Lollipop Chainsaw

Retr0gamer

I'll let the pictures do the talking, I'm still in awe. Grasshoppers new game:

http://www.andriasang.com/e/blog/2011/07/21/lollipop_chainsaw_screens/

chin_grin

It's so damn...............literal. :pac:

Although I commend them for an original name. Quite like it. But feels like Mad World in colour........with a scantly clad chick..........That's not a bad thing!

D

I like it! (in a 15 year old boy type of way)

valleyoftheunos

this could go one of two ways, its boring and exploitive, worse than DNF.

or

Juliet is a kick ass character, more than just a sex object and the game is varied with good mechanics, on a par with Bayonetta.

landsleaving

I'm too old for this sh*t

Retr0gamer

It's Grasshopper. Even the boring and **** parts of No More Heroes were an artisitc statement. At the very least I can see this being an experience.

landsleaving

Mad World was a lot of fun, I'll give you that, and I'm more than willing to give Grasshoppper the benefit of the doubt that it'll play really well, but that just looks like they've been playing too much DOA Volleyball in between sessions of Mad World.

Seamus Aran

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Even the boring and **** parts of No More Heroes were an artisitc statement.

Remember when they made the artistic statement that boring games are boring, by making the game boring? That was my favourite bit. Pure mental art right there.

Prediction: Lollipop Chainsaw will contain one million collectible designer t-shirts and won't be as good as God Hand.

Shiminay

landsleaving wrote: »

...that just looks like they've been playing too much DOA Volleyball in between sessions of Mad World.

This

Would it not kill game artists to put a bit more clothing on female characters? It just looks lame and I find it insulting to my intelligence. Puts me right off any game seeing this sort of nonsense.

Kiith

Shiminay wrote: »

Would it not kill game artists to put a bit more clothing on female characters?

They occasionally do...well, rarely would be more accurate.

super_furry

I dunno, I see stuff like that and feel faintly embarassed. It's crass, it's juvenile and it's probably going to be a lot of fun.

I hope a brown paper bag comes as a pre-order bonus,

Retr0gamer

It's Grasshopper guys, it's quite clear that they're taking the piss rather than making her scantily clad to appeal to adolescent boys.

honru

Retr0gamer wrote: »

It's Grasshopper guys, it's quite clear that they're taking the piss rather than making her scantily clad to appeal to adolescent boys.

Can it be both?

Retr0gamer

Yep. To be honest this games depiction of the main protagonist could be considered measured and sensible compared to what's popular in japan at the moment. Take a look at idolmaster 2, or don't if you are in work:

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=437946

Azure_sky

I think my head just exploded...

Genghiz Cohen

I think my pants ju....

K.O.Kiki

She's a cheerleader.

Cheerleaders like that would be considered under-boobed and over-dressed IRL.

Ladies and gentlemen:
The Dallas Cowboys' cheersquad:

deathrider

Mr.Bump!!

Am I the only one that's really hyped about Lollipop Chainsaw? It's only a few weeks away now, and I can't wait to get my hands on it.

cherryghost

I completely forgot about it. Saw the valentine's day trailer. Can't wait now :P

deathrider

There have been a few more trailers out since. They keep getting funnier if you ask me. The one for the fake special edition is great.

chin_grin

deathrider wrote: »

There have been a few more trailers out since. They keep getting funnier if you ask me. The one for the fake special edition is great.

Watched that the other day (mmm Nigri! :pac:), on the floor laughing with the bleeped bits.

Mindkiller

Looks bad. If it's meant to be a joke then it went right over my head. I've seen more of Jessica Nigri in the promo material than I have of actual gameplay, and the gameplay itself doesn't seem up to much. It's just more tired old 'zany' Japanese humour.

Defiler Of The Coffin

The cheerleader reminds me of Sylvia Crystal from No More Heroes. Suda 51 is a lunatic.

