[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02qs8Ptly0E[/youtube]
The Dishwasher
XBLA - 800 MS Points
James Silva is a pretty cool guy. Out of tens to hundreds of entries for Microsoft's Dream-Build-Play contest, he was the one to have his dream come true. He was the one chosen to join among the ranks of big industry boys such as Capcom and Konami in the Xbox Live Arcade list. Additionally, most games usually have tens to hundreds of people working on the single game, but James Silva worked on this game himself.
So, as impressive as that might sound, how does this game stack up to other Live Arcade games?
The very first thing you will notice when you play this game is the art direction. Where Dan Paladin, artist of Castle Crashers, had a very colorful yet fluid art style; James Silva has an extremely brutal, grainy, yet fluid art style as well. You will receive a guitly satisfaction seeing your samurai rip through enemies as you are pulling off eye-pleasing combos. Depending on the enemy, what weapon you use and what type of move you use to finish them off, you leave a beautiful bloody mess, leaving a variety of ways to dispose of enemies.
Getting a second opinion on the art-style, some didn't enjoy the color of the overall game which distictly reminded them of Gears of War 1; however in its own unique style I believe The Dishwasher's style is the most appropriate it can be leaving a sadistic and lonesome feeling; just like the undead samurai you are.
In order to impliment story into the story mode, Silva decided to create comic strips which look extremely good in his own style. As far as the actual storyline can go, it doesn't exactly appeal to me being pretty bland and done before, but then again I highly doubt anyone is going to be buying this game for the basic storyline.
Onto the gameplay; if you play through the whole demo, you might feel as if the game is "go into a room and mash buttons, rinse and repeat until you reach a boss", which sounds like it can get tiresome pretty quickly, especially considering the game bragging about having 17 story levels. In actuality, there is a lot that doesn't get introduced or used until later segments of the game, such as specific weapon skills, upgrading various stats, magic, non-linear level structure/exploring. However, the main thing this game will be known for is its extremely tough gameplay, even on Easy mode.
In a nutshell, this game constantly reminds me of Ninja Gaiden 3D gameplay with Ninja Gaiden 2D intensity. This game is tough as hell, and in that instance, you will love it or hate it for that alone. The core gameplay is so solid and fluid that you have to come to appreciate how well the gameplay compliments the smooth controls to give you a great playing experience, whether or not the game is too tough for your tastes or not.
In order to master this game, you're going to need to master a lot of the combos for all 5 weapons and you'll need to learn when to use them with an extremely fast reaction time in order to read the enemies. This game is very, very far from being a button masher and by the second level (even on the easiest difficulty) you can pay with your life for whiffing your attacks (which I learned the hard way, losing all 5 of my lives in the same room). Due to this, I feel as if the learning curve from the first level to the second can be unbearable for new gamers, and is extremely punishing, even on the easiest mode.
People who are up for an old school challenge though, will find an amazing amount of replayability in this game. There are 50 stages in Arcade mode each with their own unique environment and enemy roster. What will keep perfectionists on their mission is the combo system in this game; as you're slicing and stabbing baddies, your combo meter adds up, giving you a massive point bonus by the time you're unable to continue the combo by laying a hit within the cutthroat time limit. It's very exciting and keeps you on your toes.
Even better, Arcade mode offers local and Xbox Live co-op where you have to work together to string together as many kills and points as possible. It uses a great amount of teamwork and brings the solo intense fun to a new level of communication and yelling at each other.
Personally, I prefer Arcade mode much more due to the constant insanity and action flowing every second into a beautiful cinematic mess.
Now to talk about my shortcomings as a reviewer; apparently according to the description there is "arcade co-op, drop-in solo campaign co-op, and drop-in solo phantom guitar co-op using the guitar peripheral." I can't get the campaign co-op to work; but it looks like you can't choose campaign co-op online which is a huge disappointment because I would definitely love some help.
I'm also unable to try out the solo phantom guitar co-op using a guitar controller due to me not having one. However, according to the description: "Phantom guitar players can unload electric death by playing wicked solos, perform basic movement, and use the guitar's motion control to rip through enemies with a razor-sharp headstock." That sounds badass, it's too bad I can't check to see if this is just a gimmick or something people can actually have a lot of fun with.
Overall, this game is for the gamers who label themselves hardcore and drink milk out of the carton. If you have the drive to learn and perfect the ways of the samurai in a video game, then hell yeah I will recommend you buy this the hell right now. The amount of replay value is insane, and I can promise you will be able to see yourself playing this game months from now, even years.
If you're just looking for a simple, mindless murder simulating time, then I would recommend Castle Crashers instead.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=im8pSPeUorY[/youtube]
James Silva, I salute you for single-handedly creating an extremely addictive game on the platform of Ninja Gaiden. Considering all the pros and cons for all gamers, I give this game a 8.5 out of 10.Major Pro: Amazing replay value for diehard gamers.
Major Con: People who are into games they can breeze through won't be doing that in this game.
Perplexing: That guitar solo killing thing sounds awesome; can anyone test this out for me?
