Metroidvanias

Iconoclasts | Jan 20, 2019 | 13:40hrs | rating: 4.5/5

Another metroidvania, and this one feels great from the very first moment. And when it’s nearing the end 10 hours later, I just wanted it to keep going. Luckily it did, at least until I was more or less satisfied.

– GAMEPLAY: Super tight controls and a lot of QoL functions that just make sense, like auto-angling weapons, stomping on enemies, a nice ledge-grab, character-switching, and the star of the game; a multi-purpose wrench that gets more uses as you upgrade it. Combined with wonderful animation and effective sound effects, it just feels great to play.
Though the game is often quite linear due to the heavy focus on story, there’s always moments where you have to explore the current area, and it feels good figure out what to do and where to go due to the clever puzzles and level design.
I also have to mention that the enemy design and especially the bosses are GREAT and feel very fresh/creative.
– AUDIOVISUALLY: Very nice pixel art, with a lot of cute animation that makes the characters come alive. Some of the music reminds me of Metroid Prime, and it’s great, but the non-Metroidy music is more forgettable.
– STORY/PRESENTATION: I rarely care for story in games, but this one mixes gameplay and plot very nicely, with mostly short cut-scenes that develop the characters and slowly unveil its world and religious/political dilemmas. At first I just found it non-intrusive (which was a good thing), but it kept growing on me and even got emotional towards the end.
– MULTIPLAYER: Sadly none, and it’s what one can expect from this genre. But considering the game-feel and object interaction, I’m sure the developer could have put together a great co-op mode.

Just wow. As I finished the game, I felt that it’s one of the best of the generation. It beats Hollow Knight for me, but doesn’t have much post-content or the replayability of for example Celeste. Super recommended though! (And I will try the New Game+ some day.)

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.