Lollipop Chainsaw RePOP Review

Lollipop Chainsaw RePOP is a remaster of Grasshopper Manufacture’s 2012 Lollipop Chainsaw. The game was developed by Goichi Suda, a.k.a. SUDA51, and filmmaker James Gunn with Tara Strong as the protagonist’s voice actor. The 2012 original was available for both PS3 and Xbox 360, received by critics to mixed reviews and sold 1.24 million copies by June 2024. The RePOP version was announced in July 2022 by Dragami Games initially as a remake, but following fan feedback, the developer “downgraded” it to a remaster.

Lollipop Chainsaw RePOP tells the story of Juliet, high school student, cheerleader and zombie killer. On her 18th birthday, Juliet and her boyfriend, Nick Carlyle, were supposed to meet up in front of San Romero High School so they could go to dinner where Nick would introduce our protagonist to his parents. Unfortunately, all hell breaks loose as a zombie outbreak occurs. As Juliet fights off the zombies, Nick jumps into the fray and get bitten. In order to save her love, she decapitates him to avoid him from turning. With the help of her sensei, Junji Morikawa, and her boyfriend’s head, Juliet is off to stop this zombie apocalypse.

Lollipop Chainsaw RePOP is a third person action adventure game where Juliet will need to use her strengths and skills, along with Nick’s help, to complete level. Each level is linear; go here, kill zombies, go here, kill stronger zombie; rinse and repeat. Juliet has three attacks; weak one that’s basically her kicking and using her pom-poms. A strong attack which uses her chainsaw. She also has a low attack for those pesky crawling creepers.

Given this game is out of 2012, at the time, the plague of gaming was QTEs and there’s plenty of them here. Oddly enough they feel unecessary; if you miss or hit the wrong button, you action still goes through. It’s especially used when using Nick’s help after Juliet puts his head on a zombie corpse; QTE is how you make him move.

Killing zombies reward Juliet with coins that can be used at shops found sporadically across each level. Players can buy new skills, in game tunes, costumes, consumables and also upgrade Juliet’s characteristics such as health and strength.

The game also gives you the opportunity to choose between the original version and the RePOP version. Unfortunately, there’s not much in terms of differences. At the core it’s the same game and gameplay, but the difference is more aesthetically oriented where the RePOP version shows less violence and more pop-art damage effect.

The game still looks okay-ish by today’s standards. It’s a bit janky and some camera issues, but overall it looks great and highly colorful, especially if you opt for the RePOP version of it. Each level is uniquely themed with its unique aesthetic. The soundtrack is forgettable and it’s just… there I guess. Voiceover work is fine; albeit a bit over the top at times. Tara Strong and Michael Rosenbaum do a decent job as Juliet and Nick respectively.

The biggest nuisance here is the lack of checkpoint system so to speak. While yes, if you die, you won’t be thrown back to the start of the level, if you quit, there’s no checkpoint. It means that if you want to play through, you need to complete the level when starting one. Thankfully, the Xbox’s Quick Resume feature does circumvent this, but it’s still annoying given that if the game runs in the background, it can slow down any downloads in progress. Also the auto-aim targeting can be a little; I mean a lot iffy. You’ll be prompted to shoot specific enemies within a few seconds, but the auto-aim will target anything *but* the enemy. Also the price tag feels a bit high for something that feels like a port.

Even in 2024, Chainsaw Lollipop RePOP is just big, dumb fun. The story, while existing, is there to give a premise to all of this, but the gameplay of running around and comboing enemies is the meat of the matter. Combat is surprisingly deep, especially as you purchase new skills; easier to learn, hard to master. But it does show its age; janky camera, messed up auto-aim, 2012 visuals. If you never played it and looking for big stupid fun or if you previously enjoyed it, it’s worth revisiting. Just not at that price.