(This was originally a post over on IGN's website under their review of Lollipop Chainsaw. I've modified it slightly to add it here to my blog.)
IGN gave Lollipop Chainsaw a score of 5, or "Mediocre". Here's a link to the review if you'd like to read it for yourself.
I'm not entirely surprised at the score from IGN. When there was no review day one I figured their score would be low.
Yakuza 4 and Deadly Premonition also come to mind. IGN gave those games less than favorable reviews(particularly Deadly Premonition), and I really enjoyed them both.
I'm glad I had Lollipop Chainsaw reserved and bought it through Amazon for $45. Personally, I'm really enjoying it. It's pretty short, but it has replay value. There are two endings, a good number of moves and combos to unlock, costumes and collectibles. There's also a Ranked mode with leaderboards, though I may not bother with it too much.
The art style is well done. The reviewer here thinks the animations are "janky", but I think they're consistent. Nothing took me out of the experience graphically at all.
Tara Strong(Juliet) is arguably the most well known voice actress out there. I was really surprised that the reviewer filed her voice work under "bad". Michael Rosenbaum(Nick) was pretty solid overall, but honestly I felt like a few of his lines could have been delivered better. One that stuck out was "Awesome.", which you'll hear him say occasionally during a Sparkle Hunt. It's unenthusiastic monotone, barely audible. It only happens on occasion but whenever I hear it, it sticks out like a sore thumb. You also hear Nick repeat lines many times at certain points. Maybe they couldn't get Michael Rosenbaum for as long as they initially planned, so they couldn't redo some of his lines?
The guy is a great actor and has done some awesome voice work before(Nishki in the first Yakuza for PS2, Flash in Justice League:DOOM), so it sucked that he was the one guy who stuck out in a bad way, even if only for a line here or there.
I liked the boss battles. Like any other boss battle, you figure out the pattern and you do it. The reviewer complains about one hit deaths during boss battles. There are some instances where you can get killed during a level (or boss fight I guess, but that hasn't happened to me so far), if you don't fire at something fast enough or race somewhere quick enough. When that happens you continue from a nearby point. It might be frustrating for someone who can't figure out what to do and keeps dying, but once you know what to do it's not bad at all. Even then, I'd be surprised if anyone got "stuck" on this game. it leads you from point A to point B pretty easily, and you've got Nick telling you how to beat bosses even when you're already doing it sometimes.
The combat certainly isn't God of War or Ninja Gaiden, but it does more than get the job done. The lock-on system works well. By the end of the game you'll have a variety of attacks that make mowing through zombies go by faster. If you're eager to set up big Sparkle Hunts it'll still take a little time, but it's still a solid combat system.
Even with this game's short length, I think "mediocre" is a tad harsh. I won't sit here and bash IGN like I don't stop here everyday and read an article, but I will say that they are not the only opinion out there. For games like this(well ALL games, but especially "niche" titles) it's really important to get multiple opinions.
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