Guacamelee 

Developed by Drinkbox Studios, Guacamelee is a side-scrolling action platformer that puts you in the shoes of a wrestler who must become the man of the hour and embark on an epic adventure to save the president’s daughter. The game takes a lot of inspiration from Mexican culture, which makes the world look and feel rich with details oozing out of every frame. As for the gameplay, Guacamelee employs a simple but enjoyable combat system, but what makes it so special is the excellent understanding of when to dish out new obstacles and enemies – which is the true mark of a great platformer.

Minecraft: PS Vita Edition 

Minecraft might just be one of the most popular games of the last couple of decades, and you can enjoy this sandbox on almost every modern computing platform – which obviously includes the PS Vita as well. Minecraft on PS Vita looks and works about as well as you would expect it to, and it’s a perfect game to be played in short bursts. Minecraft is one of those games that puts player creativity at the forefront of its gameplay mechanics, which makes it a highly replayable and endlessly enjoyable experience. 

Mortal Kombat 

Mortal Kombat is one of the most prestigious fighting franchises of all time, and the long-running series has been through multiple timeline resets as of late. Mortal Kombat on PS Vita is the 2011 reboot of the series that was released in 2012, and it’s one of the best options if you are looking for a fighting game on the console. And that can be credited to the excellent mixture of a compelling setting, a diverse cast of fleshed out characters, and a combat loop that features immense depth in terms of its mechanics. 

Telltale’s: The Walking Dead: Season 1

Telltale is a developer that has proven itself more than capable of delivering compelling narratives that twist and turn depending on player choices, and Telltale’s The Walking Dead is strongly emblematic of those strengths. If you’re new to the series, Season 1 is obviously the perfect starting point – but it’s also one of the more emotionally charged and universally acclaimed narrative games on the PS Vita. The writing, character development, and choice and consequence mechanics are all top-notch – which makes it a consistently enjoyable experience through and through. It’s the perfect game to sit back and enjoy without having to be attentive to enemy attack patterns and the like, and it’s also highly replayable since you could do multiple playthroughs and reach quite different endings every time.

Hotline Miami 

Hotline Miami is all about embarking on a huge murder spree across a wide variety of labyrinthian levels, and it’s one of those games that have a very strong grasp on game design. Developed by Dennaton Games, Hotline Miami presents its world with a simple yet beautiful pixel art style and neon colors that really capture the spirit of Miami and its flamboyant party culture. The gameplay in a similar vein relies heavily on proper audio and visual feedback to make it look appealing, and it all works excellently in conjunction with one another. Hotline Miami can be a brutally violent game at times, but the satisfying gunplay and appealing visual presentation give enough reasons to make that sadistic pleasure of murdering dozens upon dozens of people justifiable.

Axiom Verge

Axiom Verge is yet another Metroidvania that thrusts you into an alien world where you must blast through hordes of aliens as you try to uncover the planet’s deepest and darkest secrets. The Metroid influences are pretty clear here, and the developer doesn’t shy away from revealing those inspirations. Axiom Verge is essentially the developer’s take on Metroid 2, and it’s a really amazing game that nails the sense of flow without compromising on the sense of mystery that comes from exploring an alien world. The visuals hearken back to the NES and SNES days, and it all feels like a rose-tinted nostalgia trip to the past.

Lumines: Electronic Symphony

Lumines: Electronic Symphony might look like yet another Tetris game at first glance, but what makes it so special is the sheer attention to detail in terms of visual and audio presentation. Each stage in Lumines has been crafted with the utmost care, and that results in a breathtaking experience for what is essentially a simple gameplay loop of matching the same colour blocks. In a similar vein, the audio also consistently impresses with the variety of tracks and its ability to match the tempo and themes of the currently playing stage. Of course, it’s a game that’s designed to be played in short bursts – which makes it a match made in heaven for a console like PS Vita.

OlliOlli 2

Roll7’s OlliOlli series features some slick skateboarding action that rarely gets any stale, and OlliOlli 2 is a great choice for lovers of this adventure sport. But even if you are not super involved with skateboarding, OlliOlli 2 will be able to impress you with its creative suite of levels that consistently introduce new kinds of obstacles for you to overcome. Add to that a gorgeous art style, and you have a formula ripe for success.

