Guacamelee puts you in the shoes of an Agave farmer who’s dreams never quite came true. El Presidente’s daughter comes back to town for a festival and is subsequently kidnapped by an evil skeleton, Carlos Calaca. Shortly after you receive a magical luchador mask and are tasked with “saving the world/princess,” as it were. The quest to do so will take you high mountain peaks, lush forests, and more than a few ancient temples. As well as between the World of the Living, and the World of the Dead.
Guacamelee takes more than a little from the Metroidvania book of gameplay. In fact, the way you acquire new skills is by destroying Choozo statues, rather than Chozo statues, and then an ancient goatman teaches you how to jump off walls. Instead if seeming like a straight rip-off, Guacamelee feels more akin to an homage; not only to Metroid, but to old-school games in general. Guacamelee knows where it came from, and the tongue-in-cheek manner it pays respect to other games always left a smile on my face.
One thing that Guacamelee has over Metroid is the blended combat and traversal. Almost every new move you get not only allows you to reach that extra high ledge, but will also smack your enemies around something awful. You might be able to rely on your basic combos for a while, but the enemies eventually possess shields that can only be broken with specific special moves. Being forced to use your special moves constantly allows you to become intimately familiar with their exact reach and power; you are never left wondering “can I reach that” or “how do I kill that?”
Exploration itself is fun enough, if sometimes a little linear. You can stray from the main path, but you almost always hit a dead end, or some challenge room. These challenge rooms are a great excuse to poke around the environment but not much of a diversion. When playing through a level the first time it felt a bit too much like I was being led by the nose. That is not to say that the paths that my nose led me down were bad in any way. Each dungeon took the skills I had already learned, added a few more, and turned them all on their heads. And after you acquire all the skills in the game, the dungeons really open up and become more of a playground than a linear puzzle chain.
There are also several secret challenges hidden around the world. Each one revolves around a particular gameplay mechanic and pushes it to the logical extreme.
An example of one of these areas is Caverna del Pollo (The Chicken Cave), which is a string of combat arenas. This particular area is what turned my view of the combat completely around. Originally I thought the normal brawls were simplistic at best. But going through The Chicken Cave revealed what the combat actually is, a puzzle. At any turn you may be facing enemies that fly, burrow, dash, are huge, or have undodgeable attacks. Any one of these enemies may also wield one of the previously mentioned special shields. The last layer on this combat pie is that enemies often have an affinity for one world or the other. You have to swap between worlds, destroy shields, toss and enemy, and swap back just in time to make that throw connects. You can not just mash buttons and expect to get anywhere with the combat; plan and execute your attacks and trows in such a way that lowers your foe’s defense so you can juggle them just long enough to toss them into the next volley of bad guys. Said like that, the combat sounds pretty basic; it is not.
There are times though when the fights are just too much. Some of the later combat scenarios become so hectic that no matter how well you play, you are going to take a beating. This can be frustrating because dying does not always feel like it was your fault, but rather, that you were just pinned into death by a few errant bones. The other place that combat can be less than stellar is with some of the near-end bosses. They quite frequently use undodgeable, but not unavoidable, attacks in quick succession, while simply brushing off yours. It is jarring to have some basic fighting elements seemingly change late in the game, but once you learn how they work, through some inevitable deaths, bosses simply become a matter of repetition. The boss battles are not bad per say, but when everything else is so buttery smooth, a few errant bland bits stand out so much more.
The last thing that Guacamelee really has going for it is the presentation. The art style is unique and fun, but a picture can tell you all you need to know about that. What a picture can not tell you is how much charm Guacamelee has. The game is full of little in-jokes for gamers. Beloved mascots have a luchador makeover, memes are tastefully altered, and there is a goofy sense of self-awareness that permeates everything; down to the walking animation. Guacamelee is silly, knows it is silly, and does everything it can to play directly into the sillyness.
The entirety of Guacamelee is a delightful romp through a very underused setting. It features some excellent combat that rarely hits a few speed bumps. The platforming is spot on, and tight enough to stand among its Metroidvania brethren. It is also filled with tons of secrets for you to discover which gives you a good reason to sink back into previously explored dungeons. Guacamelee is creative, new, challenging, funny, and most of all fun.
Little Tidbits that did not Fit Within the Review
The Vita and PS3 version are identical. I played the main game primarily on Vita, but did all of the recording work on the PS3. Swapping between Vita and PS3 is quick and easy and I ran into no complications.
The music is just as silly/awesome as the rest of the game.
Three times throughout the game I was forced to reset because of scripting issues. They were very rare so I did not feel they warranted docking the game for it, but it is worth mentioning. It was always after a combat scenario, so be on the lookout for that.
The co-op is fun and works well with the “cross controller” Vita feature. It would have been nice to be able to control the second character on the Vita or the PS3 though.
Terrortilla
