Guacamelee! (2013)

Pretty fun game.I like the colours, artstyle, setting and the humour. But I really like the gameplay. It's so neat how each new ability is used both in combat and platforming. Like the uppercut that can be used as a double jump, or the charge attack that also can be used to dash in the air. And the various platforming challenges make good use of all the different skills, combining them in interesting ways.

I like that despite ostensibly being a metroidvania, the path to the next location is very clear and there is not a lot of backtracking.

The last boss is a bit trash and mechanically uninteresting in comparison to the rest of the game though. The first phase essentially asks you to roll all the time and the second phase is quite gimmicky and boring.

Also, I got the bad ending, but whatever. The games good but not "reaply it to backtrack through the whole game to get every secret" good.

Playing Gacamelee on my phone with a cheap bluetooth controller was getting on my nerves. The input lag was killing me in some tricky platforming sections and the whole controller didn't feel good to the touch. Also, my phone battery would run out too quickly. So I decided to get me a wired android controller that could do passthrough charging.

I got the Gamesir G8, which is cheaper than a Backbone and apparently better. And this thing is so neat!

It connects through USB-C so it doesn't have that much lag or connection problems. Charging during gameplay worked perfectly well. It feels good to the touch, with nice buttons and stuff. A bit on the smaller side for my taste, but that's allright.

What is super neat is the remapping functionality. First, it has two back buttons that are super easy to remap (only to single presses, though; it doesn't support macros I think) and can go between "western" and "nintendo" style face buttons. But it also supports emulating touch controls, so you can use it to play games that don't support controllers natively.

So, for example, the Netflix version of Death's Door only has touch controls, which work horribly with the fast action and quick thinking required. But with this controller I can essentially draw an overlay that simulates touch events in particular areas of the screen when I touch particular buttons and it works sooo well.

I've been playing this on my phone on and off in bed. It's pretty fun! I like the colours, artstyle, setting and the humour. But I really like the gameplay. It's so neat how each new ability is used both in combat and platforming. Like the uppercut that can be used as a double jump, or the charge attack that also can be used to dash in the air. And the various platforming challenges make good use of all the different skills, combining them in interesting ways.

I like that despite ostensibly being a metroidvania, the path to the next location is very clear and there is not a lot of backtracking.

A small problem are enemy shields. Enemies can get various coloured shields that require a particular move to break. That's fine and all, but I don't know if it's a graphics glitch with my emulator or what, but the colour overlay from those shields is too intense and essentially obscure the whole enemy. It makes them too hard to read, especially for those undodgeable attacks that are signalled by the enemy turning red.

Fun action-heavy guided metroidvania with charming Mexican art style. The combat's flashy and cracking, if not exactly the deepest. But hey, it doesn't need to be - it's a damn good time for an action platformer, and the luchador aesthetic bumps up the charm a ton.

A good recommend for someone curious in this whole metroidvania thing, but isn't quite ready to be fully lost and trying to find your way around for half the game.

And another Metroidvania that I had originally bailed on, but decided to give another go. Initially, I really hated the combat which felt way too easy and repetitive, and seemed to ruin the pacing. But the game really hides some great game design up its sleeve.

If you push past the beginning, suddenly these amazing platforming sections become apparent. You gain a large number of abilities, and the game asks you to utilize every single one. The optional side content especially presents an amazing variety of challenges. Exploration and backtracking is excellent, and going off the beaten path often had my favorite level designs. The map is also perfect if you are a completionist.

Even the combat eventually becomes engaging, as it introduces new mechanics and variety while also upping the difficulty.

My cons still remain though - the combat in the beginning really dragged down my first impression. The story and humor are not really my thing either, though the art style is gorgeous.

I would consider this an amazing game held back by some early balancing issues, a bland story, and hit or miss sense of humor. If you can look past that, there is a gorgeous and engaging Metroidvania right beneath.

Guacamelee is the type of game you'd spend a weekend on and blow your way through without a second thought. Is that a bad thing? It's certainly a joyful and visually engaging ride, so I'd say it'd be worth your time.

The story of a luchador saving his kidnapped love is simple, perhaps a little too much so. The charming and silly nature of the world falls flat in some areas and the references range from aesthetically inappropriate to painfully bad; however, the color and detail seriously put into the world itself, a candy-colored Dia-de-los-Muertopia, is definitely worth the price of admission.

Mixing the elements of a beat-em-up with nonlinear exploration works well with Guacamelee, though there aren't too many secrets hidden within. Save for a few orbs that affect the game's ending, most of them are obviously colored blocks that require a basic but functional set of special moves that work well in combat. Speaking of combat, the gameplay isn't too difficult but curves appropriately, with said set of special moves, throws, and dodge rolls to keep things creative.

This review is for the Super Turbo Championship edition, so there's also an addition of an Intenso mode (think Rage of the Gods) and costumes to augment player abilities; the game is playable enough without these things, but even these superficial options may help or at least speed the game up.

As the light snack of Metroidvanias, Guacamelee does its job with a wonderful amount of style, even though its charm comes off as unmemorable and the intuitiveness of its design a little too obvious.