Let it be said that being a product of its time isn't always a bad thing. Developed by the fittingly named Ska Studios, this is a edgy, violent and chaotic game. It's sure not to be everyones taste but it hit the spot for me.

It's style and tone really gave me a nostalgic feel for the weird late 2000s - early 2010s edgy internet odditities. Hell a few of the cutscenes had drawings that I could probably find in my old high school sketch book. Just a bunch of weird shit that I still have a fondness for.

The combat is snappy, fast paced and responsive. It's a 2D character action game with it's combos and dodge mechanics. There are two playable characters but unfortunately they don't feel that different enough from one another to warrant multiple playthroughs. Bosses are well designed and there is a solid variety of enemy types. Sometimes rapid screen shaking can make things hard to read during combat. It will absolutely lead to some deaths when you take a second to blink. But overall I had a lot of fun with this short little title.

I 100% recommend this game to anyone who grew up around that previously mentioned time and/or is into this kind of stuff. It's the kind of game that you will know just by the title if you have any interest in it or not. Love it or hate it, it's not afraid to be itself and you gotta respect that.

The Dishwasher: Vampire Smile was made by an alternate universe version of me that knew exactly what i'd like; is my leading theory on how this lil' thing came to be

one of the best character action games that's been released just kinda Overall. Ska studios makes good-ass shit with very intriguing settings, a lovely to look at artstyle, and the right amount of teeth-kicking "do this over and over until you're good at it, or leave" overwhelming, difficult design to it. this is no exception, and i think it's a greater testament to their games overall than Salt & Sanctuary just because it's so them.

i for one also specifically like taking any given opportunity to RELISH in full-package scene & emo aesthetics. this game occupies the same ten-or-however old girl in me that'd want a gory, unabashedly edgy, monochromatic kill-murder game about you butchering dudes in suits. integral to healing the inner child of me that didn't get to experience that as much as they wanted to, and i'm always here for it.

from the perspective of game design specifically, i think this is one of the only games that Gets It in regards to designing your protagonist to be weighted towards a specific style of sorts rather than being an all-rounder or a zippity, fast little shit, which are archetypes i can appreciate but it leaves a severe lackage of, in fighty game terms, Grappler or big heavybody lumbering shits. the only games i think really get the feeling of that nebulous concept "right" are Vampire Smile's Yuki & DMC4's Nero.

it is occasionally not about doing an anime combo as you port around the screen all the time. sometimes it is about grabbing a small wastrel and making them into a new carpet and/or wallpaper. no substitutes are sufficient.

The Dishwasher is a strange name, but the story of Yuki is actually pretty sad and engaging. Yuki dies in the hands of the Dishwasher and is hallucinating. You play flashbacks of her in an asylum trying to find her killer, but then again she’s hallucinating and kills the wrong person. She crash lands on the Moon trying to find the person making her hallucinate and find out why this is all happening to her. There’s a lot of detail in the story so explaining too much will give spoilers. Just know the story is excellent and very engaging.


The game is all about combat which is super fluid, fast, and fun thanks to smooth and responsive controls. You will find different weapons like Cloud’s sword, a hypodermic needle, kamas, as well as having a mini-gun arm attachment. You can use the right stick to use the blood dash to go through enemies and dodge them, but everything is just so fast and fun you just forget the controller is in your hands. You can hit enemies with a light and heavy attack as well as a unique attack with B such as a grab, needle jab, or chainsaw attack depending on your weapon. After you damage an enemy enough they will have buttons flash under them. Hit it and see a brutal execution move that just looks awesome. The game is very punchy, heavy hitting, and powerful thanks to the excellent combat system.


You can equip beads that add attributes to Yuki, you can also use magic skulls that do massive damage to enemies. I just can’t really describe how excellent the combat is until you actually play it. It’s like trying to explain how good Devil May Cry’s combat is. There’s just no way unless you actually play it. Boss fights are also fun and unique but some can be brutally difficult to beat. Dodging and twitch reactions are key to staying alive in the game, so this is no walk in the park. The game will just take your breath away by how fast paced it is, but I guarantee your fingers will ache after a couple of levels.


The art style is just awesome with a very messy, dark, and smeary art style. It looks like you can’t tell what’s going on, but it was done in such a way that you can make everything out just fine. I love how dark and brutal the art is, so it just helps portray how helpless Yuki is. I didn’t really find much wrong with the game except the brutal difficulty. The enemy variety is pretty high and there are plenty of boss fights. After you finish Yuki’s story you can even go back and play the Dishwasher’s side so it’s like two games in one. This is probably one of the best XBLA games I have ever played and it should not be passed up.

