Lollipop Chainsaw RePOP Review (PS5) | Push Square

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Let’s get one thing straight: Lollipop Chainsaw is amazing. This seminal, subversive monstrosity from the minds of legendary developer Suda51 and Hollywood big-shot James Gunn (in his PG Porn era, no less) is as amusing today as it was over a decade ago; it’s outrageous, ridiculous, obnoxious, garish – we absolutely love it, and we’d rank it among Grasshopper Manufacture’s best work. Unfortunately, this RePOP remaster isn’t as good as it could be – even if it’s better than nothing at all.

Running in 4K at a slightly inconsistent frame rate, the visual upgrades are adequate – although a lot of the antiquated animations remain. The original game was always a low-budget affair, but the issues stick out like a sore thumb on PS5, as objects evaporate out of existence and zombies inexplicably T-pose on the horizon. Cheerleader heroine Juliet Starling also doesn’t feel quite right; there’s a delay to the controls which makes combat feel swimmy rather than snappy, and some ill-conceived alterations to the speed and flow of the protagonist’s movements don’t really work as intended.

In more positive news, a dramatically rebalanced shop means you can unlock many of the character’s abilities much earlier in this version, and that seems like a smart alteration considering many of the combos in the original were locked behind unfathomable grinds. The chainsaw blaster has also been totally redesigned, and while it feels OP in this version, we kinda appreciate that; Lollipop Chainsaw, while it does have score attack elements, isn’t vying for an esports award, and so the lack of balance is fine from where we’re sitting.

We’re less keen on the eponymous RePOP mode, which tones down the blood and gore from the original release and replaces it with something a little more PG-13. While it’s optional, we reckon the developer could have gone further here, incorporating flowers and other paraphernalia to sell the family friendly presentation. We’re also upset at the lack of licensed music