I'm remember at the end of No More Heroes when Henry revealed himself

as Sylvia's husband

. With a rubbish Irish accent and all. Never laughed so much at a game.

johnny_ultimate

There's a few brilliant Japanese game and filmmakers that I have genuine trouble deciphering whether they're genuinely misogynistic or hilariously ironic. Suda 51 toes that line from time to time. While I tend to thoroughly enjoy his games, I do feel he can be a bit too rough and ready at times with games like Shadows of the Damned and 3nd Impact. Good and highly entertaining games, but sometimes his works fall short of greatness due to a few frustrating shortcomings. I'd compare him to film director Sion Sono - their wild overindulgence is both their most positive and most negative traits. It's as if with another month or two of polish, they could be amazing rather than really good.

I'm genuinely not sure what to make of this yet. I really won't be able to tell until people start playing it whether it's OTT trash or ripping the piss out of OTT trash. It's a fine line, and I honestly think it might be a little bit of both. I overheard someone once hilariously refer to some trashy idea of theirs as 'exploitation art'. This might be a similar contradiction.

The involvement of James Gunn - Hollywood's finest purveyor of pitch black humour and genre deconstruction - is, however, a sign for cautious optimism.

chin_grin

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

There's a few brilliant Japanese game and filmmakers that I have genuine trouble deciphering whether they're genuinely misogynistic or hilariously ironic. Suda 51 toes that line from time to time. While I tend to thoroughly enjoy his games, I do feel he can be a bit too rough and ready at times with games like Shadows of the Damned and 3nd Impact. Good and highly entertaining games, but sometimes his works fall short of greatness due to a few frustrating shortcomings. I'd compare him to film director Sion Sono - their wild overindulgence is both their most positive and most negative traits. It's as if with another month or two of polish, they could be amazing rather than really good.

I'm genuinely not sure what to make of this yet. I really won't be able to tell until people start playing it whether it's OTT trash or ripping the piss out of OTT trash. It's a fine line, and I honestly think it might be a little bit of both. I overheard someone once hilariously refer to some trashy idea of theirs as 'exploitation art'. This might be a similar contradiction.

The involvement of James Gunn - Hollywood's finest purveyor of pitch black humour and genre deconstruction - is, however, a sign for cautious optimism.

Great comment! Yeah I'm not sure if this is going to go a little 'grindhouse' on us, if it'll be self-aware/deprecating or take itself a little too seriously.

I think it'll be a fun game. Won't win any awards, but like the appeal for the likes of Mad World I'll probably be too busy going "f*ck yeah!" at the gratuitous amount of gore....hopefully.

Retr0gamer

I find his games pretty rough as well. However I end up enjoying Suda 51's games far more than the highly polished generic of most big budget games. Some of the games I've enjoyed the most this generation have been highly flawed but ambitious games such as Nier, Fragile Dreams and Deadly Premonition so I welcome more of it.

johnny_ultimate

Not suggesting I don't like or enjoy his games - I do agree gaming is a much richer place with his presence, and I still look forward to his games more than most other gaming 'auteurs' out there. Say what you will, but at least he has character and a recognisable style, which is such a change from the faceless big budget games out there.

Doesn't mean there hasn't been a few times in his games when I just wanted to shout at the screen. I know the 'jobs' in No More Heroes were meant to be repetitive and frustrating, but I also thought some of the bosses and combat sections were over grindy too (and not as clearly on purpose). Similarly, there were segments in Shadows of the Damned (which is mostly an endearingly oddball slice of grindhouse fun) where I just wished the mechanics were a little tighter, that the level design was more inspiring or that the occasional undercooked idea was more convincingly explored. And, ironic or not, the endless barrage of penis jokes worked the whole range: from childishly amusing to just childish.

Again, I go back to the Sion Sono comparison (and I'd really recommend checking out his films for anyone who is fond of offbeat storytelling). I love his films, and I genuinely think he's one of the most fascinating voices out there. But his films are usually half an hour (or more) too long, with moments of pointless repetition. He repeats the same music over and over (even between different films), and he has an infuriating fondness for having his large breasted wife wear various cleavage hugging pieces of clothing for no apparent reason (provoking that old 'is this guy misogynistic or ironic?' argument again). And yet, the ideas are strong and provocative enough to keep you engaged through all this madness.

