Prepare to experience a story of revenge, blood and anger… of a dishwasher.
Dishwasher: Dead Samurai a 2D beat ’em up game produced by Ska Studios that arrived to Xbox Live arcade last week. It has been named one of the best community-created games and deserves a good look. Microsoft has provided us with a copy for review so let’s see if it is actually worth your Microsoft Points.
The main mode of Dishwasher: Dead Samurai is the story mode. You play as; you guessed it, a dishwasher. Not a common dishwasher he is but I don’t really want to spoil you. You’ll find more about the story as you progress via comic book strips. This is a really cool way to attract attention of the player but unfortunately you only get to see 4 or 5 frames per stage, having no cut scenes or voice performances also makes the beginning of the story kind of slow and confusing. Your first run of the story mode should take you 5-6 hours to complete on easy and medium difficulties. On the other hand, the hardest difficulties are insane so set aside 10 to 12 hours. If you are looking for a challenge then get comfy, because you will die a lot more than you really expect.
Gameplay is very fun and sometimes very addictive, you have X and Y to perform your weapon attacks, B lets you grab and toss the bad guys and A lets you jump. Combining these actions with others like dodging, teleporting or performing special attacks gives you the chance to pull off some impressing normal or aerial combos. You will be mashing buttons in order to perform those mind-blowing combos and to get some of the achievements related to them. Combos are important to win HP and orbs, useful for purchasing items.
Your weapon selection is kind of limited as there are only 5 weapons to choose from, but this is not a big deal as you get the chance to switch between weapons in the middle of a combo, keeping your choices limited also lets you master all of your weapons faster. There are 14 levels available in the game where you will find and fight a wide variety of enemies from agents (a la matrix), really weird-looking robots and even some zombies. When you defeat an enemy you have the chance to execute them in many ways (decapitation, impaling, you name it) and if you choose the right one (hinted by the games name itself) you win some extra orbs.
Picks are special items you use besides orbs to upgrade your weapons, HP bar or special attack slots. Most of the picks are hidden or given to you by completing special challenges. For instance you play a guitar solo concert mini game similar to guitar hero. You can also earn picks by finishing a determined amount of enemies before time runs out in certain screens. You must be really wise and know your style to decide what to upgrade because these items are really limited, and you should always upgrade the weapons you know how to use first, because you don’t know if you are going to find more picks later.
Story mode has multiplayer options, but they are kind of hard to understand. You don’t have the right to play multiplayer until you find a couple items. One of them lets you connect a guitar controller to your Xbox 360 and play as a ghost guitar; you move and help the dishwasher playing cords and actually lifting the guitar up. Unfortunately I have found this innovative idea become a very bizarre and kind of boring way to play. On the other hand the second item lets you play as the dishwasher’s shadow. As the shadow, the second player has the same abilities and weapons as the dishwasher.
This shadow character has an HP bar as well and actually dies but respawns after some time if the dishwasher manages to stay alive long enough. Playing with a friend as your shadow makes the game easier, but as the shadow also gets to kill stuff the first player’s score will also decrease if you choose this mode of play. Notice that these special items are the only way you will play the story mode with a friend.
The next mode on the list is the arcade mode. These are levels of one screen only, and your goal is to kill a predetermined number of foes without dying. You can play this by yourself, locally with a buddy or using Xbox Live to find someone to play with. There are a lot more levels in this mode than story, but it will only take you 2 or 3 minutes to complete each one. A cool thing about these levels is the change of rules; your weapons and special powers are already decided and you must fight according to special instructions for each level; things like fighting exclusively with aerial combos or having the damage increased by 4x. Unfortunately this change of rules is only in arcade mode; no other mode can enjoy this option.
There is also a survival mode called the Dish Challenge. You choose your weapons, have max special attacks and everything set up for you to slay as many bad guys as you can before dying. Then your score is uploaded to a leader board and you “compete” online for the best score. Not too bad but I’d have loved to see a 2 or 4-player option for this mode as well.
You have a training mode as well. There is not much to say about it as it is an empty room where you are slaying just air. It is useful to perfect those hard to nail combos, but boring after a while.
Visuals are generally good. All characters are well made and properly react to your actions. One of the best graphical achievements has to be the blood animation; you shall see lots of it. Unfortunately the backgrounds are very repetitive and not as polished as they could be. Complex screens have items like boxes or cages but unfortunately you cannot interact a lot with them. I’d love to see breakable boxes, spikes or even electric wires that you could use with finishing your combos. The music in Dishwasher: Dead Samurai is actually pretty good if you pay attention to it, and if you focus a lot on the battles you won’t even notice the music is there. Unfortunately sound effects are not as good, slash and slice effects are well done but screams and shots could use a little bit more realism.
Overall you will be playing around 10 to 12 hours in order to explore everything The Dishwasher: Dead Samurai has to offer. You may have to put in a couple more hours to get missing achievements. The action can get repetitive but it is also a very fun button masher. I know this game may sound a lot like Alien Hominid, but I can tell you it’s different, darker and sometimes a more challenging experience.
The Dishwasher: Dead Samurai was originally created by a single man (thank you, James Silva) and I have to say he really made a terrific game out of a cool and original concept. If you are into action, fast paced bloody games, The Dishwasher: Dead Samurai is definitely for you. If you hate to die a lot and find hard challenges frustrating, you may want to save those Microsoft Points.
This brutally difficult side-scroller is good, bloody entertainment. watch this review.
Founder of Ska-Studios James Silva is the brains behind, top rated games I MAED A GAM3 W1TH Z0MB1ES 1NIT!!!1) and Dishwasher: Dead Samurai.The studio has recently picked up another developer, so has double in size. (In case you’re thinking of investing.) Ska-Studio also recently announced the sequel to Dead Samurai, Dishwasher: Vampire Smile.
Major Nelson's Blog writes:
"This week, Xbox LIVE Gold members can purchase the Xbox LIVE Arcade game Dishwasher Dead Samurai for 1/2 off (400 points.)"
I picked this game up for 400 points and on an even better deal picked up the points on sale!
I felt like an ass buying it for 800 points when it came out. Not that it isn't good but the fact that it's so DAMN HARD! Also they changed a lot of things from the early XNA demo that came out and I didn't like the new co-op.
But man this game is HARD
