So I've got this thing for games that don't take themselves seriously. There are games that crank the crazy up to eleven. Lollipop Chainsaw starts at twelve and goes hogwild from there. It's definitely not for everyone; the gameplay takes some getting used to, the humor is polarizing fare, and there are some notable overall flaws. However, if you're a fan of Suda 51's games (Shadows of the Damned, No More Heroes, among other insane gems), you'd do well to pick this one up.

Lollipop Chainsaw is clearly going for the comic book vibe. It features a strange-looking filter that lines everything with an odd square-based texture, but it's not out of place. Juliet animates wonderfully; she operates with the same level of grace as The Bride from Kill Bill, if not more. After all, the lass is a super sexy cheerleader. The action looks equally absurd and violent; after a zombie head is liberated from its neck, the stump sprouts sparkles and hearts. And this is taken to the nth degree when you succeed at Sparkle Hunting. More on that later. In terms of pure technical artistry, Lollipop Chainsaw isn't impressive. Some of the textures are dull, which leads to the notion that perhaps much of the level design is simply a means to an end.

Lollipop Chainsaw has one of the best licensed soundtracks in any game. Ever. Toni Basil's "Mickey" rivals Queen's "Don't Stop Me Now" for the title of Most Inappropriate-Yet-Completely-Appropriate Song to Slaughter Zombies to. There are some truly inspired choices for certain situations, and trust me when I tell you that they are best left unspoiled. In between the quirky picks is a wonderfully fitting selection of death and punk metal.

Voice acting is top notch. Tara Strong hits all the right notes as Juliet; her airheaded delivery of the airheaded lines makes the character endearing rather than annoying. Even better is Michael Rosenbaum as Juliet's boyfriend Nick; his lines heavily subvert the old fashioned "meatheaded hunk" trope that so many high school dramas have instilled in our collective conscious. Nick is perhaps the only sane person in this game, and his hysterically funny reactions to the insanity around him make him one of the most hilarious and endearing supporting characters I've seen since, well, Johnson from Shadows of the Damned.

I can only imagine how the pitch for Lollipop Chainsaw was made. I picture Goichi Suda strolling into the room with his trademark punk rockish attire: "Gentlemen, we believe the zombie apocalypse requires three more things: pom-poms, sparkles, and tits." That statement could very well have resulted in the game's greenlighting. If you're a fan of Grasshopper Manufacture's delightfully twisted body of work, you'll be glad to know that Lollipop Chainsaw delivers just about what you'd expect from their take on the zombie apocalypse.

Lollipop Chainsaw stars Juliet Starling, a buxom ditz of a cheerleader who leads the squad at San Romero High School (see what they did there?). Her eighteenth birthday is pretty much ruined when she shows up at school only to find out that almost everyone is undead. Lucky for her, she's part of a quirky (to say the very least) family that hunts zombies. She arrives at school and finds her boyfriend Nick, just in time for him to get bitten. So, she severs his head with her chainsaw and casts a spell to keep the head living. The script is often laugh-out-loud hilarious, but it is always (ALWAYS) batsh*t crazy. At times, you'll wonder if they thought "I bet nobody has ever said this exact sequence of words before." That being said, the main characters are always fun to watch. The story is classic Grasshopper fare. A goth kid's sick of the torment he's received from his fellow classmates, and he plans to unleash the Dark Purveyors of Rotten World to turn everyone into zombies. So it's up to Juliet and her insane family to kill them all.

Lollipop Chainsaw is a very linear action game that shuttles you (as Juliet) through six distinct areas surrounding San Romero High. Some of them act as homages to horror veterans -- Dan O'Bannon of Alien fame gets a shout-out in the form of a farm, and Lucio Fulci gets an arcade named after him. Most of the game consists of plowing forward through combat situations, most of which require you to kill a number of zombies before allowing you to progress further. However, the game goes off on some unbelievable zany tangents from time to time, and I refuse to spoil so much as a single one.

Lollipop Chainsaw is not a difficult game, but you might be killed a few times out of carelessness. Lollipops (restoratives) are all over the place, and zombies tend not to cause much damage as long as you stay in motion.

Suda 51 and Grasshopper knows how to make boss fights. They are incredibly creative and entertaining (much like in their last game, Shadows of the Damned), but like the rest of the game, they aren't particularly tough. Most of them consist of a few phases, each of which usually ends with Juliet slowly carving the boss in half.

Juliet Starling's combat repertoire takes a bit of getting used to at first; this is likely because the control scheme is different from most similar action games. She has a number of combat options; pom-poms, acrobatics, and of course, her trusty chainsaw. Some of you might be thinking "Why doesn't she just go hogwild with the chainsaw?" Well, that might be a good option in the real world, but zombies must first be made groggy before they're ready to shuffle off whatever twisted coil they occupy. Pom-pom attacks are good for that.

As Juliet trudges down the warpath, she earns zombie medals, which can then be spent at special shopping kiosks. Regular medals can buy consumables (ammo, health, etc.) as well as new attacks and upgrades. Platinum medals are harder to acquire, but unlock new costumes, MP3s, and other collectibles. You won't get everything on your first playthrough, and if you want to completely level Juliet up, you'll probably finish during your second playthrough.

If you can manage to slaughter between three and seven zombies at once, the game will go into a stylish slow-motion shot of all of them losing their heads at once and dissolving into pink and white sparkles. This is called Sparkle Hunting, and it results in zombie medal bonuses, as well as at least one platinum medal.

Nick isn't just a fashion accessory; the spell cast on him gives him unique abilities. He can be placed on headless zombies; this gives him the ability to clear paths by some means, usually explosive. Additionally, Nick Tickets allow Juliet to either use him as one of a few comical combat weapons or to earn bonus zombie medals.

Lollipop Chainsaw isn't the best action game around, nor is it the best of Suda 51's games. However, it's such a carefree and subversive romp that it may just have the power to charm even the most jaded of zombie killers. I'm sick to death of the zombie craze, but I couldn't stop smiling while playing Lollipop Chainsaw.