Since playing the “sneak peak” XNA demo last year, I’ve been anxiously awaiting the release of the Xbox Live Arcade title “The Dish Washer: Dead Samurai”. “The Dish Washer” is an intense 2D hack-n-slash game available for download over Xbox Live for 800 Microsoft Points. As you can see in the video below, this isn’t your ordinary beat-em-up. For one this highly stylized title looks fantastic and the use of monochrome coloring gives it that “Frank Miller effect” found in movies like Sin City.

Also, this game is brutally violent. As you unleash combos with dual meat cleavers, gallons of bright read blood splatters the screen after every hit. And if you can get to them in time, you can perform two types of special execution moves on dying foes.




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tyc7RsWgZEI


While the game is awesome, it is without a few annoyances. For starters, The Dish Washer is hard. Completing this game will be no easy task, and expect to feel the urge to throw your controller across the room. What creates such a frustrating experience is, the majority of your enemies have guns and tend to fie upon you from off the screen. Another frustrating issue is the computer’s ability to block special moves at will. While you are in control of ultra cool samurai who can teleport, roll and perform mid-air combos, our hero lacks the skill to raise his weapon to block oncoming attacks. Because of this, expect a lot of cheap attacks, especially when fighting multiple enemies at once.

Another issue I found with the title is, you fight the same variations of enemies over-and-over. I would have preferred a wider variety of foes but, just about every hack-n-slash game faces this issue, so this definitely isn’t a deal breaker. There are several different enemy character classes, so I might just be a little picky here. Lucky for me, Boss battles break up the monotony, and are a blast to play out.

As expected I really enjoyed playing The Dish Washer, and I would recommend this title to any fan of this genre. With multiplayer options, story and arcade mode, this game is well worth the admission price. The Dish Washer: Dead Samurai is available now on Xbox Live Arcade for the price of $10 bucks or 800 Microsoft points.