OXCGN Review- Itagaki presents The Dishwasher: Dead Samurai

Does the Community Game cut it on XBLA?

By TWODOGSz

©2009 Aaron Bertinetti:- NE (News Editor)

Since the excellent Ninja Gaiden 2, gaming has been bereft of hardcore slice and dice titles. And yet in the absence of the master, The Dishwasher: Dead Samurai’s release is something that would surely make even Tomonobu Itagaki grin ear to bloody ear.

Personally, I suspect that somehow Dishwasher is Itagaki’s long lost love child. The great developer, who arguably one year on can still lay claim to the best action gameplay engine, must have been doing something post-Tecmo besides maintaining his effortless sex, drugs and rock n’ roll chic.

• Just check this GDC 08 Gameplay out . . . “violent & bloody – love it?!”

The long straggled hair, milk white skin, and a penchant for swords and guitars suggest Itagaki might just have had a fling with The Behemoth to produce Edward Scissorhands long lost dishwashing brother.

Because Dishwasher, much like Itagaki’s other children, has a ridiculous plot, fluid gameplay, beautiful art design, maddeningly difficult enemies, and an infinite lust for blood. In fact the only thing missing are the silicon tits!

But then that’s just me.

Dishwasher is the XBLA debut from Microsoft’s Dream Build Play winner, and one man development team extraordinaire, James Silva. Originally conceived whilst washing dishes and dreaming of Bruce Lee, Silva took three years before finally submitting his game to the Dream Build Play competition in 2007. A marathon of polishing, bug-zapping, certification and almost two years later Dishwasher is chopping up on XBLA.

The story is mostly a throwaway about a seemingly ordinary dishwasher who mysteriously finds a talent for Japanese slaughter when he wakes up in a world indoctrinated by cyborgs, after said cyborgs remove his heart. Needless to say, without his heart the nameless protagonist is one cold-hearted, sadistic bastard.

But what will likely and immediately appeal to most is the art design and distinct style of the bloodlust proceedings. Drawing heavily from The Behemoth’s Alien Hominid (quite literally in some regards), Silva has splashed a sparse palette of blood red and dead black on a blurry white canvas.

Whilst not to everyone’s appeal, the presentation immediately gets your attention with its bold vision of blurry backgrounds against crisp foregrounds.

And it serves the action well, achieving a contrast that highlights the frenzy in the foreground with impressive panache. Perhaps not so accomplished are the admittedly clever, diagonally scrolling stories that whilst in a panelled comic style, lose some of their impact by virtue of illustrations being to blurry to decipher.

But then maybe that’s the point because this game has one concern and one concern only. To beat you over the head until you master the array of combos, dashes and magic with but a few weapons and a hell of a lot of resolve.

It’s a definite barrier of entry to most, who will no doubt download the demo, throw the controller in disgust and then go back to more forgiving beat em ups like Castle Crashers.

But for those who stick around, there’s plenty of reward and notoriety amongst your friends, even if you finish this game on the default difficulty setting. Yep Itagaki would most definitely be proud.

Combat is dominated by the face buttons with light attack, heavy attack, throw and jump. The left trigger in combination with the left thumbstick allows dashing and rolling, whilst the right trigger in combination with the face buttons activates magic. The shoulders are reserved for default magic and switching weapons, with the right bumper also acting as a handy cancel for the hardcore to really build their combos.

The move list is pretty standard but it’s the fluidity of movement and the responsiveness of the controls that will please. Branching moves across enemies and timing evasions and executions for health and magic bonuses becomes a necessity for survival.

Predictably there’s even a shop to upgrade your stats and weapons, but not without a very indie twist. If a player is adventurous enough they will come across bizarre rhythm mini games where you can rock out on axe guitars, playing spontaneous solos and thus earning the right to upgrade your weapons and stats.

It’s a curious distraction that gives the title some much needed quirky charm and some music that’s a hell of a lot more interesting than the repetitively banal theme.

Stranger still are the multiplayer modes, which are also “hidden” in the game’s second, vertically themed level. By “finding” these modes a player unlocks a fairly standard multiplayer mode along with a completely out there mode where a third player can play as the aforementioned guitar to not only attack, but literally uppercut enemies!

Taken to the nth degree, this means you can only play as the guitar with a guitar controller, where you senselessly mash the buttons and point it in the air for an uppercut.

It might’ve been a good idea at the time, but after two minutes of temporary hilarity I was relieved to hear that Tim Schafer sensibly scrapped a similar idea for Brutal Legend. It just doesn’t work and worse it distracts from a game that generally nails tight gameplay mechanics.

And it’s a good thing the gameplay and difficulty curve are engaging, because the level design is extremely linear and lacking in inspiration. There are a couple of bright spots, such as the odd vertical level with multiple paths, challenge rooms and an on rails interlude, but generally it moves left to right with unchallenged certainty.

Alleviating this somewhat, are the wealth of game modes that make complaining a tad rich. From the mighty efforts of one man, there are 14 story levels, 50 arcade challenges, 5 difficulties to beat and an online leaderboard mode called “Dish Challenge” if you’re still keen. It’s just a shame that after almost two years in the Microsoft certification process I can’t play co-op with my buddies over Live.

The Dishwasher: Dead Samurai wears its influences heavily on its sleeve, and whilst the emperor in new clothes fails to live up to XBLA’s best, it will mostly please the hardcore slicers and dicers amongst us for an amicable 800 Microsoft Points.

If you like a hardcore button masher with a sense of style and a maddeningly high difficulty level it’s probably worth your calloused hands. Just remember that if you haven’t already, you can pick up the superior and far more charming Alien Hominid for exactly the same price.

Critiques aside, Dishwasher has much more importance beyond the game itself.

Microsoft has invested a lot of time in creating an accessible and attractive system to encourage aspiring developers to practice and promote their development skills on their platform. Dishwasher represents a path for future XNA developers and introduces the broader community of Xbox Live to what’s possible in what are still the early days of XNA and Community Games.

Ultimately it’s the relative success (or otherwise) of Dishwasher at a critical and commercial level that will vindicate Microsoft’s determined investments. So whilst as a game I can find fault, it’s in that broader regard I suspect The Dishwasher: Dead Samurai will be a resounding success.

©2009 Aaron Bertinetti:- NE (News Editor)

”7.5/10

”7.5/10

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Filed under: 3rd Party Games, Console gaming, XBLA News-Reviews, Xbox 360, Xbox 360 News, XboxLive Marketplace Tagged: | Alien Hominid, Dead Samurai, dishwasher dead samurai review, Dishwasher game, Itagaki, Itagaki san, James Silva, Microsoft's Dream Build Play, Ninja Gaiden 2, post-Tecmo, The Dishwasher Dead Samurai revies, XBLA Dishwasher