Continuing my spree of playing through recent indie Metroidvanias via Game Pass, I played through Guacamelee 2. I quite enjoyed the first game, but never got around to playing the 2nd one until now. It took me a while to click with it, but I enjoyed my time with this game. It took me roughly 9 hours to beat on the normal difficulty with the best ending and full completion.

Guacamelee 2 is very much more of the first game. I'd heard that before I started playing it, and that's pretty true to what it is. There are a couuuple new things. The number of character in co-op has been increased from 2 to 4 (although I've heard that the game is utterly unplayable with 2, let alone 4 people trying to do the same platforming puzzles), and the chicken form has been given some new moves. I wanna say there also are a few new enemy types, but I don't' remember the first game well enough to say just how many of these are new. Other than that, this game will be mechanically and stylistically very familiar to anyone who has played the first game. Sequences of platforming intermixed with brawling arenas in the "Metroidvania but a beat 'em up" style that Guacamelee 1 did so well with a heavy aesthetic of Mexican Luchador wrestling. It wasn't broke, so they didn't fix it. However I would say that this game is a bit easier than the first, from the platforming to the combat encounters, it never feels like I'm really struggling like a good few areas in 1 felt.

The writing is a very irreverent and meme-filled style that the first game also had, but this feels cranked up a notch. The villains aren't as memorable as the first game (although the best characters from the first game do make reappearances, especially Flame Face), and at least as far as I remember, there are a LOT more outright meme references in this one than the 1st one. Some of them land, a fair few of them don't, and I'd be lying if I said it never got grating. To be totally fair to the game, a lot of the meme stuff and homages to old games/other indie games (of which there are quite a few and are often boring/bad/weird) is all optional content, but if you want the best ending to the game, you'll come across them if not finish them in your hunt for the 5 special things you need. There are also a lot more new versions of the Luchador-ification of pop culture characters in the form of wrestling promotional posteres in the background (one of my favorites being a He-Man & Skeletor one), and they do not disappoint.

The game definitely looks a lot prettier than the first. Guacamelee 1 looks like a game that was made to be able to run on a Wii U, while 2 really cranks up the art style. The angular, not-quite-hand-drawn style is really boosted by a lot of flourishes that bring enemies and environments to life in beautiful color, and the game never suffers any performance drops for it (as I'd damn well hope it wouldn't). The music is nice, but never super stand-out memorable. I mostly had podcasts on while I played it, but I did still have the sound on enough to hear the largely atmospheric music.

Verdict: Recommended. Certainly not a bad game, but nothing super duper special. Especially if you've already played the first one, this game isn't a must-play if you have very limited time. But if you're like me and love any Metroidvania you can get your hands on, you'll enjoy your time with Guacamelee 2. If you wanted more Guacamelee, this delivers it in a way just as good as it was the last time (for better or worse).

It's quite beautiful to make a game with this much interactivity with a singular button. Puzzles feel good, look good, and are very digestible without being solved at first glance. I feel like puzzle games kinda struggle with a good balance between rocket surgery and square block goes into square hole, but this strikes it nicely.

I'm kinda missing a point to it all? It's like this was a project to explore interactivity, which I guess is fine on its own, but it's just a bit wasted potential to be this immersed and only end up thinking about button presses. Kinda feels like I just had sex for 6 hours without cumming? Like it's nice and all, but.. I like cumming

If you have been following my reviews on this website for a good while now, you would know that I primarily stick to arcade and Nintendo platforms when it comes to the games I talk about. There are a few reasons for this, such as how I am slowly combing my way through every single NES game I can comb through until I get sick of it, there are some pretty noteworthy titles on the SNES I want to check out, and there have been so many different games and franchises released in the arcades that I missed over the years, and I want to cover as many of them as possible. But… what about Sega? Sure, I have covered plenty of Sega games on this website already, such as Sonic, Golden Axe, Shinobi, Alex Ki- gags... sorry, almost threw up because of the midness. But compared to what I have reviewed from those other platforms that I mentioned earlier, I have covered very little from Sega’s side of things, especially with lesser recognized titles. So, I decided that I wanted to try (big emphasis on TRY) to give some more Genesis games some time in the spotlight, starting with one I have been wanting to try out for a while now, Gunstar Heroes.

I myself had never played Gunstar Heroes until before this review, nor too many of the other games that Treasure has developed over the years, but it’s not like I haven’t heard of it before. I first saw it in action through the original episode by The Charityfraudist, and from what I saw, it looked pretty neat overall, but it was nothing that was gonna make me be like “Yes, inject it into my veins NOW”. But, since I have played through more and more retro games over the past couple years, I decided that it was about time I finally checked it out, and HOT DAMN, I was definitely missing out on some peak content right here. Many have called this one of the best games on the Sega Genesis, and they were not kidding, because for being the very first game ever made by Treasure, it is fantastic! Sure, it isn’t the most original game out there in terms of gameplay, but what it manages to do with the gameplay style it takes on is not only really unique, but also manages to be extremely fun, fast, and engaging throughout the entire thing.

