The Dishwasher: Dead Samurai does a lot to promote the XNA Game Express Studio scheme, which looks to encourage independent projects. There are a lot of aspects of the game that are likeable, but a few issues work against an otherwise good game. Well, first off, there’s the issue of the name. Often referred to simply as Dishwasher, can you imagine telling someone who isn’t into games that you’re playing this? Heck, some gamers will probably raise an eyebrow.
Woah, I'm over here!
Dishwasher is a 2D side-scrolling beat ‘em up, with a completely ridiculous premise. We’re usually quite open to the most outlandish of story concepts, but this takes it too far. You play as Dishwasher, a former kitchen-hand brought back to life to go and avenge his sister and take down a cybernetic cult. That doesn’t sound too bad but the execution is terrible, driven by completely disjointed comic strips that are hard to make out. It’s impossible to tell whether the story is serious, or seriously taking the mickey out of players or even the actual sequence of plot events. In the end, everything that tries to be ‘cool’ falls flat and leaves a horrible mishmash of failed clichés and innuendo.
The gameplay from Dishwasher harks back to another era, though tries to add some modern touches. Essentially, Dishwasher roams through over a dozen levels, hacking his way through anything and everything, while sometimes stopping to find a key or other important item, and sometimes taking part in a guitar-playing mini game. Theoretically, the levels aren’t very long and should make for a good arcade game to just pick-up and play. Unfortunately, that is not the case.
Dishwasher is a very acquired taste. The masochists who believe that gaming peaked in the 1980s will be the most likely group to get their kicks out of the game. This is because the game is hard, but not in a good way. The difficulty stems from enemies that won’t die. Well, not until you’ve waled an excessive number of hits on them and not until you upgrade your weaponry. A lot. It’s sad because the enemies come off as an annoyance, rather than a driver for the gameplay. The bosses are fast and furious, but by the time you’ve figured them out, you’ve probably run out of lives and are back at the start.
The foot is mightier than the sword.
It would be all good and well for the enemies to be hard to kill, except you’ll be buried under wave after wave of these annoying buggers. The fault lies with a combat system that while astute for a 2D plane, doesn’t reward the player for their skill such as Devil May Cry. Instead, it rewards luck, particularly as you often (eventually) kill an enemy before you get a chance to try for an item drop. Another annoying issue is the implementation of the archaic 'lives' system, which would have been fine if you didn't lose everything that you collected and upgraded along the way.
So while for the first five minutes, you may think “hey, this is pretty cool”, you’re brought back down to earth with a thud. It isn’t until about half way through the game (and potentially a number of hours later) that your weapons are strong enough and you’ve found the chainsaw that game becomes a bit more of an exhibition as opposed to a chore. Dishwasher is the kind of game that you’ll almost be forced to play through on easy (which still isn’t that easy!) to upgrade and unlock as much as possible before you move on. At the end of the day, some will thrive on this and others won’t. However, there are better games out there that will test your skill and not your patience with the design flaws.
It’s a shame, because it’s actually a rather astute package. At it’s best, Dishwasher is ridiculously brutal and has a variety of weapons and 'dish magic' to be unleashed on the unsuspecting hordes of the undying. The story mode has replayability, if as mentioned, this is your kind of poison, as well as a large set of arcade levels to play through at your leisure. Furthermore, you can plug in a second controller and have someone join in the carnage. On price and features alone, Dishwasher is one of the better valued packages on the XBLA.
Dish magic... Is there anything NOT ridiculous in this game?
Graphically, the game is again, hit and miss but mainly hit. The animations are very smooth, there’s plenty of corn-syrup and explosions and it has to be said that the style is distinct. Again though, it will not cover everyone’s platter, as some would describe it as dull and drab or even something conceived by a bored high-school student taking arts so to avoid maths or science. The comic strips are especially contrived, as they are extremely hard to make out. The sound in the game tries to convey some eastern themes, though these get lost under a lot metal and other load noises. Still, this is one of the aspects of the game that fits without being too annoying.
The Dishwasher: Dead Samurai is a game that will break a lot of hearts, but not because of devious yet ingenious design. There are some that still get their kicks out of what starts and finishes as a masochistic experience. For the rest of us, it’s a real shame, because virtually everything else is here in place for a good or possibly a great package. It should be a lesson to other independent developers, to really keep gameplay design the focus, over trying to make the game ‘cool’ or audacious. Otherwise, things just fall flat.
I've got people that can vouch for those *looks at Denny and Jahanzeb* but at the end of the day, not everyone has the skills for the bills and a review should be for everyone.
Skillz have paid the billz, k thks bai
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