Well. The name sure doesn't give anything away.
Allow me to preface this review with a short statement.
For a long time, I haven't really been into gaming. Nothing has really captured my attention, and I've been very half-hearted about the whole pastime. Despite this, I've still kept myself up to date with happenings in the medium, and a few months ago I bought an XBox One for some unknown reason. No really, it's mostly been sitting under my desk, gathering dust.
And now, onto the review.
Guacamelee: STCE is an update to the previously-released Guacamelee. As I've never played the original release, I'll just call it Guacamelee here.
This is a 2D sides-crolling platforming beat-em-up based vaguely in the world of Mexican wrestling, aka Luche libre. About all that links the game to Mexican wrestling as far as I can tell though, is that you play as a wrestler ( a Luchador). Not that this is a bad thing, by any means. I know nothing about the sport, other than what I can infer from the name.
The game itself is ridiculous amounts of fun.
You play as the afore-mentioned luchador in a quest to save the princess (well, the president's daughter) as in the vein of that most classic of all videogame stories. Your enemies are undead creatures of varying sorts, mostly skeletons.
The bosses have the usual inexplicable desire to delve into a lengthy exposition before attempting to kill you in various fashions. At first look, you probably won't be interested in what they have to say, but it can be quite amusing, as the game developers were very self-referential in their medium here.
Speaking of which, there are many, many references to other videogames and internet culture littered throughout the game here. You'll find the obvious Super Mario Brothers scene & scripting, as well as other classics such as Minecraft, Viva Pinata, Zelda, etc.
The graphics are beautiful. Everything is very stylised to be full of sharp angles, with nary a curve to be seen anywhere but the background. The colours all 'pop' marvellously and everything is wonderfully detailed. It is very reminiscent of classic 16-bit game styling, and indeed, the game itself would not be out of place on the SNES.
The controls are precise. You'll be jumping, dodging and punching your way through levels with ease. Never once did I feel let down by the controls; only by my own inability to hit the right buttons at the right time.
The game is challenging. Not hard, not even difficult, just challenging. I died many, many times in my adventure, but not once did I feel like I was being cheated by cheap enemies, and I just wanted to keep going at all times. As somebody who these days is more of a casual gamer than I used to be, this is a Big Thing.
The music is fun, if a little repetitive, and the sound effects are all exactly as punchy as they need to be.
Do I sound like I love this game?
Damn right I do! I haven't had this much fun with a videogame in years.
I give it ten máscaras out of ten.
Official Website - XBox One - XBox 360 - Steam
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