Slightly late to the party, and admittedly spurred on by its fancy features connecting it with the PS4, but I finally bought a Vita and decided to try out some of the PS+ free titles that gets given away. The first of these was Guacamelee, a side scrolling action game, where you play as Juan, a simple farmer boy who gains the power of a Luchador to defeat the evil Calaca who is trying to fuse the world of the dead and the living. It’s a classic tale of the hero searching for the girl with a Mexican twist that adds humour and something new to the genre. It’s fun because of its simplicity, you go through the game collecting new types of moves and abilities to use, such as the goat jump, goat fly, and the ability to turn into a chicken at will, known as “pollo power”.
Writing this down, I’m not sure if it sounds as good as it actually is, it sounds a little ridiculous really but I had a lot of fun playing it on the vita, and I imagine it would be pretty cool on the PS3, especially with the cross save function, and with a rumoured version full of extra goodness coming to the Xbox One and PS4.
So here is a write up of why you should play the game. The best thing about the game in my opinion is its charm. It’s a beautiful world full of characters that give you quirky side quests, such as finding the ingredients for the World’s best Enchilada, or returning a lost doll to her owner in the world of the dead. Its things like this and the little jokes that come with it that make the game memorable, such as the posters for the Super Hermanos, an obvious rip off of the Mario Brothers.
The contrast with the world of the living and the world of the dead is another thing that made the game stand out. Normally there is little difference between the two worlds, but in certain areas it changes things quite a lot. Mostly it is used as a puzzle device as certain blocks only appear in one world or the other, and many of the puzzles involve jumping and switching worlds before you reach the next platform to grab onto or jump from. Some of the puzzles admittedly were quite difficult, but it was fun and, although some of them left me frustrated, I had a difficult time putting the game down until I jumped through all of the hoops the game throws at you.
The game itself is quite simply played, jumping around and fighting enemies that come in all different shapes and sizes, and though the tactics involved aren’t that that different from punching an enemy, or jumping and punching an enemy, but it’s when you stun the enemy you get the fun option of grapping them and choosing the way to destroy them, either by throwing them at other enemies, or pile driving them into oblivion. The special attacks I mentioned earlier are not only used for fighting. They are also used for some puzzle and platforming elements. You gain four major attack powers through the game, a powerful uppercut which can be used to also increase your jump height, a slam down into the ground that can uproot certain enemies, a powerful head-butt and a move where you fly across the screen to punch things which can help with longer distance jumps too. Each of these moves has a colour associated with it, which tells you which move to use to destroy the large colourful block in front of you. Generally these are used to hinder exploration until later in the game, for hidden chests or powerups, but these colours also envelope enemies as a type of shield that can only be broken by using the move associated with that colour. This makes combat a bit more interesting, and sometimes a bit thought provoking when coupled with an enemy’s ability to also switch between the two worlds and hit you, while you cannot hurt them unless you follow them into that world. Later in the game, with all the abilities unlocked, it becomes a bit manic, with a screen full of enemies, all covered in shields and only half being in reach of your burly Mexican fists, and you find yourself jumping and dodging all over the place trying to get a hit in. The enemies are never difficult by themselves, but in hordes it becomes a slightly different matter, especially when playing on the harder difficulty.
Overall though Guacamelee is still fun, simplistic and charming, despite a few platforming frustrations, the story isn’t anything to write home about but it is pulled off in a novel way. It might not be the most engrossing game, but you find yourself going back for more, if it’s just to get a few minutes of gaming in.
Lance out -