Fez

Fez was developed by Phil Fish, and it’s a game that’s all about seeing the world from a bunch of different perspectives. These themes are beautifully reflected in Fez’s core gameplay loop that revolves around shifting the level and the perspective to reveal new things and ultimately find the solution to the obstacle. The levels look absolutely gorgeous, and a lot of that can be attributed to the excellent art direction on display. It’s definitely one of the best puzzlers that you can play on the platform, and if you haven’t tried it out – you owe yourself to give this one a shot.

Undertale

Undertale is a game that puts players in the teeny tiny shoes of a child by the name of Frisk who ends up being transported to a magical underground realm inhabited by monsters and talking plants. The story is pretty charming for the most part, but what makes Undertale different from its peers is how the combat is structured. Instead of having to whittle down an enemy’s health bar, players have to participate in a wide variety of minigames and use the power of love to turn the tables in your favor. It’s a fresh spin on the tried and tested formula, and it doesn’t really waste much time with meaningless exposition and dialogue dumps. It knows what it wants to say, and says that in a very brief timespan.

The update will start players with a book of riddles with challenges that must be completed for the outfits. Lore rooms must also be discovered to find the weapons themselves. While Hollow Knight’s hero doesn’t quite make an appearance, you can obtain the Pure Nail to attack up and down along with bouncing on enemies while attacking downwards (which inflicts critical damage).

The Drifter gets their energy sword and Hyper Light Gun – fire the latter to mark targets and use the former to deal critical damage. More marks on a target equals more damage. As for The Penitent One, using the Face Flask will deal self damage and convert 35 percent missing health into recovery. Juan from Guacamelee can use Pollo Power to transform into a chicken that lobs explosive eggs around him at enemies.

Skul has a bone club for slaying foes with a whirlwind attack as its secondary that deals critical damage. Finally, the explorer from Curse of the Dead Gods brings his trusty machete and pistol – the first two attacks use the machete while the third unleashes the firearm to deal critical damage. Holding the attack button charges up a stronger ranged attack which is slower.

The update is currently live on PC and will come to consoles and Mac later. Check out the rest of the patch notes below.

UPDATE NOTES:

Balancing

• Fire-related affixes can no longer appear on Ice-related items, and vice-versa.
• Dropping a bomb when rolling no longer interrupts invisibility.

Quality of life

Added a new log system

• A simple system that will log everything going on internally, to help us understand where some bugs come from. No personal data will be logged.
• No changes should be noticeable on your side, apart from log files appearing in your game folder, that you might want to include in future bug reports.
• Added the roles of everyone in the “Evil Empire” section of the credits. That way you get to know us a bit more.
• Added the ability to scroll through affixes in the Minor Forge menu.

Mods

• Mod support updated!
• Added a new Key system, allowing to pass data through levels in the same game.
• Added a system allowing the modification of an exit door on next levels, even vanilla ones. Yes, you can make an exit to Prisoners’ Quarters, in Prisoners’ Quarters.
• Added Timed Doors, No-hit Doors and Old Timed Doors to the level scripting API.
• Added the possibility to modify a Timed Door’s needed time in the same level.
• Added an API call returning if a player has a specific DLC.
• Added an API call allowing health fountains to adapt to the current player’s Boss Cells.
• Added a new button in the mod UI. The “back” button is now used… to go back.
• Fixed the mob spawn system.
• Fixed the Boss Cells Tube reloading a vanilla game when used in a modded level.

Bug fixes

• Fixed Cocoon not activating What Doesn’t Kill Me.
• Fixed What Doesn’t Kill Me cooldown.
• Fixed the ability to multiply Serenade.
• Fixed Boomerang not getting its ammo back if the projectile was destroyed in some cases.
• Skills’ actions can no longer be interrupted.
• Fixed a weird interaction between the Jerkshroom’s attacks and the Parry Shield, which would sometimes hit the player when parrying.
• Fixed Demolishers dealing damage through Ice Armor.
• Fixed Grenades dealing negative damage in some cases.
• Fixed Armadillopack not parrying Guardian Knights and Automatons.
• Hunter’s Grenade can no longer be used to reset the cooldown of other skills
• Breakable props now follow the same generation rules as floor decorations.
• Fixed player tracks not being loaded when changing outfit.
• The Scarecrow can no longer be skipped.
• Fixed damage buff on invisibility not triggering.
• Fixed Stilt Village’s shortcut sometimes being impossible to get to.
• Fixed Tonic’s effect getting cancelled on any update of the inventory.
• Fixed Mama Tick’s behaviour sometimes becoming broken after interrupting its movement.

