uacamelee! is a unique and humorous 2D side scrolling action platforming exclusive tile on the PlayStation Vita developed by DrinkBox Studios. Guacamelee! features fantastic combat and platforming puzzles to create a fun experience.

The game also features Cross-play functionality between PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita.

As always, I will discuss the presentation of the game, gameplay, trophies and overall verdict. Let’s begin.

Presentation:

Guacamelee! shines across the board with its unique and funny theme. The art is beautifully drawn and animated. The graphics is smooth as butter and stays at a beautiful 60 Frames-Per-Second on the Vita’s awesome LED screen. As you keep on playing you will visit areas with different background themes. The developers did a phenomenal job at keeping everything consistent while changing the styles of the levels all throughout the game.

The story in Guacamelee! is nothing new or original, but it gets the job done. You play as Juan Aguacate whose objective is to save the El President’s daughter from the Evil Charro Skeleton. The game takes place in a small village, in Mexico. The village is filled with unique and quirky characters that can be interacted with to activate side quests. Thanks to Guacamelee’s charming art-style and personality the story makes the adventure humorous and a little bit exciting along the way.

The soundtrack is most likely one of the best I’ve heard in a long time. Each level in the game has its own theme song, so you are never stuck with listening to the same music over and over again. The tunes are catchy, and a joy to listen to. It’s going to be one of those video game soundtracks that will be stuck in your head for years to come and remind you of how gorgeous and fun this game was back when it was released. I have absolutely no complaints regarding the game’s overall presentation, graphics or it’s sound design.

Everything is so well put together that it just creates one ultimate package that genuinely makes this title stand out on its own and be different from everyone else thanks to the game’s great production values.

Gameplay:

The gameplay in Guacamelee! combines unique platforming sections and fun combat mechanics all throughout the whole adventure. The game’s structure is centered on a hub-town where you can talk to different people to get unique side quests to unlock trophies. However, you can just completely ignore all the miscellaneous stuff and just move on and follow the main quest-line to complete the story.

Following the main quest-line will lead you to a particular level with a ton of challenging platforming sections, combat zones and hidden areas that contain coins, health and stamina upgrades. As you play through the game, you will come across a goat man that gives the character special abilities such as; head-butting attacks, dashing, flying across an area by launching yourself from a wall and more.

These unique abilities also add more depth to the combat system of the game. Thanks to the game’s beautiful animations it’s a ton of fun to try to chain combos on enemies and just enjoying the show of how fluid the combat system is. It feels visceral and engaging.

The player is free to explore the level at their own pace before they decide to face the main boss of the area. Players will come across shops that act as quick-save checkpoints and vendors. In these shops, you can buy upgrades for Juan’s health, stamina and other neat things.

This game is filled with a ton of secret areas. If you want to unlock everything in the game and get all the hidden chest, maximize your character upgrades, collect secret orbs and unlock all the trophies then get ready for a lot of revisiting.

Trophies:

Trophies in Guacamelee! are for the most part straight-forward. It will take around 10-15 hours to get the platinum. Once you beat the game first time you will unlock ‘Hard Mode’. Beating the game on Hard Mode grants you another trophy towards your platinum requirement.

Players will also be required to complete side-quests in the game, find hidden orbs and all of the hidden chests throughout the entire game. Purchasing everything from the checkpoint vendor shops will also unlock a trophy. Overall the trophies are fun, they are not super hard or too easy, instead they are just perfect in my opinion as far as the difficulty and time consumption is concerned.

Overall:

Overall Guacamelee! is one of the best exclusive indie games I have played since PixelJunk Monsters. I really enjoyed the game’s art direction, animations, catchy soundtrack, engaging combat, excellent gameplay all throughout the entire course of the game and cross-buy is a plus. At $15 Guacamelee! is a must buy and well worth the price. I deeply hope that Drink Box Studios will make a sequel because if they will I will get it in a heartbeat.

This game was reviewed on the PlayStation Vita.

We recently had the chance to speak with Chris Zukowski, developer of recently released indie game City Tuesday.

When we asked him how different it is being an indie developer, without having a publisher behind your back, he said it’s easier to make the game without any pressure and that you can do it on your own time.

“I can make the game on my own time,” Zukowski told us. “So it is easier. But it did take longer than if I had a publisher breathing down my neck.”

When we asked him about his publishing partnership with Microsoft, he said it “isn’t really a partnership”.

“It is more of a marketplace that I pay them a cut in order for me to put my game there,” he said. “It was a great place to release your first game but I am moving on to more dynamic markets like the iOS.”

