is fantastic and while the amount of things you can do does feel a little overwhelming it's also nice to always have something to do!




Final Thoughts


So, after seventy hours (on this playthrough) how did I feel?  Awesome.  I loved the story, visuals, music and gameplay.  In honesty, it's hard to fault the game.  I'm already looking forward to the next time I play it, lucky enough I still have Persona 4 Arena, Persona 4 Ultimax and Persona 4 Dancing All Night to play - yay!  This one gets a super solid 5 out of 5