Guacamelee | Jan 15, 2019 | 6:24hrs | rating: 2.5/5
One of those metroidvanias that barely feel like one, because you’re constantly shown exactly where to go on the map. As a result, it feels quite linear and mindless, and during the long final area (which felt like half the game), I just wanted it to end.
– GAMEPLAY: You’re very limited at first, but once you’ve unlocked most abilities, it reminds me of Smash Bros (you dodge, double-jump and do tilted attacks), and this is a good thing. The wall-jumps feel a bit clumsy though, especially in combination with corners. Could overall be a bit more fluid/tighter.
They try to throw some gameplay variation at you, but it often feels shallow instead of well developed, like a few rooms with portals (basically what you find in Portal), and running up walls. The dimension swap mechanic is cool, but also under-utilized.
I hope that the second game will further develop what this game really did well, which was the colored special moves! They were often a lot of fun, especially when you were forced to use them well, like with the final boss.
– AUDIOVISUALLY: The artstyle is okay, and I especially like the shadow work. Pet-peeves like no feet-adjustment to tilted floors lower the overall impression a lot. The music sets the right tone but ends up being forgettable and quite repetitive at points.
– STORY/PRESENTATION: The humoristic references worked well enough for me (there’s a lot of them), but the plot was forgettable and bare-bones. Maybe the pacing was a reason why I lost interest?
– MULTIPLAYER: Though you can co-op the entire game with up to 4 players (which is a great addition!), there’s no character interaction and the gameplay-loop just didn’t interest my friend for more than a few minutes.
All in all, it’s a solid game. There are some village side-quests and a bunch of colored gates on the map that don’t interest me enough to get back to, so my final playtime ends with 6:24hrs.