Dishwasher is five seconds of fun that happen over and over again. This is the simple truth, and the review may as well end here.

I am sure many of you still need convincing, however, and so I will do this properly.

The basic premise to the game is you play as a young man referred to as the dishwasher, who wakes up with his heart missing. The cyborgs, his foes, want him dead, and for some reason he has a vendetta against them (aside from, y’know, ripping out his heart). The story only gets more ridiculous from there, and it becomes clear that it is not at all intended to be taken seriously. The visuals and narrative are very reminiscent of a comic you might pick up at a Hot Topic. This is intentional, and is also not why you’re playing the game.

Clearly not a game for the kiddies

The real reason you are playing the game is for the combat. Dishwasher is a homage to older arcade slashers such as the original Ninja Gaiden. Almost every room has a fight, and when you’re done you go to the next room to fight some more. The game has a total of five weapons with unique move lists and play styles. The most useful weapons are the Demon Blade, which allows quick teleportation and has an easy to remember move set, the Kama, which allow for quick and devastatingly long combos, and the Chainsaw, which packs the most power to each punch. The Cleavers are the basic and default weapon, but cannot be upgraded and ultimately are ok. The Arsenal doesn’t do much damage, and its only advantage is you can attack from a distance. Most of the time enemies will block, though, so it makes the weapon kind of pointless.

The player has a variety of abilities and options at their fingertips in combat. Most of combat you will be using the quick and strong attacks, with the occasional use of the brutal attack. Magic is also available for when your enemies are coming down a little too hard, and while there is no ability to block, the player can roll or teleport away from danger quickly and take the opportunity to strike the enemy while they are left open. Switching weapons and magic is made quick and easy, keeping the pace frantic and furious.

After dealing enough damage to a foe, you may have the opportunity to perform a finisher. The enemy will be stunned with either the Y or B button displayed above their head. While you can technically use either type of attack, performing the move indicated will drop extra health, magic and money. This becomes important as the game continues and becomes more difficult.

The controls are simple enough to learn and aren’t too challenging to master, either. The game has a variety of enemies, and they are all different enough that you need to approach them differently. Because of the variety of foes and the numbers of them mixed together on screen, combat never gets boring. You are always kept on your toes. Most of the bosses, however, are not too difficult once you learn their patterns. Many of the early ones can be dealt with by simply using the strong attack repeatedly. Other bosses, however, require frantic use of the teleport and a lot of quick attacks and combos.

It is recommended that most players start the game off on easy mode. You will not upgrade all weapons on the first playthrough, and may in fact want to jump back to earlier levels to get some extra money and upgrade your weapons, health and magic. However, this is not required, and some players may even be able to tackle the game on normal difficulty their first time through. Any upgrades carry over between difficulties, so starting from the bottom should keep the higher difficulties a little more balanced for most players.

The story mode only takes a few hours, no more than five or six, and is also the only mode where the items and weapon upgrades matter. However, the game certainly has replayability in trying the harder modes after completion, as well as the Arcade and Dish Challenge modes. There are fifty separate maps in Arcade mode, where you are given two weapons, maybe a type of magic, and on occasion a special condition. For example, time may be slowed down for the enemy, or damage may be quadrupled, or you may only be able to deal damage to an enemy while they are in the air. By default the enemies don’t take much damage, allowing the action to move more quickly and easily than in story mode. Of course, there are some stages that drop in bosses that are quite difficult to take down, but none of them are impossible. This is the mode that will keep you coming back over and over again.

Dish Challenge is merely a survival mode, where you kill as many foes as possible for as long as you can. It is a fun mode, though lacks the variety that can be found in the Arcade.

Unfortunately, the only multiplayer available is co-op in the Arcade mode

The only design choice of the game that can be considered a flaw is the limited multiplayer options. By default, the only multiplayer option is to co-op through Arcade with one other person. While there are two item pick-ups in story mode that allow a second player to drop in and help (either with a guitar peripheral or a regular controller), they are not made available online. It has to be someone on a local system. This option should be available by default, and also available online.

Even so, the arcade mode is fine for co-op, and also introduces a competitive element by providing score comparisons. For those that care, the score gains multipliers the longer you can keep a combo going. If you take too long between strikes or get hit by an enemy, the combo counter will reset. Once you get good at the game, you will likely be paying a lot more attention to your combos and score.

The Dishwasher: Dead Samurai is a great game that falls between the “casual” and “hardcore” markets. It is easy to learn and provides a simple and addicting Arcade mode, but also allows access to any gamers that want to play something more substantial, and even more challenging, than Wii Sports. It is not only an easy candidate for best Arcade title of the year, but stands shoulder to shoulder with plenty of the retail titles released so far this year. Even more impressive, most of the game was developed by just one guy, including art, music and code.

If you have a spare ten dollars, the answer is simple. Dishwasher is a must have title from the Xbox Live Arcade that any owner of the system would be glad to have in their library.

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