Why Lollipop Chainsaw is Bringing Back The Fun

In today's world of video games, we're expected to hop on dramatic rides all the time. Military first-person shooters rip stories from the history books as well as current headlines. Rockstar provides us troubled protagonists with dark backgrounds that typically come back to haunt them. Even Tomb Raider, once a simple tale of treasure hunting, is rewriting itself as the sinister genesis of a woman who must claw her way back to civilization. What the hell happened to having a good time with a game? I enjoy my doom and gloom with my games, but I will also sit down and run through the Mushroom Kingdom on a regular basis or take a trip through one of the many worlds of Final Fantasy. When I put Lollipop Chainsaw into my system recently, I was treated to an opening steamy shower scene followed by a Runaways classic song and an immediate zombie infestation. Goichi Suda, known to his endearing fans as Suda51, treads a perfect line between love for his creations and not giving a damn what the general public thinks of his games and characters. Like Killer7, No More Heroes, its sequel and Shadows of the Damned, Lollipop Chainsaw was not for a moment intended to please an audience raised on a steady diet of Call of Duty, Tapout shorts and Monster Energy drinks (although the latter might come in handy for racking up your high score). It warms my heart to think of commercials for this game eliciting a collective €œWTF?!€ from their audience who may or may not be Grasshopper Manufacture€™s targeted demographic. Suda keeps gaming fun with every anticipated release. I have lost count how many times I smiled, smirked and snorted my drink from the horndog displays of Travis Touchdown and the sly cockiness of Garcia Hotspur. From the moment Lollipop Chainsaw was revealed until the day I had it delivered to my mailbox, my anticipation grew with each new boss battle and licensed song that came to light. I am one mere hour into the game, and despite my knowledge of the relatively short length, I am already planning strategies for the Ranking mode. Rock of Ages will be released in theaters later today, and the same people who are trashing the film are the ones who think Lollipop Chainsaw is nothing more than exploitative, juvenile junk. They are right, but more importantly, they are completely missing the point. For every Citizen Kane, there is a Piranha 3D; for every Modern Warfare, there is a Deadly Premonition. I hope Lollipop Chainsaw sells well - not enough to chart, necessarily, but enough to send a message to both WB and Grasshopper that we need more experiences like the ones Suda loves to give us. Of course, given all the crazy lines of dialogue I€™ve been given in my first hour of Lollipop Chainsaw, I can only imagine what he has in store for next time.