GameTruth

Released yesterday on XBOXLive, The Dishwasher: Dead Samurai has created a bit of a stir amongst the indie gaming community.  I decided to download the demo and try it out.  You can get plenty of great insight from the various gaming websites that have already posted reviews, so I will try to distill mine down into a deliciously intoxicating thimble of gaming criticism.  This game is a side scrolling beat-em-up button masher that looks pretty stellar.  The release of XNA has made shaders and graphical craziness easily accessible, so it is quite overused in The Dishwasher.  I think the look and feel of the game are pretty exceptional, but the visual simulation overload gag is a bit played out at this point. Now time for the boiled down review I promised.

So lets talk about some good characteristics:  The combo mechanic is pretty cool, and I can see the potential to get away from button mashing eventually.  The graphics and sound are solid and the story seems to have potential.  The controls are pretty intuitive and it is fun to play in small doses.  The feedback and reward for executing the right move at the right time is exceptional and very well done.

Now time for the bad stuff: The fact that I need to pause the game and go into my inventory to use a health powerup is lame.  The boss battle at the end of the demo was a bit too easy (just press Y a lot for a dominant strategy) and the unsolicited quicktime rapid fire button stomping did not impress me.

Overall the game looks fun, but I probably won’t buy it.  I am a bit sick of 2D side scrollers, and if I needed a 2D side scrolling button mashing fix I would just get some friends and play Castle Crashers.