The Dishwasher: Dead Samurai Review - Xbox 360

7.5

Gameplay: 8
Graphics: 9
Audio: 8
Multiplayer: 8
Innovation: 6

Hearing the name of this game, one can’t help but ponder whether it has something to do with Gordon Ramsay, but thankfully the only association he can make with this game is in the introduction to this review. The Dishwasher is a game based on revenge, you are a lone Samurai, forced out of the kitchen to hack and slash your way through ninjas, samurais, jet-pack dudes, and even mummies. XBLA hasn’t seen anything like it, and it’s a welcome addition to the Xbox 360 Days of Arcade promotion.

James Silva, the designer of The Dishwasher, is a dishwasher turned game creator (true story!). He got tired of explaining to other kitchen folk that Bruce Lee was once a dishwasher too, so he set off to create his very own game where people would learn to respect the all mighty dishwasher. In the words of Eric Cartman himself, only one analogy can be made of this… “Da F***?” Award winning storyline or not, The Dishwasher is about blood, not washing dishes.

Gameplay

The Dishwasher: Dead Samurai revolves around a character that you can consider yourself as he has no name. You must fight your way through the story mode which gets consistently harder, or challenge yourself in the 50 arcade levels. There is also a Dish Challenge mode which is survival at its best, where you face wave after wave of enemies armed only with your choice of two weapons. Arcade mode pits you against constant waves of enemies as well, the only difference is that you only have to kill a few dozen for each level, and the weapons are mixed up.

There are five different weapons in The Dishwasher, which you can upgrade and switch around at your leisure. The most useful weapon is the Shift Blade. This weapon allows you to shift around the screen with the right analog stick, you can dodge enemies and basically fly around using this weapon. It’s not the strongest weapon in your arsenal, but probably the one you will use the most. There are two dual-weild weapons, the cleavers and the kama, and you are also blessed with a chainsaw later on in the game (or straight away depending on what mode you play first). The final weapon in your arsenal is called the.. err.. Arsenal - a machine gun that has a shotgun secondary fire. All weapons are more useful against certain enemies, so knowing which one to switch to is key to beating the game.

The story mode works similar to most platformers, you start at the far left of a map and must work your way to the far right. Most of the 14 levels in the story mode end in some sort of a boss fight, and some of them have puzzles to solve. None are too tricky though, the game is mainly focused on pitching you against as many tough enemies as possible and seeing if you can survive each room. All weapons are upgradable, but you need to gain items ...