Well, it does make sense that the developer would have an easier time developing his own game without a publisher telling them when to do their work, and it also means the devs have a lot of creative freedom. But there’s also the issue of financial backing- without a good publisher backing your game, you often are unable to implement some of the great ideas you might cook up.

It’s a pretty balanced equation, I think. What’s your take on this? Tell us in the comments below.

You can read the full interview here.

Activision may be one of the biggest game publishers out there will some of the top selling games under their belt especially if you include their partnership with Blizzard.  However they still care about the little people and the indie game scene as they are holding a competition as they will be giving a $250,000 Award to fund the two best game concepts program. The contest will be administered and Juried by IndieCade.  This will be the second Activision Independent Games Competition and submissions will be accepted from October 3, 2011 through December 31, 2011.

First place will receive $175,000 and second place will receive $75,000 to help assist them with the development of their game. The best part about in my opinion is that the ownership of all submissions will remain with the creator so, especially if you win you have the opportunity to choose where to take your game from there rather then it being published by Activision.  Full press release below.

SANTA MONICA, Calif., Oct. 3, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — Demonstrating its ongoing commitment to the development of new talent and creativity, Activision Publishing, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATVI) today announced a call for submissions for the second Activision Independent Games Competition — an award program designed to foster innovation.

Open to all independent developers with headquarters in the United States, the Activision Independent Games Competition, to be administered by IndieCade, offers the winning studio or individual funding for game concept, titles in development or completed works. Ownership of submission remains with the creator.  Submissions will be accepted from October 3, 2011 through December 31, 2011.

The first place winner will receive a cash award of $175,000 and the second place winner will receive $75,000 to assist them with the development of their game.

IndieCade, the preeminent organization supporting the indie community, will promote the competition and vet jury submissions to determine semi-finalists.

“This competition underscores Activision’s commitment to fostering creativity in the independent development community,” Dave Stohl, Executive Vice President of Studios, Activision, said.  “Many of us began our careers as indies, so we are very proud to offer this kind of support and encouragement to a couple of the industry’s young visionaries.”

The partnership between Activision and IndieCade for the award program acknowledges the important role IndieCade plays in fostering opportunities for young, creative and independent game talent.

“Working with IndieCade is allowing Activision to bring our message of support directly to the community,” explained Stohl.  “The programs IndieCade offers — conferences, awards and the annual IndieCade Festival, a celebration of independent studio success — touch the community core.”

For a copy of the official rules and submission instructions, as well as more information on the Activision competition, visit http://www.activision.com/IndependentGamesCompetition.

About Activision Publishing, Inc.

Headquartered in Santa Monica, California, Activision Publishing, Inc. is a leading worldwide developer, publisher and distributor of interactive entertainment and leisure products.

Activision maintains operations in the U.S., Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Sweden, Spain, Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands, Australia, South Korea, China and the region of Taiwan. More information about Activision and its products can be found on the company’s website, www.activision.com.

NO PURCHASE NECESSARY.  A PURCHASE WILL NOT INCREASE YOUR CHANCES OF WINNING.  LEGAL RESIDENTS OF THE 50 UNITED STATES (D.C.), 18 YEARS AND OLDER.  VOID WHERE PROHIBITED.  Contest ends December 31, 2011.  For Official Rules and prize descriptions, visit http://www.activision.com/IndependentGamesCompetition.  Sponsor: Activision Publishing, Inc., 3100 Ocean Park Boulevard, Santa Monica, CA 90405.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-looking Statements: Information in this press release that involves Activision Publishing’s expectations, plans, intentions or strategies regarding the future are forward-looking statements that are not facts and involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Activision Publishing generally uses words such as “outlook,” “will,” “could,” “would,” “might,” “remains,” “to be,” “plans,” “believes,” “may,” “expects,” “intends,” “anticipates,” “estimate,” future,” “plan,” “positioned,” “potential,” “project,” “remain,” “scheduled,” “set to,” “subject to,” “upcoming” and similar expressions to identify forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause Activision Publishing’s actual future results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements set forth in this release include, but are not limited to, sales levels of Activision Publishing’s titles, shifts in consumer spending trends, the impact of the current macroeconomic environment, the seasonal and cyclical nature of the interactive game market, Activision Publishing’s ability to predict consumer preferences among competing hardware platforms, declines in software pricing, product returns and price protection, product delays, retail acceptance of Activision Publishing’s products, adoption rate and availability of new hardware (including peripherals) and related software, industry competition including from used games and other forms of entertainment, litigation risks and associated costs, rapid changes in technology, industry standards, business models including online and used games, and consumer preferences, including interest in specific genres such as music, first-person action and massively multiplayer online games, protection of proprietary rights, maintenance of relationships with key personnel, customers, licensees, licensors, vendors, and third-party developers, including the ability to attract, retain and develop key personnel and developers that can create high quality “hit” titles, counterparty risks relating to customers, licensees, licensors and manufacturers, domestic and international economic, financial and political conditions and policies, foreign exchange rates and tax rates, and the identification of suitable future acquisition opportunities and potential challenges associated with geographic expansion, and the other factors identified in the risk factors sections of Activision Blizzard’s most recent annual report on Form 10-K and any subsequent quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. The forward-looking statements in this release are based upon information available to Activision Publishing and Activision Blizzard as of the date of this release, and neither Activision Publishing nor Activision Blizzard assumes any obligation to update any such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements believed to be true when made may ultimately prove to be incorrect. These statements are not guarantees of the future performance of Activision Publishing or Activision Blizzard and are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors, some of which are beyond its control and may cause actual results to differ materially from current expectations.

