Controversy with Lollipop Chainsaw

This is an interesting dilemma.  Let's look at Suda 5 1's latest "trip" Lollipop Chainsaw.  Suda 5 1, and please forgive the comparison, because I mean this to be a compliment to both gentlemen, is the Joss Whedon of the gaming world.  When you're watching something that was written or directed by Whedon, like Marvel's The Avengers, you get the feeling from the start that he had something to do with it.  The film is usually overflowing with character, and has some of the quickest and wittiest dialogue out there.  The same comparison could be said about Suda and his Grasshopper Manufacture.  When you're playing a Suda trip, there's no doubt in your mind that is what you're playing.  It is impossible to mistake his direction and creativity with anybody else.

This comes as double edged sword, unfortunately.  His games are always hyper Mature rated, and sometimes I wonder myself how he doesn't manage the ever elusive "Adults Only" branding (bet you didn't even know there was an AO rating, did you?)  While his games are overflowing with style and originality, the same could also be said for the violence and dialogue.  This means, much like South Park or a George Carlin HBO special, if you walk away from it without feeling offended, than I don't believe Suda 5 1 thinks he did his job.


Does this make it a bad game?  No.  In fact, it's not a bad game at all, it's actually like good.  It's not Suda's best game, that would be last year's winner of the Enygma "Best Game that Nobody Played" Award, Shadows of the Damned.  However, it is still really fun to play, and the offensive humor will indeed have you laughing at times (especially the verbal exchanges with her boyfriend).


So why can't Suda catch a break?  It's really hard for me to say, as an outsider looking into the world of the game review media.  It's the one aspect of this business I know little about, but if I had to theorize, I would have to say that I think a reputable gaming website probably finds a game with the type of sophomoric humor that this game bleeds from start to finish, beneath their standards.  Perhaps they are worried about the backlash on giving a game that uses very specific phrases to demean women a higher score?  Maybe it's the fact that the main character, Juliet Starling, is really not all that bright?  Maybe its' a combination of all those things?


Lollipop Chainsaw, and more importantly Suda 5 1, manages to do something that most games wish they could do, but fail miserably.  It can be summed up with one word, style.  It might be offensive, risque and gory, but it also has style.  I think we need more games to think outside of the box of what is the norm, and have originality and style.  No, I don't mean a half naked, foul mouthed cheerleader with a chainsaw, I just mean putting something different out there besides what the norm is.  Army guy with a gun.  Football player.  Guy with an impossible haircut and a big sword.  This stuff has been done to death.  Get some style in there, do something different.  We need more of that in gaming, or we could be more like Hollywood.  That reminds me, we just had a Three Musketeers movie recently, so isn't it time for another Robin Hood retelling?