Guacamelee for my limited playtime is very by the numbers when it comes to upgrade distribution, storytelling (you are literally trying to rescue a princess after collecting a magic "weapon" from a stone), but with the main twist being a 2D melee spectacle-fighter combat system and the setting.
Unfortunately, the setting consists of traits I am tired of or don't resonate with. I grew up in a desert, there is plenty of Hispanic/Mexican cultural representation in my city that it isn't novel to me, and I don't care for wrestling or luchador culture. If any of that interests you, this game will be phenomenal, for me... I am just gonna move on.
Unfortunately, the setting consists of traits I am tired of or don't resonate with. I grew up in a desert, there is plenty of Hispanic/Mexican cultural representation in my city that it isn't novel to me, and I don't care for wrestling or luchador culture. If any of that interests you, this game will be phenomenal, for me... I am just gonna move on.
J'ai arrêté le jeu lors du combat final que je trouve déséquilibré avec la difficulté globale, mais jusque-là c'était très bon.
I wish that the goat fly wasn't the very last move you learn
It's always a good feeling, when you come back to a game that you've figuratively shelved years and years ago, only to realize that it is actually a very fun game. That's how I most recently felt with Guacamelee!, a Metroidvania melee-platformer game by Drinkbox Studioes (devs of Nobody Saves the World). I beat it in 6 hours on Normal difficulty with some exploration, though there are parts that will add significant play time to your total and actually affect the ending.
____________
STORY(TELLING)/CHARACTERS | 5/10
The story of this game is not the highlight here, but I'd be lying if I said that it didn't enhance the overall experience somewhat. There is a great Mexican theme here that keeps the game in a fun, charming sort of mood pretty much throughout, even if some of the story points can actually get a bit dark.
You play Juan Aguacate, a farmer-turned-luchador at the start of the game when an evil skeleton called Carlos Calaca destroys your village, Pueblucho, and kidnaps your childhood love interest, who turns out to be "the president's daughter".
This all happens on the "Dia de los muertos" (Day of the Dead). To turn into a luchador, you are killed and get a luchador mask from someone else, after which you are brought back to life. Carlos Calaca has a few main partners who stand in your way as you try to find and fight him. Since he did kill you effortlessly during your first encounter, this is all OK, because you're going to want to increase your abilities before facing him once more.
His main partners or followers rather, all have their own back story and their motivations for following him. It's not much, but it's always nice to learn a bit more about the bosses you will be facing. The back story of Carlos Calaca is more interesting, though told very quickly. In general, story parts are few and far between. Most of the dialogue is limited to talking to a chicken, who teaches you combos, talking to half old-man half goat, who teaches you new abilities, and talking to side quest givers.
The theme of it all definitely gives positive vibes here overall, but again, it's not a big part of this game. A lot of stuff remains unexplained or brushed off to "the world is magical, that's why it works".
GAMEPLAY | 15/20
This is one of the few Metroidvanias I've beaten. I've played many more however, and this is definitely the game I'd recommend to newcomers to the genre the most. Metroidvania-type features are in many types of games, like the idea of finding things that are interactable, but not having the necessary abilities to interact with them until later. This blocking of exploration until later is not a key component of those games though like it is in Metroidvanias.
Even amongst Metroidvanias, this is of course handled differently, but for beginners, Guacamelee handles it best. Instead of making you make both a mental and physical note whenever you find something that you're going to want to remember for later, Guacamelee offers waypoints at all times, so that you don't really ever have to worry about where to go next. Backtracking is included here still, but at least it's not a long session of going through every corner to see if you find the right path forward or something new to interact with.
The combat in this game is melee-focused and apart from the boss fights, which are unfortunately very few, fighting in this game doesn't ask much of you. On Normal difficulty, you can take plenty of hits and have enough time and ability to dodge most attacks pretty easily. Even if you die, you instantly spawn at the last checkpoint with no loading time, and those checkpoints are usually right next to the place you died.
One thing this game does really well is combine combat and traversal elements. You learn how to do uppercuts, headbutts, frog slams and more, which you can both use to fight and create new combos, but also to break colored blocks blocking your path forward. A very resourceful way of doing things, and pretty fun.
So yes, the other big part of this game next to the combat is traversal. You'll be platforming a lot and challenges will be gravity, thorned vines and, later on, much more complicated things that I don't want to spoil. What's important to know is that if you die to gravity, you instantly respawn where you were the last time before you fell, so frustration is kept to a minimum here. It does get frustrating sometimes anyway, but it's not that bad at all. The main issue I had was that, as you learned more and more abilities and had to use almost all of them to go past specific sections, my brain pretty much refused to think that fast, so it took me more tries sometimes than I care to admit.
