While roaming around the halls of PAX10, we were lucky enough to stumble upon Ska Studios, the guys who made both the original Dishwasher and I MAED A GAM3 W1TH Z0MB1ES!!!1. And, since we’re super best friends with them, we were able to sit down with both James (the founder) and the their new game for an off-hand interview as well as a preview of their upcoming sequel: The Dishwasher: Vampire Smile. We’ll have our interview piece up later, but, in the mean time, enjoy this lengthy preview of what can only be called a bigger and better version of the origjnal.

The Dishwasher: Vampire Smile is one of those sequels that retains all of the good things about the original, and then continues to expand into new areas of gameplay so that you feel like you’re getting a true sequel instead of just a simple story continuation. Vampire Smile is what a sequel really should be, and I’m happy to see Ska Studios really make an effort to improve their original vision.

So what are these updates and enhancements?

Well for starters there is now two primary campaigns. Both Yuki and the Dishwasher each have their own campaign games. Yuki’s campaign has 13 levels and the Dishwasher’s campaign has 12 levels. Despite the actual campaign levels having only subtle differences, the actual stories between the two will be different. For those of you who haven’t played the original Dishwasher, having Yuki as a playable character in Vampire Smile is kind of a big deal.

Of course, if you’re a co-op gamer you won’t be left out either as the game will feature an entirely original co-op campaign. This isn’t the same stories as the regular campaigns but with just another player, this is a new campaign with new levels. The one caveat is that the co-op campaign is less story-driven and more killing-driven. What I mean by this is that there’s more of an emphasis on the playability of the game rather than the story.

In addition to the campaigns, Ska Studios has also gone and included a 50 level arcade game. Each level only takes a minute or two to complete but it should be enough to provide a meaty experience after you’ve completed the campaign. Unfortunately, I wasn’t actually able to see any of the arcade levels so, beyond knowing how many of them there are and the length of each, I don’t have much information to share just yet.

Finally, should you make it through all of this content and still find yourself needing more Vampire Smile you’ll be happy to know that the first game’s “Dish Challenge” mode has returned for a second time with leaderboard support. If you don’t know what this is, it’s a  simple single-roomed challenge mode where the game will just send wave after wave of enemies at you until you can’t take it anymore. The gamers who survive the longest will make the leaderboards.

As you can see The Dishwasher: Vampire Smile is planned to be a meaty game, in both respects. If you were ever a fan of the original, I see no reason why you won’t enjoy this one as well. The combat is similar, if not bloodier, and the game, as a whole, just feels like a solid sequel to the original. Plus, James has assured to me that he has gotten better at coding this time around, so any hiccups you might have experienced prior, should be ironed out this time around.

The Dishwasher: Vampire Smile is scheduled for release in early 2011 exclusively for the XBLA. While James couldn’t comment on any specific price points he did say that the game will probably be the same as the first title, although it’s still up in the air at this point.

[Vampire Smile]

Trailer