![]() ![]() One aspect of Guacamelee! that definitely hasn’t aged well is its sense of humor. The entire campaign is just a set of oversaturated corridors with no reason for actually being there except to put us through now-familiar motions. Guacamelee! 2 has such a consistently busy look to it that none of its levels feel like places, so my efforts to visualize specific regions only manifest as a big blur. For those keeping track, that’s a whole two more block colors this time around.ĭrinkBox’s signature bright, exaggerated visual style is on full display and as striking as ever, though in this case it’s so overdone that it detracts from the functionality of the environments. This artificiality also deflates the excitement of giving the chicken fighting moves, because they’re mostly used to smash through purple and orange blocks. Most of the abilities that expand Juan’s navigation are color-coded, and it feels static and arbitrary to simply wall off parts of a level with red or green blocks to mark how far I’m allowed to go. However, something I’ve noticed in 2018 (after five years of metroidvanias having overpopulated the indie market) is how inorganic Guacamelee! 2 feels as an exploration-based title. I haven’t played the original Guacamelee! since its release, so for all I know, this sequel is perfectly consistent in quality and the formula just doesn’t hold up. While Juan’s moveset is largely the same, he has an RPG-lite upgrade system that primarily makes his attacks more powerful, and his chicken form – previously only used to navigating small spaces, à la the Morph Ball – can now be used to fight. Most of the improvements have been to the combat. Guacamelee! 2 offers more of the same, but with less reward – it’s not as invigorating to master these moves after already mastering them last time. For more detail, read Brad Gallaway’s glowing review of it here. Guacamelee! 2 is simply the first DrinkBox Studios game that one could describe as “predictable,” and the sort of sequel that wallows in its predecessors’ successes without pushing the envelope any further.įor those unaware, the original Guacamelee! was a 2D metroidvania set in Mexico, blending a robust physical combat system with some of the most devilish platforming challenges I’ve ever been faced with. That’s probably me giving the game too much credit, though. The Guacamelee! series doesn’t hide that it owes a lot to Metroid, extending far beyond the fact that players obtain new upgrades from – I’m not kidding here – “Choozo Statues.” So for all I know, the fact that protagonist Juan spends most of Guacamelee! 2 re-learning all of the same abilities as the first game could be an elaborate joke. There’s usually a moment at the beginning of a Metroid game in which Samus loses all of her hard-earned equipment from the previous adventure, giving players an excuse to have to go find it all again. WTF Flame Face’s needlessly convoluted combos. LOW The final dungeon feels like it goes on forever. HIGH Going on rampages as the giant chicken. ![]()
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