It’s certainly possible to lucha your way through most anything, but it takes some dedication and rule setting on the part of the player. Comboing enemies into the air, following them up with an uppercut, then piledriving them back into the earth on top of their buddies is always a thrill – fighting is fun in Guacamelee! While there are good options for throwing opponents, the game definitely skews towards melee combat. While the combat rarely reaches the twitch-frustration/elation of the platforming there are a number of enemy rooms that will really test your mettle. That statement will either make you excited or annoyed, and that’s a good measuring stick for Guacamelee! There’s definitely a Super Meat Boy, roguelike-lite expectation in this game, as it can easily take an hour or two to crack what is in the end a 30 second jumping problem or challenge room. All of your special attack abilities can also be chained in the air (along with the double jump, dodge and other crazy traversal moves I won’t spoil here) allowing for some pretty mind-blowing ground-to-air combat and platforming. ![]() Often times platforms that exist in one world vanish in the other combining Juan’s impressive set of moves with this rule makes for many, many awesome levels and puzzle sequences, some of which are bound to frustrate at points. At the press of a button you can move between the real world and the world of the dead. This merging of two worlds is the baseline for the Soul Reaver-like phase shifting abilities you come to possess and the meat and potatoes of much of the late-game’s platforming elements. The storyline pits Juan, an agave farmer who comes back to life as a luchador, against Carlos Calaca, the skeletal villain who killed him, kidnapped his lifetime love, kicked the Devil out of hell, and is trying to merge the worlds of the living and dead to a no doubt disastrous end. Everyone’s mileage will vary but at the end of the day all of the references are largely innocuous and really shouldn't affect your enjoyment of the game. From Mega Man and Zelda to Journey and Team Fortress 2, from Destructoid and our very own Giant Bomb to dialogue ripped straight from Return of the Jedi – there’s a lot of reference material in Guac I've read more than enough posts and reviews about the saturation of memes in the game but this is really a case of reap what you sow. Guacamelee! is very much a love letter to video games and nerdom in general. ![]() The story is simple, to-the-point, and tongue-in-cheek. Capcom as it does Metroid, Guacamelee! has a truly exciting and refreshing juggling brawler at its heart, and the way it uses its suite of flying uppercuts, head buts and body slams for both skull bashing and platforming make for a really mechanically satisfying, unified experience. Borrowing just as much from games like Dust & Marvel vs. ![]() If there is such a thing is 2D AAA, this is it. But it doesn't take long to realize that the mechanics are a real cut above the rest of the crowd - in fact, they are an exemplary display of fun fighting systems. At first blush Guacamelee! appears to be little more than an exceptionally good-looking metroidvania, another in a long line of 2D combat-based-platformers.
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