'Lollipop Chainsaw' game is bloody ridiculous

— -- The only thing weirder than a chainsaw-wielding cheerleader who hunts zombies is when she carries around her boyfriend's disembodied head hooked to her skirt.

This is the bizarre premise to Lollipop Chainsaw, a gory, sexy and campy action game for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

While its over-the-top premise, upgradeable combat moves and great soundtrack make this odd adventure a unique and memorable one, it ultimately proves to be a disappointing romp — and certainly not worth the $60 price tag.

Published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, Lollipop Chainsaw follows Juliet Starling, a blonde and pigtailed high-school cheerleader with a fantastic secret: she's really a trained zombie hunter. Good thing, actually, as a zombie outbreak ravages her school, and so Juliet trades her pompoms with a giant chainsaw used to slice and dice the undead before they can infect others.

In fact, Juliet's boyfriend gets bitten by a zombie early on in the single-player adventure, and so she does the only thing she can think of to save him from turning into one of them: cut off his head before the infected blood reaches it, and cast a spell so he can stay alive (while hanging off the back of her skirt on a hook, no less).

I mentioned this game was ridiculous, yes?

Juliet can also use his head as a weapon or attach it to a headless zombie to temporarily help her ward off the creatures.

Lollipop Chainsaw is played from a cinematic third-person perspective, therefore gamers see Juliet on the screen at all times. Some of her basic moves include a jump kick, acrobatic somersaults in the air (over zombies' heads) and slashing enemies in a number of directions. Sure, this game is gory — Juliet can saw zombies in half both vertically and horizontally, and behead three or four of them with one chainsaw spin — but during the combat you'll also see glitter, stars and rainbows splash out of the zombie bodies. Strange, indeed. There's even a timed minigame in the school gym that challenges Juliet to cut off as many zombie heads as possible in three minutes — and have them land in the basketball net to score more than 100 points.

Over time, the voluptuous Juliet will master new moves and weapons by purchasing them at magical store kiosks that pop up — which will come in handy when she takes on tougher baddies including ones lit on fire, exploding zombies and major boss battles.

Quirky? Of course. Fun? Yes, for a short while anyway. The action gets repetitive, even while unlocking new locations, enemies and fighting moves. And when Juliet dies, you must start again from earlier on in the game - therefore repeating a portion of the game you already saw. Instead, a better save system could have been implemented.

Other issues include a finicky camera that can obscure your view (especially in tight places), no multiplayer modes and vulgar comments uttered by zombies (most of which are sexual in nature).

Lollipop Chainsaw doesn't take itself seriously and neither should you. But while the absurd premise, intense combat and attractive graphics (and great music) will keep you interested, the fun dies down after an hour of play, or so. If the strange concept of this "Mature"-rated title intrigues you, however, rent it for the weekend or wait for it appear in the bargain bin of your favorite video game store.

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Lollipop Chainsaw

Platform: Microsoft Xbox 360, Sony PlayStation 3

Genre: Action

Developer: Grasshopper Manufacture

Publisher: Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment

Web site: www.lollipopchainsaw.com

Price: $59.99

Rating: Mature

Score: 2.5 stars (out of 4)

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Contact Saltzman at techcomments@usatoday.com. Follow him on Twitter: @marc_saltzman.