BATMAN: ARKHAM SERIES

Gotham’s villains have been trying to kill the Batman for as long as he has been around, and the Arkham series has some fun with the moments where, for whatever reason, you do send the Caped Crusader to an early grave. Whatever villain it is that you’re going up against will show up on a black screen, look down at your corpse, and hurl insults at you. Some, like the Joker’s are funny in a twisted sort of way, while others, like Killer Croc’s, just seem a little excessive. Either way, it’s a cool spin on the classic “game over” screen.

Divinity: Original Sin 2

From the casual Undead to Voidwoken-possessed dogs, Divinity: Original Sin 2 has a number of monstrosities out to get you. One bit of exploration could reveal a Lamenting Abomination which appears composed of mutated wolves on a behemoth. Then there’s the corpse of Alice Alisceon, a witch that’s perpetually on fire and speaks in tormented lines. And that’s just by the second act mind you.

Yuki

The game really is a dark one and almost a horror story in the beginning but it’s the way that you transition from a dream state to wake one that really makes it genius.  As the story goes on you embrace who you are and I would have to say you are really missing out on the game if you skip the comic strip like fading cinema scenes.  Even though I would rather have had them narrated, it adds to the game unique style that you won’t find anywhere else while never hearing the voices of the characters.  In the story mode you can play the game on easy, normal, or ninja while you will have to unlock the even harder Samurai difficulty and Speed Run mode.  There is one other difficulty that you can unlock in the game which is an even easier one that easy called Pretty Princess.  In such a dark game the developers have still managed to fit humor in the game as playing this difficulty will have you seeing hearts as well rainbows when torsos are torn in half and just dying repeatedly will automatically unlock this mode.  In addition you get an Achievement for unlocking the mode entitled ‘Reviewers Will Be Pleased’, which of course I found funny in which it was was implying that reviewers will be happy they can beat the game quickly to review it or that they are just bad at games, I don’t know, but finally some credit in a game.  Dish Challenge is another arcade style level people can compete for on the leaderboards.

You eventually get the use of a gun that has infinite ammo however enemies tend to block most of the time while using your gun.  Regardless you will still have a full arsenal of melee weapons at your disposal and can upgrade them to make them more powerful during the story.  Even Cloud’s Sword is in the game from Finally Fantasy VII along with many other weapons like a giant pair of scissors, meat cleavers, the death hammer and much more.  The mechanics are pretty much flawless with combos never being to hard to pull off.  When it comes to Arcade Mode, you can progress through around 50 stages that become harder and harder as you go along.  Depending on what arcade level you playing is dependent on what weapons are available for you to use.  Again you can go through the Arcade Mode in co-op as well making it much more fun.

Boss Battle

Even the music is excellent as it is a most modern sounding metal usually when battling and becomes ominously dark when not in battle.  This adds so the whole vibe of the game and is what part of makes it stand out so much from any other game.  Just the sound and background movement of the main menu shows you a taste of this.  Vampire Smile is one gory game too, even if you are play on Pretty Princess difficulty, it is like a modern day Mortal Kombat in that same sense of brutality.  The leaderboards in the game also show everything including Arcade Solo, Arcade Co-Op, Dish Challenge, Weekly Rush, Speedrun with Dishwasher and Speedrun as Yuki.  It’s like a dark Japanese Anime, only it’s not made in Japan or by the Japanese.

The Dishwasher: Vampire Smile is one of those games that are classic, if not for it’s unique style for its hard difficulty as a platformer game, or maybe both.  You might brush this game off as being a descent platform game and move on or you might keep trying to beat the game on the hardest difficulty  or keep shredding your way through all the Arcade levels with a friend.  This game a true dream for platform whores as it will challenge them in many ways while you’ll have to use strategy and combos at the right time to beat this title at its toughest.  This game is well worth 800 Microsoft Points though with out a doubt, especially if you have a friend to play it with.

This game was reviewed on the Xbox 360.

Here is the launch trailer for The Dishwasher: Vampire Smile, the arcade sequel developed by SKA Studios.  The game will be exclusively available on the Xbox Live Marketplace on April 6th.  It will run you 800 Microsoft Points ($10) and with it you get co-op, arcade mode, story mode, practice mode and leaderboards that track nearly everything as well as the option to play the story as two different characters.

SKA Studios will also be having an all day giveaway of the game the day before it come out on Tuesday, April 5th, 5am Eastern through Wednesday, April 6th, 5am. You will have a chance to win a code every hour, they have stated that you can expect random Twitter and Facebook giveaways, challenges, trivia as well as other ‘nonsense’. Stay updated once the contest starts on their Official Site here.  But check out the launch trailer below.

Here is the latest Dev Diary for The Dishwasher: Vampire Smile is you want to call if that.  It is more of the staff running around with cameras and giving a tour of the studios.  The game will also apparently support 3D capabilities but as always takes the smooth 60 frames-per-second gameplay of the standard game is halved when turning on 3D. Anyway, check it out above as The Dishwasher:Vampire Smile sequel comes out exclusively for the Xbox Live Arcade on April 6th.  Official SKA Studios Site.

The original arcade game The Dishwasher: Dead Samurai was release in 2009 for the Xbox Live Arcade and while difficult if had a satisfying gore aspect to it.  Now a sequel has been announcement entitled The Dishwasher: Vampire Smile, developed by Ska Studios when it comes to gore, there is definitely more.  (I’m a song writer too)  The game has no official release date but it will have co-op as well as two solo character campaigns, 50 arcade challenges and even more in the Dish Challenge.  New weapons will also be in the game like a six foot tall syringe called ‘The Painkiller’ among other weapons wrapped in barb wire and ones returning from the first game.