| The Dishwasher: Dead Samurai | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Developer(s) | Ska Studios |
| Publisher(s) | Microsoft Game Studios |
| Designer(s) | James Silva |
| Engine | Microsoft XNA |
| Platform(s) | Xbox 360 (XBLA) |
| Release | April 1, 2009 [1] |
| Genre(s) | Side-scroller, beat 'em up, hack and slash |
| Mode(s) | Single-player, Multiplayer [2] |
The Dishwasher: Dead Samurai is a beat 'em up game developed by independent software developer James Silva for the Xbox 360's Xbox Live Arcade service. [3]
Gameplay revolves around an unnamed protagonist, ostensibly a dishwasher, as he fights through waves of increasingly stronger enemies until the boss fight and the end of the level. The player is given a basic starting weapon (meat cleavers) and can earn new weapons and upgrades by defeating bosses and collecting "spirals" from defeated enemies. Weapons include the cleavers, a katana, an Uzi/shotgun combo, chainsaw, and kama. Fighting is done through using either a basic attack, a strong attack, or a grab move, in combination or alone to string together chains of attacks for points. Enemies, once weakened, are susceptible to various "finishing moves" that yield even more points and health to the player. There is also a magic system, dubbed "Dish Magic", which can be bought at later levels. Also present is a guitar minigame, which can be played with the common guitar peripherals from the Guitar Hero and Rock Band series. [4]
There are two different game modes besides the Story Mode. In Dish Challenge the player must survive wave after wave of enemy attacks while attempting to score combos for points. The second extra mode is Arcade, which are short, one room levels which sometimes have certain themes or types on their own. The player is locked in with two weapons and one magic ability, and must kill all enemies. In addition to the standard Story Mode, there is a ranked mode that is set at the hardest difficulty, and up to 3 extra players in co-op mode which can play through the whole story (non-ranked only). [2]
Inspiration for The Dishwasher began in 2004 when James Silva was working as a dishwasher, and felt that the position earned too little respect. After pointing out to many people that Bruce Lee was a dishwasher, he began to envision a game about a dishwasher who "mercilessly slaughtered piles of extremely well trained evil minions". Several attempts were made on the game, with the first idea as a third-person shooter. This was later scrapped for a side-scrolling shooter, then a 3D side-scroller. Silva eventually settled on the current 2D design after working with XNA Game Studio Express. Work on the game proceeded for about four months before the eventual submission to Dream.Build.Play, and in the end had numerous levels, weapons, bosses, and thousands of frames of animation. [5]
The Dishwasher was the winner of Microsoft's initial Dream-Build-Play game development contest in 2007. Silva received US$10,000 and an Xbox Live Arcade publishing contract. [6]
| Aggregator | Score |
|---|---|
| Metacritic | 75/100 [7] |
| Publication | Score |
|---|---|
| Destructoid | 8/10 [8] |
| Edge | 8/10 [9] |
| Eurogamer | 8/10 [10] |
| GamePro | 3.75/5 [11] |
| GameRevolution | C+ [12] |
| GamesMaster | 84% [13] |
| GameSpot | 7.5/10 [14] |
| IGN | 7.3/10 [15] |
| Official Xbox Magazine (US) | 8/10 [16] |
| TeamXbox | 8.8/10 [17] |
| Teletext GameCentral | 3/10 [18] |
The Dishwasher received "generally favorable reviews" according to the review aggregation website Metacritic. [7]
Destructoid praised its art style, combat, character design, enemy variety, and amount of content while criticizing its dramatic writing and difficult learning curve. [8] Eurogamer heavily praised the game's visuals, writing, "Indeed, The Dishwasher is deceptively pretty - all sketchbook-and-crayons layered with smudgy atmosphere, caught in a deathly limbo somewhere between Ōkami , Castlevania , and Alien Hominid , while finding fault with overly precise controls and frustrating bosses." [10] GameSpot , GamesRadar+ , and IGN similarly commended the unique art design, challenging gameplay, and tight controls, while taking minor issue with the sometimes punishing difficulty and its inability to remain engaging until the end. [14] [15] [19] Official Xbox Magazine gave the game a favorable review, a few months before it was released worldwide. [16]
A sequel, The Dishwasher: Vampire Smile , was released in April 2011.
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