Hollow Knight – Path of Pain

The White Palace is already a pretty haphazard place full of platforming terrors but necessary for getting the best endings. The Path of Pain, added with the Grimm Troupe DLC, is on another level though. There’s your average range of spikes, buzz-saws, thorns and whatnot but this area tests your mastery of bouncing off obstacles with the Nail. Even if you happen to get through it all, there are two Kingsmoulds waiting to be fought.

Mass Effect 2

BioWare made it pretty clear that the final mission of Mass Effect 2 was “The Suicide Mission” so it’s a given that bringing everyone back alive would be tough. However, actually accomplishing this meant recruiting all possible companions, completing their Loyalty missions and getting all of the ship upgrades. Oh and when you’re actually at the Collector Base? You need to choose the right person for each task, lest death take them. Do all of that and you’ll get the happiest ending…which is everyone finding out that the Reapers are coming to kill them all. Speaking of which…

Last year, developers Drinkbox Studios released Guacamelee!, a great Mexican themed Metroidvania platformer released, ironically, only for PlayStation to begin with. I say ironically because the game was like a love letter to classic Nintendo games. Over the next twelve months, they brought the game out on PC, and then, finally, earlier this year, on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and yes, Wii U.

But there’s only so many times you can port Guacamelee, and the developers seem to understand that. They are apparently already working on their next project. What is more, said project will also probably be coming to the Wii U. This is all according to an interview the developers recently had (which you can find embedded above).

The Wii U might be failing in gather major AAA third party support, but it’s really doing well with indie game support, and that has to count for something. Stay tuned to GamingBolt for more.

Now, wanting to capitalize on the launch of the new consoles, the developers, Drinkbox, have ported it to pretty much every other gaming platform as well- the hilariously titled Guacamelee! Super Turbo Championship Edition has come to the PS4, Xbox One, and the Wii U, and in the process, they’ve gone back to the drawing board and made this new edition a bit, well, more of everything it was that made the original game so good. There’s enough new stuff here to warrant a playthrough even if you have already seen all that Guacamelee had to offer before this. If you haven’t had a chance to play the game yet, well, this new edition is the best place for you to jump in.

"Fundamentally, Guacamelee! Super Turbo Championship Edition remains the same game that we fell in love with last year. So everything that we enjoyed about the older game is back here in full force, and it's as good as ever."

Fundamentally, Guacamelee! Super Turbo Championship Edition remains the same game that we fell in love with last year. So everything that we enjoyed about the older game- the the great soundtrack, the witty dialog, replete with references to Nintendo classics such as Metroid and The Legend of Zelda, and the tight if slightly forgiving platforming- is back here, and in full force, and it’s as good as ever. If you want to learn more about exactly what kind of game Guacamelee is, I direct you to my review for the Gold Edition on Steam (linked above), or to GamingBolt’s review for the original release on the Vita and PS3 (also linked above). Both will tell you a whole lot about the game Guacamelee! is, and will save me the trouble retreading old ground again. For the purposes of this review, suffice it to say that the game is a Metroidvania, an excellent Metroidvania, with some dashes of Zelda thrown in.

What I will focus on here are the differences from the original game. Like the Gold Edition on Steam, Super Turbo Championship Edition comes with all of the DLC that the original game had included in the package right off the bat. That right there provides some great value and some neat new platforming fun, but this edition also includes the El Infierno DLC pack, that was made available for the original game in the form of post launch paid content. El Infierno adds a series of challenge rooms that present the player with various platforming challenges to overcome, and is a substantial dose of additional content to the base package here.

Guacamelee doesn’t stop there, either. It adds some all new areas and levels within the core game campaign itself, which are at least as high quality as the original content, if not even better. The new areas see you take on a whole host of platforming challenges and new enemies, which weren’t actually available in the original game, as well as a new boss, who is probably the hardest boss in the entire game so far (and, in some ingenious and witty retconning, actually manages to work his way into the main overall story as well).