But the mix of platforming and combat is pretty good and while it does get slightly repetitive at times due to a lack of other gameplay systems (and variety in attack patterns is mostly kept for the boss fights, which are good), it's a game that, purely for its gameplay, I can very much recommend.
Finally, there is a good bit of exploration to be done. I'm on a 2nd playthrough on Hard difficulty and the amount of secret areas I'm discovering now is crazy. Obviously I will have to relearn the abilities to enter them later, but at least know I know what I'm looking for. And you're going to want to explore these places for multiple reasons. You'll get more money for upgrades (of which there really aren't that many though), you'll find upgrade parts for more health and special attacks, and most importantly, you will full secret worlds that you're going to want to complete before you take on the final boss. I didn't and it's not necessary, but I'd recommend it.
MUSIC/SOUND/VOICE | 7/10
No voice acting. I understand that for budgetary reasons, but some of the characters definitely deserved one. Sound design is good. In general, your auditory experience will be very much inspired by the Mexican theme. The soundtrack gives off that vibe right off the bat, with a great (great!) track for the first area you find yourself in, Pueblucho. I played this for the first time years ago and that track immediately sounded familiar when I got back.
In general, the OST is good, but there could have been a bit more variety/quantity overall.
GRAPHICS/ART DESIGN | 8/10
The graphical quality of this game is not the impressive part. It's the attention to detail and the art design. Its great use of color complements the vibe this game constantly gives out and the intricate details in pretty much all the locations available in this game are definitely the highlights.
ATMOSPHERE | 8/10
The game has the Mexican culture thing going on and it sticks with it throughout. The soundtrack, the visuals, the colors and everything else combines to make for one cohesive and enjoyable experience from an "atmosphere" standpoint.
CONTENT | 8/10
The game took me 6 hours to beat. For 12.50€ at full price, this is OK, and on a discount, it's definitely more than enough to have a couple fun afternoons playing this game. However, there are two good things and one bad thing I want to talk about here. First, the good. The game has no game over screens, it doesn't send you back for minutes after a 5-second struggle with a boss that goes sour only to pad its playtime and there is no incessant backtracking involved unless you're a completionist. So a 6 hour playthrough here is much more focused one and with less of the filler and annoying parts of other, similar games. Second, there are multiple secret worlds that I didn't discover myself, so one can easily spend 10+ hours on this game if you were to finish those up. You will get rewarded with a different ending later on.
The bad thing here is that, whether you play for 6 or 10 hours, there is plenty of repetitive stuff going on the further you go into it due to the limited variety in enemies. Especially those secret worlds will not introduce you to too many new ones, and as far as challenge goes, the game pretty much keeps throwing more and more enemies at you the farther you go, instead of making their attack patterns more varied.
LEVEL/MISSION DESIGN | 7/10
The game has two types of content mainly, which would be melee combat and platforming. This mix stays how it is throughout, and it's a good and fun mix. Later sections and the secret worlds have more of a focus on arenas with increasing amounts of the same enemies you've faced all game. This is the substitute for a more varied challenge, so not always so great, but since the combat in itself is pretty enjoyable, if also repetitive, it's not that big of a deal.
CONCEPT/INNOVATION | 6/10
As I mentioned, I think this is THE game for Metroidvania newcomers. You never are really lost, even if traversal sometimes can get a bit difficult due to the platforming challenges. There is a charming theme throughout. You are introduced to a bunch of typical Metroidvania-mechanics that aren't too advanced to ever get complicated.
And to top it off, the game does a great job to combine combat and traversal mechanics, which, among with its theme, I think is the most positively unique part to this game.
But other than that, yeah, the game doesn't move the needle a whole lot of course, but it doesn't need to.
REPLAYABILITY | 4/5
You're unlikely to finish everything that is worth finishing by the end of your first playthrough. Plus, you will probably underutilize some abilities, miss out on some costumes you can unlock, and once you're on your second playthrough, you will keep finding these small little areas that you can only enter when you unlock those late-game abilities. So to put it short, a second playthrough will definitely be worth it, unless you use a guide to find everything on your first run.
PLAYABILITY | 5/5
It works well from start to finish.
OVERALL | 73/100
I'm going to give it 8/10 because my rating system has a 73/100 actually as much more positive than Metacritic/Opencritic would see it. This is a very fun Metroidvania and a short, focused game that you can bang out in two afternoons and still have some fond memories of later down the line.
If you're new to the genre and want to check out an easy to get into Metroidvania, I think you found it with Guacamelee!.