I am technically saying I shelved this only because I haven't done the Dishwasher's Campaign yet. I've only completed Yuki's. However they seem like they may just be the same exact story but with a different playable character.
(Yuki's Campaign Finished: Ninja Difficulty)
Now to talk about how I actually feel about the game. I think it's a pretty alright action game that looks and sounds great with it's very grungy comic book art style which feels reminiscent of things like Johnny the Homicidal Maniac and The Crow. Then it has the soundtrack which doesn't feel like anything to write home about but still is a fun Punk Rock soundtrack that works for what the game is. When it comes to the way the game feels, it's fun when everything clicks with the combat but the moment you throw the wrong couple of enemies together in a group it becomes really boring as you figure out the best way to lame out the fight considering sometimes you just can't get enough hits in to do anything cool or interesting. Also the boss fights themselves tend to just be bad. Nearly everyone single one of them has additional enemies that spawn in just to somewhat waste your time focusing on them so you don't get randomly knocked over while hitting the boss. However even if the additional enemies weren't there it's very obvious most of the bosses just don't have much to them at all to make them really interesting. Finally the last things I want to talk about are the story and the 2 levels near the end of the game. The story all the way through is this unapologetically edgy revenge quest about how we have poisoned our society with some small horror elements thrown in. Honestly while there isn't much to chew on from it, I do actually like and respect it for how much it just goes all in on what it wants to be. However now I have to talk about the level right before the final level. It is just a absolute shit show, it has a Boss Rush in it that is alright and even fun but it's then immediately followed up with the game throwing every non-boss enemy (including mini-bosses and bosses who become regular enemies) from the roster at you in some of the worst most unfun configurations it could. Then it tops it off with a Boss that is actually fun and somewhat cool. However there is a problem with it too even. That problem being that they are also just the actual final boss in the final level but they have more moves and are more interesting in the actual final level. The actual final level in itself is very good and interesting, but the weird thing about it is it's just doing what the level before hand did in it's encounter structure but straight up better.
Overall Vampire Smile is a fun but often mediocre/frustrating action game which I feel mainly stands out more for it's art style and music then it's actual gameplay.

Hack and slash donde llevas a una chica vampiro (o a otro pringao que a nadie le importa) con una katana matando a todos los ciborgs nazis sangrientos que se te pongan por delante. Y si, la historia es super edgy y absurda, pero no importa demasiado para este juego. Todo el rato te acompaña un gatito con alas de murciélago, si eso no subsana una historia tonta, nada lo hace.

En cuánto al control, es altamente satisfactorio, tienes un Dash infinito en todas direcciones que no solo te vale para ponerte detrás de los enemigos y darles desde donde no se cubren, si no para prácticamente volar. Cuándo un enemigo está a punto de morir puedes ejecutarlo de varias formas de una forma super satisfactoria y sangrienta, si bien dado que el juego va por oleadas, he echado en falta que puedes realizar ejecuciones a dos o tres a la vez. El tener que despedazarlos uno a uno rompe un poquito el perfecto ritmo que tiene el juego. Esto tambien se le puede hacer a los múltiples bosses, cosa útil cuándo te empiezan a salir como enemigos comunes.

Tienes múltiples armas y estilos distintos, así como dificultades y modos para todos los gustos, lo cual se agradece. Yo he jugado con la chica (el chico me parecía lentísimo) y en difícil y lo he disfrutado bastante, muriendo relativamente poco y pasándome cada fase en menos de 10 min. Otra cosa buena es que los enemigos se golpean entre ellos, y dado que muchos van con armas de fuego o con katanas, a veces es casi mejor dejar que se dañen y luego ya entras tu a matar.

Unos últimos buenos detalles es que tienes una lista de combos para mirar donde te empujan a cambiar de arma en mitad del mismo, a usarlos mientras corres por las paredes, ect. Además, la música es más que decente.

Como aspectos negativos, aparte del mentado de que no puedes hacer ejecuciones a varios, sería que la gatling que te dan y para la que reservan un botón es completamente inútil, y que en un juego de este tipo es muy importante que se noten los impactos que recibes, cosa que no siempre pasa.

Pero vamos, que quitando esas cosillas, un juego altamente recomendable.