Haku's Guacamelee Review

[Hakudamashi]

What I Liked

The Setting
Growing up, I've grown quite the hard on for Hispanic settings, so pardon me if I sound exceptionally biased this time. I love the look of this world, it's soo simplistic, but yet soo captivating at the same time. I find it fascinating how entire towns and other safe areas are crafted and soo open despite being strictly 2D, in fact, because it's strictly 2D it's allowed them to be creative where they hide their secrets, even more so than most other games of this type that simply have you checking behind seeming solid walls.
With the simplistic art style, accompanied by a proper Hispanic sounding soundtrack, this world is joy for me to just run through.

You also got this power to warp between the land of the living, and the land of the dead in order to do combat, platforming, finding secrets, and it changes the look of the world which I got a kick out of.


The Story
Save the girl, that's it, and I'm ok with that. Sure, there have been some games prior that do this, BUT!!!

Spoiler

[/b]When you save the girl, you don't just take her home and that's the end of that, you save her, you fuck, you get married, happy days for all. I know I've bitched about this way too much, but Christ, why is it soo difficult to have the Hero fuck the girl he risks his life for? I mean seriously, it's not like people would rate it less for it. They did give the game multiple endings however, you gotta collect shit in the final dungeon before you defeat the final boss, if you don't, then the game ends just like any other generic fiction with this kind of story, the girl dies, the hero mopes, the world is saved, but noone is happy... But if you do collect the things, then you get the ending that isn't a bummer. No sequel baiting, no drama bullshit, just you enjoying the rewards of your strife.

[close]

[/b]

The Humour
I laughed alot while playing it. The game's jokes come from referencing other video game characters and troupes, but to me, it was done in a tasteful way, and they properly space them out before you reach the "Please Stop" levels of amount of F*cks given.


The Combat
No fancy bullshit. Just simple attacks, for different purposes, tied to an easy to understand button config. Because it's soo simple, you can change up the pace of combat however you want... Except for those enemies that have to be hit a certain way, but they're also fun to take out thanks to your reliable control scheme. The combat is fast and fun, and you'll be able to keep track of yourself the whole time.

The Platfoming
Fair, challenging, fun. They make you take full advantage of all your abilities, and thanks to the low iteration time you're able to quickly retry the part you fucked up, and they're oh so rewarding when you get them right.

Vita Integration and Multiplayer
By using the Vita, you can use it as a controller and it's screen is used to display the map, which for me, made finding stuff less painful. And the mutliplayer allowed for me and my bro to enjoy the game together without much of a hinderance to one another, and you can just pass through each other, and there are no lives to waste. 'Twas fun.

What I Didn't Like

Ummm...
...It's hard to do the dodgeroll on the Vita version...

My Verdict

I really enjoyed it from start to finish. I loved it's smooth difficulty curve, it's story n' characters, it's world, and it was just a blast to play. Even if you're not a fan of how it looks, I encourage you all to at least give it a try somehow... If you have a PS3...

10/10
5/5
A⁺
Buy It

[Princessofthechaosemerald]

I heard this game was supposed to be really good. C: I'll look into it now. Good review!

[Hakudamashi]

You won't be disappointed I promise.