SOURCE Activision Publishing, Inc.

Indie game developer Rubicon told Develop that Sony has provided them with four early PS Vita dev kits free of charge, so that they could build an upgraded version of the iOS title “Great Little War Game”.

“They’ve just always been so useful in dealing with us,” said Steven Haggerty of the Isle of Wight-based development team, also saying that SOny was “the best” of all platform holders in terms of how they behaved with indy game devs.

“We’ve worked with Apple, and you can’t get anything out of them,” he continued. “Microsoft rarely responds and I suppose Nintendo are okay, but Sony are always there to help. They always get back to you.”

According to rumours, Sony will be providing free dev kits for their handheld to all indie developers, but Sony hasn’t commented on these rumours yet. Stay tuned, we’ll keep you updated.

After Schafer went on record to call Activision head Bobby Kotick a dick and a prick, and one who should take up arms manufacturing (though he retracted his word almost immediately), indie developer Positech’s Cliff Harris seems to have taken issue at Epic not taking him seriously at the Develop Conference in Brighton yesterday, where Harris was sermoning on why indie developers have an advantage over the big ones. Specifically, it’s because they ‘have the opportunity to build a personal relationship with [their] customers.’

Epic obviously doesn’t agree. As Harris says on his blog:

‘At this point, there was this derisive snort from this guy in the front row, who said something to the effect of ‘one guy? who cares, that’s a waste of time’. He then started to lecture us on how that’s a silly way to do it. I’m 95% sure that all four of us on the panel [which also included Robin Lacey(Beatnik), Sean Murray(Hello Games) and Mark Morris(Introversion)] thought ‘what the fuck?’ as well as ‘who is this guy’? compounded by Robin asking him if he worked in marketing.

‘Anyway… it turned out this guy was Mark Rein from Epic, although he seemed to assume everyone within earshot knew exactly who he was, and why he must obviously be right.’

But there’s more. Harris seems to be out on a crusade against Rein, Epic, and, for whatever reason, against the Gears of War franchise.

‘Mark Rein is a jerk.

‘The sheer overwhelming stench of testosterone would probably give me a headcahe, combined with the dizzy excitement of exactly what shade of grey our next game’s space-marine would wear as he kicked alien butt. (I feel bad working on Gratuitous Space Battles for almost 2 years, but it seems like that old ‘wisecracking space marine with big muscles and chisel-jaw’ idea has been stretched out longer than the hundred years war).

‘I have absolutely no doubt mark would just naturally assume me feeling like that is jealousy, which, as anyone who knows me personally would testify, is just fucking funny. I really don’t care about Epic, and their games, as they are way way too macho and ‘dude’ for my liking, and don’t have demos, so I just assume they haven’t changed since Unreal Tournament. I try not to comment on games I don’t like, as each to their own tastes etc. The only reason I’m moved to give a damn enough to state my opinion, is that I resent having some triple-a studio jerk come and tell someone whose run a microstudio for thirteen years that he is doing it all wrong. If Mark from introversion suggests I’m doing it wrong, thats cool, he does what I do, and has some serious experience, ditto anyone on that panel, or anyone with long indie experience. And I listen carefully, often over lunch.

But Triple-A studio bosses trying to lecture me on how to communicate better with gamers? F**k off.’

Wow, just… wow.

Okay, Epic. The ball’s in your court now.