____________
STORY(TELLING)/CHARACTERS | 5/10
The story of this game is not the highlight here, but I'd be lying if I said that it didn't enhance the overall experience somewhat. There is a great Mexican theme here that keeps the game in a fun, charming sort of mood pretty much throughout, even if some of the story points can actually get a bit dark.
You play Juan Aguacate, a farmer-turned-luchador at the start of the game when an evil skeleton called Carlos Calaca destroys your village, Pueblucho, and kidnaps your childhood love interest, who turns out to be "the president's daughter".
This all happens on the "Dia de los muertos" (Day of the Dead). To turn into a luchador, you are killed and get a luchador mask from someone else, after which you are brought back to life. Carlos Calaca has a few main partners who stand in your way as you try to find and fight him. Since he did kill you effortlessly during your first encounter, this is all OK, because you're going to want to increase your abilities before facing him once more.
His main partners or followers rather, all have their own back story and their motivations for following him. It's not much, but it's always nice to learn a bit more about the bosses you will be facing. The back story of Carlos Calaca is more interesting, though told very quickly. In general, story parts are few and far between. Most of the dialogue is limited to talking to a chicken, who teaches you combos, talking to half old-man half goat, who teaches you new abilities, and talking to side quest givers.
The theme of it all definitely gives positive vibes here overall, but again, it's not a big part of this game. A lot of stuff remains unexplained or brushed off to "the world is magical, that's why it works".
GAMEPLAY | 15/20
This is one of the few Metroidvanias I've beaten. I've played many more however, and this is definitely the game I'd recommend to newcomers to the genre the most. Metroidvania-type features are in many types of games, like the idea of finding things that are interactable, but not having the necessary abilities to interact with them until later. This blocking of exploration until later is not a key component of those games though like it is in Metroidvanias.
Even amongst Metroidvanias, this is of course handled differently, but for beginners, Guacamelee handles it best. Instead of making you make both a mental and physical note whenever you find something that you're going to want to remember for later, Guacamelee offers waypoints at all times, so that you don't really ever have to worry about where to go next. Backtracking is included here still, but at least it's not a long session of going through every corner to see if you find the right path forward or something new to interact with.
The combat in this game is melee-focused and apart from the boss fights, which are unfortunately very few, fighting in this game doesn't ask much of you. On Normal difficulty, you can take plenty of hits and have enough time and ability to dodge most attacks pretty easily. Even if you die, you instantly spawn at the last checkpoint with no loading time, and those checkpoints are usually right next to the place you died.
One thing this game does really well is combine combat and traversal elements. You learn how to do uppercuts, headbutts, frog slams and more, which you can both use to fight and create new combos, but also to break colored blocks blocking your path forward. A very resourceful way of doing things, and pretty fun.
So yes, the other big part of this game next to the combat is traversal. You'll be platforming a lot and challenges will be gravity, thorned vines and, later on, much more complicated things that I don't want to spoil. What's important to know is that if you die to gravity, you instantly respawn where you were the last time before you fell, so frustration is kept to a minimum here. It does get frustrating sometimes anyway, but it's not that bad at all. The main issue I had was that, as you learned more and more abilities and had to use almost all of them to go past specific sections, my brain pretty much refused to think that fast, so it took me more tries sometimes than I care to admit.
But the mix of platforming and combat is pretty good and while it does get slightly repetitive at times due to a lack of other gameplay systems (and variety in attack patterns is mostly kept for the boss fights, which are good), it's a game that, purely for its gameplay, I can very much recommend.
Finally, there is a good bit of exploration to be done. I'm on a 2nd playthrough on Hard difficulty and the amount of secret areas I'm discovering now is crazy. Obviously I will have to relearn the abilities to enter them later, but at least know I know what I'm looking for. And you're going to want to explore these places for multiple reasons. You'll get more money for upgrades (of which there really aren't that many though), you'll find upgrade parts for more health and special attacks, and most importantly, you will full secret worlds that you're going to want to complete before you take on the final boss. I didn't and it's not necessary, but I'd recommend it.
MUSIC/SOUND/VOICE | 7/10
No voice acting. I understand that for budgetary reasons, but some of the characters definitely deserved one. Sound design is good. In general, your auditory experience will be very much inspired by the Mexican theme. The soundtrack gives off that vibe right off the bat, with a great (great!) track for the first area you find yourself in, Pueblucho. I played this for the first time years ago and that track immediately sounded familiar when I got back.
In general, the OST is good, but there could have been a bit more variety/quantity overall.
GRAPHICS/ART DESIGN | 8/10
The graphical quality of this game is not the impressive part. It's the attention to detail and the art design. Its great use of color complements the vibe this game constantly gives out and the intricate details in pretty much all the locations available in this game are definitely the highlights.
