Fast action, stylish presentation, all awesome
I've been a big fan of games with distinctive art styles though I'm not really sure where it comes from. Maybe it's just interest in different forms of animation and painting but I'm always attracted that has a style that's distinctly theirs. The original Dishwasher, titled Dead Samurai, was a pretty good effort with some fast combat action, a bizarrely attractive art style and a rather incomprehensible plot. Oh but it had cool guitar solos in the form of a PaRappa the Rapper style mini-game. The sequel, Vampire Smile does what any sequel should do which is improve on its predecessor in nearly every way. Minor hiccups but if you're looking for some fast combat and a challenging experience, Vampire Smile is really one of the best action games on the Marketplace.
You play as one of 2 characters: the Dishwasher, returning from the first game, and Yuki, his sister. At the end of the first game, Dishwasher and his mentor Chef destroyed the world and this crime is then pinned on Yuki, leaving her imprisoned on the Iffenhaus prison ship. Breaking out and crash landing on the moon (oh yeah, people inhabit the moon in this universe), Yuki tries to get revenge against 3 people responsible for her imprisonment. The Dishwasher also tries to help Yuki and defeat the final enemy of the game.
The plot is...well it's like the first one - weird as hell. While it's presented in some cool motion comic scenes, the actual plot itself is all over the place, more so in Yuki's storyline. You'll be going back and forth between Yuki inside a hospital to on the actual stages and it can get really hard to follow what's actually going on. The other negative is that the game is literally the same from the 2 perspectives so this isn't one of those games where you have 12 or so missions for one character and 12 completely separate ones for the other, they're the exact same. This can make the game incredibly repetitive.
The combat is generally straightforward but makes it such a fun experience to play is not only the speed of it but also the responsiveness of the controls. If you've played Shank or the recent Bloodrayne Betrayal games then you'd know the idea of animation priority over control, trying to do one move while you're in the middle of an animation is impossible since they're "locked on" to that move. However in this game's case, because things are so fast, the dodge move is vitally important and from combos to using your firearms to everything else, everything just feels right. Enemies are still pains however and some tend to require specific animations so you'll start to recognize the types and learn how to pick off each one based on nuisance level. Yuki and the Dishwasher have sort of similar weapons so while Dishwasher gets the fast blade and cleavers and the slow-but-powerful scissors and a giant hammer, Yuki gets the sword, a scythe, a giant needle and a "Cloud sword".
Both characters also have access to 2 types of a guns: a straight up automatic and a shotgun. The shotgun is amazing for getting near an enemy and blasting them apart while the uzi, though seemingly underpowered, can be used as a "stopper" so you can stop enemies in their tracks while you make your way over to them. The only slight disappointment is the dish magic, magical spells that damages enemies in the area and the 2 I mainly used was the healing one and one that stuns them in place but I found them slightly useless. One major addition from Dead Samurai are "beads", acting like modifiers for your characters. Some are just plain goofy like the Cowbell bead or turning the game into 3D mode while others are incredibly useful such as every hit on an enemy replenishes health and doing extra damage to robotic enemies. There's some good customization which helps tailors your experience to you specifically.
There's an arcade mode which is 50 levels of straight up action with specific themes associated with each one. And though they will repeat constantly, some themes are having a timer count down but killing an enemy adds time or having health constantly drain but defeating enemies fills it up. Some of them are seriously tough (Carnage Box for one) while others are easy. One benefit is that they can be played co-op but at this point so far into the game's release, there's either no one on or the connection is so laggy it's generally not worth it.
If you're looking for some quick and satisfying combat in your Arcade games then Vampire Smile is easily one of the best available. While story is very much on the "meh" side, the combat, art style and the kickass guitar solo mini-games make it easily worth the 10$.
