Already The Dishwasher Dead Samurai has got something of a cult following, of course most of this is probably down to the fact that it has a weird name and that it is created by one man, James Silva. But most importantly how does it play and should you become one of the followers?

 

Dishwasher is a 2D beat-em-up presented in a comic style. The game starts with a dishwasher fretting that someone has just killed him and stolen his heart. Somehow he lives and then wreaks mayhem on all that oppose him in his quest for revenge. (ok so all normal so far then). The main story mode spans 14 levels of bloody fighting and a little platforming. As you walk into each area you are attacked by a set number of enemies, take these out and then you can move onto the next screen and eventually a boss fight.

 

 

Taking a similar approach to the Wii's Madworld the main graphics are a dull sepia tone and blurry mess, with only the red of blood piercing through. Visually I really enjoy the style as it is something not tried on Xbox Live Arcade before and it really suits the game.

 

Dishwasher is indeed very violent, with loads of combos to pick up along the way. There are two attacks to mix up plus a handy throw to get you out of sticky situations. At the start of the game you have your trusty meat cleavers and later in the game after defeating bosses and purchasing from the shop-bots you obtain other weapons like swords and a cool chainsaw. Switching between weapons is very easy and with just a tap of the RB you will scroll through what you have picked up so far, allowing you switch mid combo for even more brutal moves.

 

Though most of the time you just want to get to the end of the level, the game is cleverly aimed at score and combo junkies. The high scores are online and just like many other Arcade games there will be some stupidly high scores in there. The same is said for the combos, the game will occasionally flash up a few buttons for you to press for new combo moves, but later in the game you will start to link them all together, resulting in some crazy moves.

 

To aid on your quest as you defeat enemies they drop swirls that increase your energy and also can be used to purchase items from the shops. Here you can purchase food that you can pull from your inventory at any time to give you a boost. With each enemy you are able to pull off finishing moves, these moves can pay out even more swirls if you choose the right one, a clean kill is usually a swift decapitating slash with little blood but lots of swirls or if your feeling nasty go for the messy finish, here the screen shakes and goes to an angle as your dishwasher hacks the enemy to pieces, causing blood to go everywhere, very satisfying.

 

 

The levels you play through should all provide you with quite a challenge, even when on the easiest difficulty level, which is mainly due to the great variety of enemies on offer. Each enemy has their own attack pattern to learn and exploit. The early suited and booted Agents will have an occasional shot at you or baton swing but I found the cyborgs to be real toughies, always dodging you and jumping high to shoot and drop bombs. If you struggle like myself there is a cool four way co-op that you get later in the game which increases the action and blood splatter but also helps you get to the later levels.

 

With it's simple approach to controls and a great combo system Dishwasher Dead Samurai is a must have game from Xbox Live Arcade, although be warned that it does get very hard at times.