''The Dishwasher: Dead Samurai'' is a
beat 'em up
The beat 'em up (also known as brawler and, in some markets, beat 'em all) is a video game genre featuring hand-to-hand combat against a large number of opponents. Traditional beat 'em ups take place in scrolling, two-dimensional (2D) levels, ...
game developed by independent software developer
James Silva for the
Xbox 360's Xbox Live Arcade
Xbox Live Arcade (XBLA) is a digital video game download service available through the Xbox Games Store, Microsoft's digital distribution network for the Xbox 360. It focuses on smaller downloadable games from both major publishers and independent ...
service.
Gameplay
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
''Kama'' (Sanskrit ) means "desire, wish, longing" in Hindu, Buddhist, Jain, and Sikh literature.Monier Williamsकाम, kāmaMonier-Williams Sanskrit English Dictionary, pp 271, see 3rd column Kama often connotes sensual pleasure, sexual ...
. 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
''Guitar Hero'' is a series of music rhythm game video games first released in November 2005, in which players use a guitar-shaped game controller to simulate playing primarily lead, bass guitar, and rhythm guitar across numerous songs ...
'' and ''
Rock Band'' series.
Characters
* The Dishwasher: The hyperviolent, unnamed protagonist; killed by the Cyborgs in hopes of making him one of their own, the Dishwasher was saved by Chef—his mentor—who infused him with Alien Blood, resurrecting him and giving him incredible powers. The Dishwasher has flashbacks through a series of comic-strips about his life and hatred for the Cyborgs and their master "Synthesis AI" but more importantly of his sister, Yuki, who gave herself willingly to the Cyborgs. His quest is simple: destroy the head of the Cyborg army so that the world may be saved. The Dishwasher has long black hair that covers the bulk of his face, and he is naked save for a torn garment that covers his lower body.
* Synthesis AI: The Master Computer created by the Fallen Engineer that rules the Cyborg army; destroying Synthesis is the Dishwasher's primary goal for it is the controller of the Cyborgs. It has the several television screens that appear as its many faces and two robotic arms that it uses to control the other computers with. Upon defeat, The Dishwasher smashes the largest television screen thus ending The Cyborg's tyrannical reign.
* Chef: The Dishwasher's mentor and savior. Chef is a mysterious character whose past is ambiguous, however we learn that it was Chef who saved the Dishwasher from the Cyborg army and indeed he is the only one who can stop the Fallen Engineer (the Engineer says this himself at the end of the game). It appears that Chef's powers are superior even to the Dishwasher himself, for example at one point during the game: Chef is cut in two by a Cyborg yet somehow manages to come back to life. He assists the Dishwasher at times during the game combating enemies and appears once again in the final battle against the Fallen Engineer. He is presented in a stereotypical French-Chef attire, he has a short beard and squinting eyes; Chef fights with a meat cleaver and throwing kitchen knives.
* The Fallen Engineer: Chef's nemesis and the silent antagonist of the game. The Fallen Engineer is encountered twice: once in the very beginning and once at the very end as the final boss of the game. We learn that the Fallen Engineer is actually the original creator of Synthesis AI and the Cyborg Army. From his speech it seems that he and Chef have fought on several occasions and he believes Chef to be the only one powerful enough to stop him. When first encountered, the Fallen Engineer rides a Cyborg Stallion and wields the "Shift Blade" (which is adopted by the player upon defeat). When encountered in the end, the Fallen Engineer wields the plucked electrical cords of Synthesis AI. The Dishwasher hacks both his arms off and decapitates him, only for his enemy to resurrect himself. When finally defeated, the Engineer's head erupts in a shower of blood and his body ignites. He is presented in a long, black cloak with a grinning white, doll-like mask.
* Yuki: The Dishwasher's prodigal sister whom he lost to the Cyborgs years before. He often reminisces of his sister but thinks she is dead. Whilst pursuing Synthesis, the Dishwasher is accosted by a masked assassin in Grace Chapel: the Dishwasher quickly disposes of his enemy only for the assassin's hood to fall and reveal the face of his sister. She thanks him with her dying breath for "saving her". Distraught at her death, the Dishwasher's hatred grows ever stronger.
* The Doctor: Synthesis AIs' most loyal servant is the Doctor: a psychopathic Cyborg who is responsible for the process that is used to turn humans into machines. He recognizes the Dishwasher instantly upon confrontation and claims that he is "property"—nothing more. Upon defeat, the Dishwasher cuts the Doctor's head clean in two.
Game modes
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).
Development
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
Third-person shooter (TPS) is a subgenre of 3D computer graphics, 3D shooter games in which the gameplay consists primarily of shooting. It is closely related to first-person shooters, but with the player character visible on-screen during play. ...
. 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
Microsoft XNA Game Studio is a discontinued integrated development environment (IDE) for building video games on the Microsoft XNA platform. Such video games can run on Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows, Windows Phone and the Zune. XNA Game Studio is t ...
. 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.
''The Dishwasher'' was the winner of Microsoft's initial Dream-Build-Play game development contest in 2007. Silva received
US$
The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...
10,000 and an
Xbox Live Arcade
Xbox Live Arcade (XBLA) is a digital video game download service available through the Xbox Games Store, Microsoft's digital distribution network for the Xbox 360. It focuses on smaller downloadable games from both major publishers and independent ...
publishing contract.
Sequel
A sequel, ''
The Dishwasher: Vampire Smile'', was released in April 2011.
Reception
''The Dishwasher'' received "generally positive" reviews, according to review aggregator
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
.
''
Destructoid
''Destructoid'' is a website that was founded as a video game-focused blog in March 2006 by Yanier Gonzalez, a Cuban-American cartoonist and author. Enthusiast Gaming acquired the website in 2017, and sold it to Gamurs Group in 2022.
History
...
'' gave the game an 8 out of 10, praising its art style, combat, character design, enemy variety, and amount of content while criticizing its dramatic writing and difficult learning curve.
''
Eurogamer
''Eurogamer'' is a British video game journalism website launched in 1999 and owned by alongside formed company Gamer Network. Its editor-in-chief is Martin Robinson.
Since 2008, it is known for the formerly eponymous games trade fair EG ...
'' 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
is an action-adventure video game developed by Clover Studio and published by Capcom. It was released for PlayStation 2 in 2006 in Japan and North America, and in 2007 in Europe and Australia. After the closure of Clover Studio a few months a ...
'', ''
Castlevania'', and ''
Alien Hominid
''Alien Hominid'' is an independently developed run and gun video game developed by The Behemoth. The game was developed from an Adobe Flash game originally released on Newgrounds in August 2002. O3 Entertainment released the game for PlayStati ...
'', while finding fault with overly precise controls and frustrating bosses.
''
GameSpot
''GameSpot'' is an American video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information on video games. The site was launched on May 1, 1996, created by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. In addition ...
'',
''GamesRadar'', and ''
IGN
''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...
'' 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.
References
External links
Developer Ska Studios website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dishwasher: Dead Samurai
2009 video games
Action video games
Beat 'em ups
Cooperative video games
Hack and slash games
Indie video games
Microsoft games
Microsoft XNA games
Multiplayer and single-player video games
Neo-noir video games
Video games about ninja
Side-scrolling video games
Video games about samurai
Video games developed in the United States
Xbox 360 games
Xbox 360 Live Arcade games
Xbox 360-only games
Video games about zombies
Ska Studios games