Guacamelee’s a graphical beauty, with its foundation in old-school design but with modern, gorgeous character models, a wonderfully realized environment to explore, and fluid character animations. Adding to the ambience is a Mexican-themed soundtrack that really bumps at times. I especially loved the brief cutscenes during moments of exposition and the flashy screens that pop up when you get a new move (specifically after receiving the ability to turn into a chicken... POLLO POWER!). None of this lasts so long that it keeps you away from actually playing for more than a moment, however, which is a nice touch.
Considering Guacamelee’s inspiration, it would be easy to conclude that its best feature is its open-ended nature, but that’s actually not the case. Sure, Guacamelee lets players explore a non-linear map, and it emphasizes back-tracking with new moves and skills to access new areas, but combat is where it truly shines. This actually surprised me, considering that after having played a preview version for about 90 minutes last month, I noted that the combat felt a bit stiff. What I didn’t realize at the time is that I lacked a complete grasp on the mechanics. The more you delve into Guacamelee’s surprisingly deep combat system, the more rewarding it becomes.
Your array of basic kicks and punches are slowly complemented by new skills. Eventually, Juan will be able to uppercut, ground-pound, grab, and toss enemies, creating on-the-fly combos that are as fun to execute as they are integral to your success. Each new skill has a color associated with it that cleverly corresponds with barriers that occasionally protect enemies, forcing you to use said skill on that barrier to remove it. Similarly colored blocks also exist in the environment, so if you see a red block and don’t yet have the uppercut ability, you’ll need to make mental note of it (or simply consult your handy-dandy in-game map) and return to it when you do.Guacamelee also places some emphasis on RPG-like (and RPG lite) elements. Juan can find three types of treasure chests littered throughout the game – some containing coins with which to buy new skills, as well as others containing hearts and gold for more health and special meter, respectively – so you can make Juan ever-stronger. Finding chests is generally linked to how thoroughly you choose to explore, as does discovering and completing not-particularly-exciting side-quests. But these asides are nonetheless Guacamelee’s carrot on the stick to get you to see and do things you don’t necessarily have to in order to win.
One of the most intriguing and tragically underused features of Guacamelee, however, is its living/dead polarity. Juan's ability to move between two different versions of the same world with the push of a button is something stressed near the beginning, but can’t be taken full advantage of until about midway through your adventure. When it does come into play, it adds an extra dynamic to puzzles and increases the difficulty of battle significantly, like when certain enemies are only in one plane or the other. I'm disappointed it wasn't used more – it could have been Guacamelee's central motif – but it’s still wholly clever and, while not necessarily novel, still well done.
$15 (or your local equivalent) will net you both the PS3 and Vita versions of the game, and you can send saves between the two. The PS3 version also includes local co-op, but Guacamelee doesn't require playing with a friend to be at its best. In fact, it's better played alone.When the single biggest complaint about a game is that you wish it was longer, that’s usually high praise. I beat Guacamelee in five and a half hours, though with only a 70% completion rating. Cleaning up the map may take another couple of hours, but don’t go in expecting much more than eight hours, tops. Either way, I could have spent twice that much time in a game twice as big and still been hungry for more. An unlockable hard difficulty mode and co-op change the experience enough to give you reasons to return once you’re done, at least. It’s a game that doesn’t hit you hard in the wallet or on the clock, but one that still thoroughly impresses.