But that’s still not all Guacamelee adds to the overall package. it also includes several smaller, quality of life enhancements, such as health bars over enemies (so you know how close you are to taking them out), and an all new Intenso mode, which is basically a mode that grants you fill invincibility for a while. To go ‘Intenso’ you need to fill out a bar- once filled, you essentially go nuts, and are able to dispatch enemies with ease. The Intenso bar can be upgraded by finding secret collectibles hidden all over the world, and while Intenso mode makes the game’s easy combat even easier, it also addresses a key issue that we felt the original game had- the combat eventually devolved into repetitive button mashing, things became rote, and the fighting tended to drag the rest of the admittedly excellent game down a bit. Here, thanks to the Intenso mode adding some variation and spice to the combat (and also a new risk/reward dynamic- do you want to go out of your way to fill up the bar, but risk danger along the way?), that problem is no longer a consideration.

"Guacamelee! is a fun, high quality, surreal romp, and it showcases some of the best flexibility that its genre has to offer."

An unexpected downside of this all, however, tends to be sped up combat. People familiar with the original game will probably recognize why this is an issue, but to specify- Guacamelee! is a short game. Combat tended to drag things out, yes, but it also slowed things down. Nonetheless, this was an artificial lengthening of the game, it amounted to padding of the worst kind, so it’s kind of nice that that issue’s been addressed to an extent. That, in conjunction with the fact that there are now so many extra additions that all add to the meat of the package, do address one of the other major flaws that both the releases of this game last year had- they fix the issue of this game’s longevity and length. You will now get even more bang for your buck with Guacamelee! than you previously did.

Ultimately, this is a very heavily recommended purchase. Guacamelee! is a fun, high quality, surreal romp, and it showcases some of the best flexibility that its genre has to offer. If you haven’t yet played the game already, this new release is the best place to jump in. If you have either a PS4, Xbox One, or Wii U, and are looking for a high quality game to play, look no further than Guacamelee! If you already played through the original release, Super Championship Turbo Edition is still highly recommended, simply because it enhances the original’s experience so much.

This game was reviewed on PlayStation 4.

Drinkox Studious have announced that their surprise hit PS3 and PS Vita side-scroller Guacamelee! will be coming to the Xbox 360, Xbox One, PS4 and Wii U in Q2 of this year, with no specific release date being announced.

The developer’s also announced that the new version of the game will have some new features too. These new features include a new boss fight against a three-headed skeleton, an expanded story that will include all the DLC packs of the original game, new abilities such as the new INTENSO combat mode, new enemies, multiple save slots, and a dual currency system that will allow for permanent unlocking of items.

When we played Guacamelee! for the PS Vita, we absolute loved it and called it the best indie game to have hit the system. In our review, we gave a it a 9.5 and said, “Guacamelee! is an amazing PlayStation Vita and PlayStation 3 indie title. Great 2D Art, phenomenal presentation and engaging overall gameplay makes this a complete fun package.”

Drink Box Studios, in response to the hugely successful reception of their 2013-released action platformer, Guacamelee! has just released a massive bundle deal which includes a huge number of new features and is selling for five dollars more than a copy of the original game. To clarify, this bundle includes the full version of the game, and as such is not intended to be purchased by those who already have the game.

With that in mind, let’s take a look at what the bundle includes:

First off you get the game itself. Guacamelee! is a side scrolling action platformer, which is set in a magical world whose design is heavily influenced by Mexican cultural artwork. The game can be played single-player or in a co-op mode.

Next up you’ve got the included DLC. The “El Diablo’s Domain” DLC features 17 all new levels which take place within in the tower of El Diablo (the devil). Each level has its own specific goal.

Then there’s the Costume Pack DLC, which, as it sounds, will give the player the option of changing the look of the protagonist. Each costume also holds with it different strengths and weaknesses that affect game play.

The Bundle Fantastico also comes with the game’s original soundtrack as well as three different themes and ten different avatars.

All in all, for only five dollars more, Guacamelee!’s Bundle Fantastico seems like a pretty sweet deal.

