GAME REVIEW: Guacamelee! Super Turbo Championship Edition & Guacamelee! 2 (Switch)

 (Ice - Bilmuri)

Something something 'I Love Metroidvanias'.

That's kind of a cheap opening but if you've been keeping even casual tabs on this blog, you've heard me rabbit on and on and... on, and on and on about the 'Metroidvania' game genre that I love so much.

(No, 'Dead Cells' is not a Metroidvania. Please stop calling it one.)

What's that? You're new and you haven't heard me run my mouth about this particular topic and you're really, really bored? Good news! I have links to previous articles for you!

Click here to read my review of a game called 'Hollow Knight' that explains a little bit of the history of the genre and what a Metroidvania is in general terms.

Click here to read my review of a game called 'Skelattack' that explains why it's so damned hard to make a decent Metroidvania these days.

To the matter at hand!

I...have COVID. It sucks. The silver lining to it is that, thankfully, it doesn't suck so much that I haven't found some time to get some quality gaming done. This, plus my aforementioned lust for a good Metroidvania has seen me pull Guacamelee! out of my list of unplayed 'Vanias to give it a go.

Anyone familiar with the genre will probably have at least heard the name 'Guacamelee' at some point. Not only was it generally well-received when it was originally released nearly 10 years ago in 2013, it was also heralded as one of the most unique-looking games that anyone had seen at the time. This was owed almost completely to a hand-drawn art style that took incredibly heavy inspiration from Mexican (and what I can only assume is a very American spin on Mexican...) culture.

Seriously, check the trailer out here:

First, let me set a few things in stone here:

- Yes. This is absolutely a top-tier example of the 'Metroidvania' genre.
- Yes. The game is every bit as batshit crazy as it looks.

As a Metroidvania, 'Guacamelee' has a lot of the usual things going for it. It's a side-scrolling platformer where you explore, hit dead ends, find the power-ups necessary to open previously barred passageways, go explore more, etc. etc. There are collectables everywhere including the standard health and energy pieces required to increase your corresponding stats. In this, the game does very little to distinguish itself.

That's...really where the similarities end though, and that's also where Guacamelee! really shines.

See, Guacamelee! leans into the whole Luchador thing HARD. Like...really, really hard. Most games of this type rely on the use of guns or some other form of ranged combat. Even my beloved 'Hollow Knight' keeps enemies at arms' length through the use of a sword -- excuse me, Nail! That's not the case here at all Luchadors get business done with their hands and so do you. When you're not exploring, Guacamelee! is a straight up brawler, allowing you to deliver absolutely brutal beat-downs to the various enemies that you'll encounter throughout the game. The usual power-ups that you might gather to help you explore the game? Those are here but they're also disguised as combat abilities. No special ability in the game only has one use. It can all be used in combat. As if being an accomplished Beat-Em Up and platformer wasn't enough, the game also has a clever and upgradable grapple system that allows you to incorporate classic wrestling throws and finishers like the suplex and pile driver into the mix. Do you have to use it? No. The game plays just fine without it. If you want to truly master the game's combat, it's there and waiting for you.

Oh, and yes, the game includes the ability to turn yourself into a very martially inclined chicken.

No. That's not a typo.

And I didn't even get to the whole 'you can jump between parallel dimensions' thing, which...yeah, you'll see.

Every single aspect of this game is over the top and absolutely bathed in Luchador and Mexican pride. That might be a turn-off to some less worldly players except the developers knew exactly what they were doing and threw in LOADS of American pop-culture references as well. There's a balancing act that's happening here and it's being done to perfection. The previously mentioned art style for the game is drop-dead gorgeous and something that most gamers won't be familiar with. It's vibrant and colorful, and should absolutely prove a breath of fresh air for most.

Oh, and one more thing: Maybe THE most unique feature of this game? 

You can play it Co-Op. 

With up to four players.

...It is as crazy-making as you think it is.

Guacamelee! isn't a hugely long game. It's not incredibly difficult for veterans of more recently released entries into the genre either. It's memorable from end to end though, light-hearted, and a gaggle of fun. It's a steal for five bucks on the Switch store right now and can easily eat several of your afternoons. 

...Aaaand when you're done with the first game, you'll get the immediate benefit of playing a title nearly a decade old because you can then roll directly into its sequel!

Released in 2018, Guacamelee! 2 is one of those absolutely rare game titles where the sequel is legitimately better than the first game in every single way. If you liked the first game, G2 is all of that with some incredible new puzzle mechanics, even sharper platforming, and a whole slew of new and unique power-ups. Maybe best of all, a huge portion of the game revolves around playing in Pollo form. Playing as the Chicken in the first game was only about a step up from a gag, allowing you to fit into tighter spaces and access a few new secrets. It was the 'Morph Ball' of the first game. That would have been enough but Drinkbox Games spent a ton of extra time creating a whole slew of content just for Pollo form and it's arguably the best part of the game now.

Seriously, wandering into a room full of bad guys as a god-tier chicken and absolutely wrecking face is enjoyable on a level that I didn't realize existed. 

Nothing about this new Pollo content feels bolted on. The further you get into the game, the more it becomes crystal clear that the whole game was designed around fully integrating the new play style in with the existing one. It makes for some incredible fun and some controller-shakingly difficult puzzle platforming as you figure out how to navigate rooms while swapping between man and chicken on the fly.

Hah. Haha.

Guacamelee! and its sequel would have been worth the price of admission at full price. You can get them both for around $6 a piece for the major consoles and PC though and there is absolutely no reason, NONE, why you shouldn't.