ATMOSPHERE | 8/10
The game has the Mexican culture thing going on and it sticks with it throughout. The soundtrack, the visuals, the colors and everything else combines to make for one cohesive and enjoyable experience from an "atmosphere" standpoint.
CONTENT | 8/10
The game took me 6 hours to beat. For 12.50€ at full price, this is OK, and on a discount, it's definitely more than enough to have a couple fun afternoons playing this game. However, there are two good things and one bad thing I want to talk about here. First, the good. The game has no game over screens, it doesn't send you back for minutes after a 5-second struggle with a boss that goes sour only to pad its playtime and there is no incessant backtracking involved unless you're a completionist. So a 6 hour playthrough here is much more focused one and with less of the filler and annoying parts of other, similar games. Second, there are multiple secret worlds that I didn't discover myself, so one can easily spend 10+ hours on this game if you were to finish those up. You will get rewarded with a different ending later on.
The bad thing here is that, whether you play for 6 or 10 hours, there is plenty of repetitive stuff going on the further you go into it due to the limited variety in enemies. Especially those secret worlds will not introduce you to too many new ones, and as far as challenge goes, the game pretty much keeps throwing more and more enemies at you the farther you go, instead of making their attack patterns more varied.
LEVEL/MISSION DESIGN | 7/10
The game has two types of content mainly, which would be melee combat and platforming. This mix stays how it is throughout, and it's a good and fun mix. Later sections and the secret worlds have more of a focus on arenas with increasing amounts of the same enemies you've faced all game. This is the substitute for a more varied challenge, so not always so great, but since the combat in itself is pretty enjoyable, if also repetitive, it's not that big of a deal.
CONCEPT/INNOVATION | 6/10
As I mentioned, I think this is THE game for Metroidvania newcomers. You never are really lost, even if traversal sometimes can get a bit difficult due to the platforming challenges. There is a charming theme throughout. You are introduced to a bunch of typical Metroidvania-mechanics that aren't too advanced to ever get complicated.
And to top it off, the game does a great job to combine combat and traversal mechanics, which, among with its theme, I think is the most positively unique part to this game.
But other than that, yeah, the game doesn't move the needle a whole lot of course, but it doesn't need to.
REPLAYABILITY | 4/5
You're unlikely to finish everything that is worth finishing by the end of your first playthrough. Plus, you will probably underutilize some abilities, miss out on some costumes you can unlock, and once you're on your second playthrough, you will keep finding these small little areas that you can only enter when you unlock those late-game abilities. So to put it short, a second playthrough will definitely be worth it, unless you use a guide to find everything on your first run.
PLAYABILITY | 5/5
It works well from start to finish.
OVERALL | 73/100
I'm going to give it 8/10 because my rating system has a 73/100 actually as much more positive than Metacritic/Opencritic would see it. This is a very fun Metroidvania and a short, focused game that you can bang out in two afternoons and still have some fond memories of later down the line.
If you're new to the genre and want to check out an easy to get into Metroidvania, I think you found it with Guacamelee!.
a fun metroidvania beat em up, with a great setting and soundtrack. the secrets were really fun to get, and El Infierno felt like a challenge to get all gold medals in.
there were some glitches though, one where my camera stayed in the previous room but the character didn't, and one where i went too fast through a screen transition(?), leading to a game crash.
took me 26 hours to get all the achievements, my time playing was quite enjoyable.
there were some glitches though, one where my camera stayed in the previous room but the character didn't, and one where i went too fast through a screen transition(?), leading to a game crash.
took me 26 hours to get all the achievements, my time playing was quite enjoyable.
Initially, when I saw a few people really didn't like this game, I thought they were exaggerating, how the game's fighting mechanics weren't that great and the level design was kinda balls.
Nah, they were right. Nothing particularly bad about this game, but calling it a Metroidvania is an insult to the genre. It's extremely linear, the platforming is okay and the fighting mechanics were alright up until the later game where it starts throwing a bunch of bullshit at you. Also the final boss sucks. I'm not gonna give this bore-fest a proper review.
Nah, they were right. Nothing particularly bad about this game, but calling it a Metroidvania is an insult to the genre. It's extremely linear, the platforming is okay and the fighting mechanics were alright up until the later game where it starts throwing a bunch of bullshit at you. Also the final boss sucks. I'm not gonna give this bore-fest a proper review.
Guacamelee was so much more influential that I realised. It helped revive the genre and you can see where other metroidvanias took inspiration. The game is incredibly stylised while still having a bunch of substance. The combat is satisfying and the unlockable abilities are wacky and unique. The level design is top-notch for the most part and the puzzle platforming makes up for the weaker movement.