Source: PS Blog

Indie title Guacamelee was quite the trip down memory lane – if its action adventure style of play didn’t excite you, then there were tons of references for numerous games that would’ve. Available for the PC, PS Vita, PS3 and Xbox 360, Drinkbox Studios apparently indicated to IGN that it would also be releasing on PS4 and Xbox One.

The story has since been taken down but in it, designer designer Chris McQuinn stated that the game would be arriving on both consoles with two new worlds, a new move (the chicken bomb), new enemies and of course, improved visuals. Drinkbox has declined to comment on this announcement since then.

Given the indie push that the PS4 has received, not to mention that Xbox One’s ID@Xbox indie development program will be releasing its products in early 2014, we can’t say it doesn’t make any sense to have Guacamelee on next gen consoles. Would you be willing to pick it up if it were? Let us know in the comments below.

(Source)

Now, after just a few months of PlayStation exclusivity, the colorful worlds of Guacamelee are coming to PC via a Steam release; the Steam version, entitled the ‘Gold Edition,’ includes the full original game, as great as it ever was, in addition to some neat new bonuses, such as full support for the Steam workshop, the inclusion of all the DLC with the game, and support for other Steam specific features such as trading cards.

In addition, it also allows you to fully remap the keyboard controls of the game to your liking, so that the core gameplay is not compromised. In other words, DrinkBox Studios took a package that was already pretty hard to resist, and then they made it even more tempting.

For those who never got to play the original game, Guacamelee! has a simple enough premise- you’re Juan Aquacave, a farmer in Mexico. When your love interest, the daughter of the President, is kidnapped, a series of events ensue that ultimately leave you equipped with the luchadore, which allows you to kick all sorts of butt. The entire ‘rescue the kidnapped princess’ motif for a video game is three decades too tired at this point, even as an homage, but it works, because after setting the story up, it fades into the background to accommodate the true point of the game, which is the gameplay proper.

"The gameplay itself is a modern recreation of classic franchises like Metroid and The Legend of Zelda, but amazingly enough, while it channels the old classics incredibly well, it also maintains its own identity."

The gameplay itself is a modern recreation of classic franchises like Metroid and The Legend of Zelda, but amazingly enough, while it channels the old classics incredibly well, it also maintains its own identity. A large part of this has to do with the game’s inimitable charm, and its wonderful art style, which adds so much character and soul to the game. The art style can only be described as eye popping, and by itself is almost reason enough to play the game.

It’s complemented by some incredibly witty dialog, replete with references to video game pop culture, along with a great, catchy soundtrack. All of this is also aided by the game’s brisk, lightning fast 60FPS frame rate, that ensures nothing interferes with your enjoyment of all the action on screen, and how it is presented. It ensures you enjoy the gameplay without any issues.

And yes, the gameplay is wonderfully enjoyable- like the dialog of the game, it evokes The Legend of Zelda and Metroid. It has you traversing various parts of the game world from a central hub, battling it out with various enemies, and getting upgrades from a goat farmer and his ‘Choozo statues’ (a cookie if you recognize that reference).

"The actual central platforming is tight and a joy to play through, although it remains surprisingly forgiving. "

The actual central platforming is tight and a joy to play through, although it remains surprisingly forgiving. It is made better than ever now, thanks to the full flexibility that Guacamelee! Gold Edition’s fully re-mappable keyboard controls afford you with.

Of course, since the actual core game remains the same, the problems with it are also the same, just as its core strengths remain the same- it still, for example, often gets a little repetitive, as you traverse the same regions and dispatch the same enemies over and over again. The co-op play here remains as under utilized and disappointingly half baked as it was in the vanilla, PlayStation edition of the game.

One issue of the original game, that being its length, has been addressed with Gold Edition, thanks to its inclusion of the ‘Devil’s Challenge’ DLC. It’s still a short game, overall, but then, it’s not as short as it was before, and more importantly, shortness is an overall shortcoming of the genre, as opposed to the game itself.

Ultimately, Guacamelee! is as recommended now as it was then, probably more because all the additions to the PC version add to the core package so much. It is a delightful, charming Metroidvania, that is recommended to anyone who wants to play a challenging and yet oddly relaxing game, a game that is more about the mechanics than context, and yet still doesn’t eschew production values. It’s a great game, a seminal example of an indie game done right, of an homage done right, of design over context, substance over style.

This game was reviewed on PC.