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.

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.