Don't expect it to be an open metroidvania as you'll be very disappointed. I personally like this as it appeals to all players. There is no required backtracking for those who like linear games, however those who want to explore will be rewarded greatly. The game is very short so buy it when it's on offer.
89
Don't expect it to be an open metroidvania as you'll be very disappointed. I personally like this as it appeals to all players. There is no required backtracking for those who like linear games, however those who want to explore will be rewarded greatly. The game is very short so buy it when it's on offer.
89
Fantastic world, art style and audio, satisfying gameplay, good level design. Can play as a chicken. Made me love metroidvanias.
Caramba! Řádně (po)trhlá mexikáncká Metroidvania se vším všudy (puzzly, bitky, získávání schopností, skákání) a nějakými těmi kuřaty k tomu! Co zaujme hned od počátku a drží hru i ve slabších pasážích (moc jich ostatně není) je zvolená stylizace. Co naopak nepotěší je nevyrovnané tempo. Souboje jsou většinou lehké, zato plošinkové pasáže umí být v pokročilé fázi hry docela otravné až na hranu, kdy již nejde ani tak o výzvu jako spíše o buzeraci. Jinak celková spokojenost umocněná i tím, že hra krom hlavní linie nabízí dost prostoru pro vyblbnutí se i v různých výzvách, kooperaci apod.
Lo abandono en el enfrentamiento con el jefe final porque, la verdad, se me está haciendo muy cuesta arriba estrellarme una y otra vez contra él. Hasta ahí me parece un buen juego de plataformas con combates que más o menos se sobrellevan salvo en dos o tres en los cuales se dispara la curva de dificultad muy por encima de donde ha estado hasta el momento. En este sentido disfruté más de Guacamelee 2, donde todo estaba mejor medido (no podía ser de otra manera).
Całkiem niezła metroidvania z miłym dla oka stylem graficznym, unikalnym settingiem (ogólnie luchadorzy to chyba mało eksploatowany temat w naszej kulturze) i przyjemnym platformingiem. Zawodzi jednak walka, jest jej za dużo i nie sprawia frajdy, a wrogowie czasami zlewają się z tłem i naszą postacią przez co trudno się w tym bałaganie odnaleźć. No i zdecydowanie za często utrudnienie polega na tym, że są oni wrażliwi tylko na jeden konkretny cios, wolałbym sam się nimi bawić tak jak uważam. Bossowie raczej wiele nie zmieniają na plus czy minus, po prostu są bo mają być. Oklepana fabuła (porwana księżniczka) sama w sobie mi nie przeszkadza, ale jej podanie już tak, nie znajdziemy tu bowiem jednego dobrego żartu czy błyskotliwego dialogu, a ewidentnie jest to tak napisane, jakby miało śmieszyć. Co trochę ratuje sytuację to design postaci i świata, niektóre animacje są całkiem zabawne, a ściany miejscówek ozdobione są memami sprzed 10 lat, o których miło sobie przypomnieć. Przeczesywanie mapy w poszukiwaniu znajdziek było satysfakcjonujące, szkoda tylko, że same nagrody za ich zaliczenie były tak nudne (1/3 fragmentu zdrowia, dodatkowy kwadracik staminy itd) i w zasadzie nie uważam, by mi jakkolwiek ułatwiły rozgrywkę.
Podsumowując było ok, ale cieszę się, że przeszedłem tę grę przenośnie, na granie w to na dużej konsoli szkoda by mi było czasu. No chyba, że z kimś w lokalnym coopie (bo kiedyś tak przeszedłem pół gry i lepiej wspominam ten czas).
Podsumowując było ok, ale cieszę się, że przeszedłem tę grę przenośnie, na granie w to na dużej konsoli szkoda by mi było czasu. No chyba, że z kimś w lokalnym coopie (bo kiedyś tak przeszedłem pół gry i lepiej wspominam ten czas).
Great game once you get past the introduction, but man that introduction is a slog.
This was a really fun game. I enjoyed the platforming and combat, and the visual style was really cool. The music was decent too. The story was pretty generic but I didn't care that much. The extra content is a little too annoying and impossible for my tastes though.
I know I played this game but I can't remember anything about it.
The fighting mechanics aren't as good as the game thinks they are, and the platforming can't carry the rest.
As a game, it's fun. The combat is awesome and it's a well-constructed metroidvania.
The humor is godawful and (dare I say it?) cringe as fuck, and its co-opted aesthetics are offensive. It's final boss also sucks.
The humor is godawful and (dare I say it?) cringe as fuck, and its co-opted aesthetics are offensive. It's final boss also sucks.