Review by: Michael Barnes

Ska Studio’s The Dishwasher: Dead Samurai was a simple hack n’ slash game that won Microsoft’s Dream-Build-Play contest in 2007 and was published via XBLA in 2009. Lead developer Jason Silva is back for another go at what seems to be the beginning of a franchise with an all-new sequel, subtitled Vampire Smile. If you haven’t played the original title then don’t expect much of the story in the new one to make a lick of sense. Yes, there’s a dishwasher and some samurai business but there also cyborgs, evil bankers, the Moon, homicidal hockey goalies, spooky nightmares, and the ability to use a giant syringe as a weapon. Strangely, there are no smiling vampires.

Enjoying all of this madness does not require an innate understanding of who the hell the Chef or the Fallen Engineer are, or how player characters Yuki and the Dishwasher fit into all of it. Fortunately, the game features plenty of fun, hack n’ slash gameplay that looks great and offers lots to do and see.

It’s easy to lobby a “style over substance” complaint against the game because it is both absolutely striking and fairly simplistic. In this way, it reminded me quite a lot of Vanillaware’s Muramasa: The Demon Blade, not only because the gameplay is similar but because that game also featured a similar combination of base gaming with an intense visual presentation. The game is rendered in a scratchy, gritty comics art style that favors sickly, muted tones punctuated by searing, hotly oversaturated colors. I honestly didn’t know the 360 could produce such bright pinks.

Character designs have a sketchy, somewhat vague quality and some of the bosses are quite stunningly well-illustrated. Animation is outstanding, and the whole affair has a unique look and feel that really comes to life when the on-screen action veers toward manic insanity with tons of enemies, missiles, magic effects, blood sprays, and other viscera defying the player to keep track of what exactly is going on. During the action, the camera shakes, zooms, and grain effects impart a very intense, visceral style. Epileptics should pass right by this one.

Despite the intensity level, control is outstanding, and the player characters have several attacks at their disposal to balance the overwhelming odds. Each can equip up to four different melee weapons, two guns, and four different kinds of “dish magic”. Each weapon has different combos, reach, speed, and advantages, so the player has a lot of freedom in deciding how to dispatch the thousands of robots, zombies, puppets, commandos, and so forth that the game continually spews forth.

The characters also have a cool evasion maneuver, wherein Yuki turns into a mist of blood, the Dishwasher into smoke. In later levels, this move becomes essential in defeating some of the tougher bosses. I was very pleased that the game had enough of a tactical edge to it that using the right weapons and evasion techniques, coupled with old-school gaming core skills like pattern recognition and observation trumped button-mashing time and time again. Early levels might feel a little on the button-mashy side, but as the game becomes progressively more difficult, more careful play is required.