It's the same with Suda - just this feeling that if they stepped back and took a little longer with the material (both churn out new works at a rather frantic rate) that they could get over that and make something truly remarkable. It's that hint and niggling sensation that these fascinating voices are capable of even greater things, which is why you have to keep willing that they eventually well achieve it.

But then again: if Suda 51 did dial back on the crazy or the (somewhat endearing) sloppiness, would he still be as unique and interesting? It's a curious little argument, IMO, although I'm not convinced by the publicity material that Lollipop Chainsaw isn't exploitative. At least the rainbow blood is amusing

Defiler Of The Coffin

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

Not suggesting I don't like or enjoy his games - I do agree gaming is a much richer place with his presence, and I still look forward to his games more than most other gaming 'auteurs' out there. Say what you will, but at least he has character and a recognisable style, which is such a change from the faceless big budget games out there.

Doesn't mean there hasn't been a few times in his games when I just wanted to shout at the screen. I know the 'jobs' in No More Heroes were meant to be repetitive and frustrating, but I also thought some of the bosses and combat sections were over grindy too (and not as clearly on purpose). Similarly, there were segments in Shadows of the Damned where I just wished the mechanics were a little tighter, or the plethora of ideas were more convincingly explored.

Again, I go back to the Sion Sono comparison (and I'd really recommend checking out his films for anyone who is fond of offbeat storytelling). I love his films, and I genuinely think he's one of the most fascinating voices out there. But his films are usually half an hour (or more) too long, with moments of pointless repetition. He repeats the same music over and over (even between different films), and he has an infuriating fondness for having his large breasted wife wear various cleavage hugging pieces of clothing for no apparent reason (provoking that old 'is this guy misogynistic or ironic?' argument again). And yet, the ideas are strong and provocative enough to keep you engaged through all this madness.

It's the same with Suda - just this feeling that if they stepped back and took a little longer with the material (both churn out new works at a rather frantic rate) that they could get over that and make something truly remarkable. It's that hint and niggling sensation that these fascinating voices are capable of even greater things, which is why you have to keep willing that they eventually well achieve it.

But then again: if Suda 51 did dial back on the crazy or the (somewhat endearing) sloppiness, would he still be as unique and interesting? It's a curious little argument, IMO, although I'm not convinced by the publicity material that Lollipop Chainsaw isn't exploitative. At least the rainbow blood is amusing

The problem I found with both No More Heroes was that they got quite repetitive quickly enough into the game. The fighting mechanics were spot on and all that but really the games grinded down to just swinging the Wii Remote at room after room of faceless goons. The bike parts in the first game were terrible!

Still it was worth persevering just to see what the hell would happen next.

For some reason I didn't feel the same with Killer 7. Something about that game just hooked me deeply. It's one of the few games where someone watching it can almost enjoy it as much as the player. Best ending in a game ever as well. It was my first introduction to Suda so was happy times!

Retr0gamer

I think the all the problems mentioned with Suda 51's games could be fixed if he had a bigger budget but nobody is going to give him one. His games all sell about 50,000 copies and they are budgeted for that. For how ambitious they are and the lack of funding it's an accomplishment that Grasshopper manage to get so much done or even published at all.

It's not like he can't make a game with amazingly deep and complex systems, just look at his work on the Fire Pro Wrestling games, widely considered the best wrestling games ever made. He had the time and money back then to perfect the game before release. I think now he just has to make do with what he has. I wouldn't have it any other way though.

johnny_ultimate

I wouldn't say it's entirely down to budget, but it's certainly a concern. All of his games do have an underlying trashy / over-sexualised streak: call it catering to the market, but it can get repetitive and slightly embarrassing. And No More Heroes is meandering, overlong game: some of that by design, but he certainly struggles to marry the basic (and quite thrilling, it must be said) katana mechanics with compelling situations to use it in.

Wouldn't have it any other way? Well, I'd love if he got more money and artistic freedom :P But I do think all in all the evidence points to a deeply flawed genius, and I don't think all of his overindulgences or shortcomings can be explained away by mere budget constraints.

deathrider

There's a 20min vid of gameply with commentary over it after popping up on Gamespot today. Not going to watch it myself though. I'd rather play a demo than watch two lads talk about how good/bad it is.