From the darkly confusing Killer 7 on PlayStation 2 to the move-tastic No More Heroes on PS3. Japanese developers Grasshopper Manufacture have an impressive stable of titles under their belt. Studio head Suda51 likens him and his team a punk band, a ideal that is often apparent in a number of their uniquely left field titles. Recently Suda51 teamed up with Resident Evil 4 mastermind, Shinji Mikami and ex-Silent Hill sound designer Akira Yamaoka to release the criminally underrated Shadows of the Damned through EA Partners. Despite the game being all kinds of awesome, lack of advertising of any kind, lead to it selling hardly any copies. Although this has saddened us greatly here at PlayStationer.net, we can now turn those frowns upside down – as Suda51 is back and he ain’t changing for nobody.
Earlier today Japanese gaming bible Famitsu revealed to the world Grasshopper Manufacture’s next project – Lollipop Chainsaw. In which you play Juliet, a Cheerleader who’s just turned 18. When all of a sudden her high school his overrun with zombies. Little did they know, young Juliet hails from a long line of Zombie Hunters. And so banishing her trusty pink chainsaw, their brain-eating days are be numbered. If that hasn’t got you running to your local game retailer and slapping down a pre-order, then we don’t not what will.
Suda51 has described Lollipop Chainsaw as ‘a piece of pop zombie entertainment’ and is looking like it will draw upon aspects of his previous games No More Heroes and Shadows of the Damned, which can only lead to good things. Although Lollipop Chainsaw is a Zombie game, don’t expect bucket loads blood and gore, instead enemies will explode in wonderment of pink sparkles, which will only add further to pop-based themes Grasshopper Manufacture hope to achieve. It will also be interesting to hear how Yamaoka-san tackles the pop-flavoured soundtrack as his work on the Silent Hill games is a far from pop as you can get, but we’re sure he’ll once again pull it out the bag as he did with Shadows of the Damned.
We have a real soft spot for Suda51 and his development studio Grasshopper Manufacture. In a world of constant yearly updates and a raging fear of originality, they are consistently at the forefront trying something different. As we mentioned before the low sales of Shadows of the Damned really does sadden us, as if it was any other studio they just wouldn’t attempt to try new ideas. But alas, as Lollipop Chainsaw clearly shows, Suda5 isn’t preparing to stop flying the flag for creativity any time soon.
Source: Andriasang