The story is pretty simple for what this game is, where an evil empire led by Colonel Red has brainwashed Gunstar Green to find a set of mystical gems for him to rule the world, and so it is up to the remaining members of Gunstar to save their brother and stop this empire, which is basic enough, but you can get behind it easily and still have a good time, the graphics are really good, with many of the environments, characters, enemies, and bosses having great designs, while also having plenty of smooth and detailed animations that look extremely impressive for the system, the music is great, having plenty of wonderful tunes that have stuck with me after playing through, while also not sounding too much like other Genesis music (you know, with the twanging and all), which is refreshing, the control is as good as it needs to be, with a good movement speed and customization to fit your run ‘n gun play style, although the jumping is… complete trash 90% of the time, and the gameplay is familiar for those well-versed in the genre, but it still manages to bring plenty of fun and unique elements to the table where you won’t be bored.

The game is a run ‘n gun platformer, where you take control of either Gunstar Red or Blue, take on a set of seven different stages throughout plenty of different environments, take out many different enemies of various shapes and sizes using either your main weapon, or even by uses slides and throwing mechanics to shake things up, gather plenty of different powerups, weapon types, and health along the way to give you an edge over the forces of the evil empire, and take on plenty of bosses that either range from pretty damn easy, quite challenging, or fun and creative. Most of what is found here in terms of the mechanics has been done plenty of times before in other run n’ gun games, and there isn’t anything too new to be found here that can catch your attention, but it does manage to shake things up enough to where you don’t really care too much about that.

In terms of the basics, not too much has changed about it, but there is one aspect about the main gameplay that can be seen as more creative then the others, and that is in terms of its weapons. While you are gunning down numerous soldiers, you can carry up to two weapon orbs at once, and depending on what you are carrying at that point, it will change up what kind of weapon you can fire. This can make it so that you can make a more powerful version of a weapon you already have equipped, or you can even combine different weapon types to gain different combinations, and it is very fun to experiment with these to see which one works best and will get the job done in the best way possible for you.

Aside from that though, there isn’t much that the game has going for it fundamentally. It is more or less a standard run ‘n gun game when you break it down, but for once in my life, I don’t really care about that. There are so many different things that I managed to love and appreciate about the game regardless, such as the fun art style and animations, the fast-paced gameplay that managed to keep things fresh the entire time, and plenty of different stage types that also kept me engaged. There were several of these I ended up really liking, such as a stage where you are riding around in a mine cart that can be flipped onto the ceiling or opposite wall, a stage which turns the game into a shmup that tested your skills and made you focus on many directions other than what was in front of you, and even a stage that takes you through a board game, rolling dice to determine what space you land on, which can either make you fight a boss, give you an item, or even detriment you if you are unlucky. I loved seeing these variations pop up from time to time, ESPECIALLY the board game one, since I am a huge sucker for that kind of gameplay, especially when it manages to shake things up in a normal game that make things more interesting.

Overall, despite not expanding upon the genre too heavily, I found myself really loving my time with Gunstar Heroes, and I am disappointed in myself that I didn’t get to it sooner. Sure, I wouldn’t say that it is the best run ‘n gun game ever made, and it was still pretty basic fun co-op action that you could get from plenty of other games, but it manages to pull off what it wants to do in a seemingly flawless package, which is something I can definitely appreciate. I would definitely recommend it for those who love run ‘n gun games, as well as those who have experience with some of Treasures other titles, because again, for the first game they ever made as a company, they knocked it out of the park. Then again, if you are familiar with their other games, you have probably already played this one, but WHATEVER! Hoo man, that was pretty refreshing. So, what did these guys make after this?........................ what the fu-

Game #458

I am not a fan of this game's outdated difficulty and challenge. Unpredictable spawns, unavoidable projectiles, long checkpoints, cheeky stage hazards, mostly amounting to cheap hits given the mobility. What got me through the latter parts is mastery over the melee and dodge roll mechanic; however, some level scenes removing those are definitely not my favorite.

Despite all that, I think this is still a good game at its core. Unlocking the post-game characters have different mechanics which would have been my preferred playstyle. Playing through boss rush is probably the most fun I had even though the last boss is kinda unfair. With its difficulty and design, it still may be fun to get flawless runs.

Beyond that though, I do not have any strong reason to replay or recommend this either.

Inventory Hero is not a game for me. One round was all that I felt necessary to play. It was a good run, reaching level 83 and losing to RNG in the end. And for that I was thankful, I wanted an excuse to bow out by the time I reached Glitch world the first time...
There's a lot that I know went into this game, graphics, world design, all of the items being equipped to my player character and neat enemy sprites. But I have no way of appreciating them in real time as the entire game has me fixated on my inventory. The loop is not very fun, sadly I won't be coming back to it.