PixlBit

Since they’ve hit the scene, I think I’ve built up something of a love affair with indie developer, Drinkbox Studios. They have an uncanny ability to create not only compelling gameplay, but memorable and humorous worlds and characters. Guacamelee is easily their greatest achievement yet, and the new Super Turbo Championship Edition only makes it better. Just the name alone should give you a perfect indication of the tongue-in-cheek humor Drinkbox imbues into their creations.

Last year when the original game made its way to Steam, Matt R put together a fantastic review on the game. I suggest reading through that first to get a great understanding of the core experience.

In short, Guacamelee is a 2D adventure/exploration game with deep beat-‘em-up combat mixed in. The story centers on Juan, an agave farmer, who’s in the wrong place at the wrong time. After an explosion erupts at El Presidente’s Mansion, Juan investigates to ensure the safety of El Presidente’s daughter, the object of Juan’s affection. Upon arriving he discovers a literal skeleton crew led by antagonist Calaca, who has captured El Presidente’s daughter. Juan attempts to save her, but is instantly killed by Calaca, sending him to the world of the dead. There, he is chosen by a mystical luchador mask that imbues him with great power and transports him back to the world of the living in order to stop Calaca, thus rescuing his girl and saving the world(s).

Super Turbo Championship Edition (love that name) manages to add quite a bit of content to the experience and blends it in seamlessly. Having not played the game before this, I couldn’t even tell where the new content had been grafted on. Even in the first scene, a new major enemy is present and a part of the dialog, which is an impressive effort. Typically when new content is added, it’s either optional or part of another mode or incorporated in an awkward way, but here it all ties together perfectly.

Aside from the new boss encounter, there are two brand new levels, a new class of enemy, and a brand new ability called Intenso. Furthermore, all of the costumes and the El Infierno challenges from the DLC pack have been included in the package to round out the offering.  Both act as great additions with the El Infierno section providing a set of challenge rooms that you can score bronze, silver, or gold on depending on your performance. The costumes, though visually appealing, have a deeper effect on the gameplay, rebalancing stats and item effects. One costume makes your grapples stronger, but your melee attacks weaker. Another causes you to get more life from orbs, but lose more life when you get hit. Because they are walled off by a special currency, they act as a great reward and a fun way to vary the experience.

As far as the new Elite enemies go, they are tougher than the regular bunch, but the Drinkbox team rebalanced some of the difficulty in the normal mode to make it more approachable. Of course, the addition of the new Intenso ability really evens the playing field. About a third of the way into the game, you earn the Intenso ability which slaps a meter at the top of the screen. As you dispense bad guys (or collect a special type of orb) the Intenso meter fills up. Once it passes a critical threshold you can kick the ability on, which will cause an initial AOE (area of effect) attack. After activated, you move faster and deal more damage, allowing you to rip through nearly anything on the screen.

Like your health and stamina, you can find hidden chests to upgrade your Intenso meter, which lowers the activation threshold and increases the duration. Furthermore, at any save point, for some decent scratch you can add other upgrades to your Intenso meter, like the ability to smash through any colored shield with any special attack. These kinds of upgrades really help make things easier, and at times, they felt absolutely necessary to succeed, which speaks to how well it has been integrated.

I thoroughly enjoyed Guacamelee! Super Turbo Championship Edition, and the off-TV play on the Wii U made it even better. I can’t recommend it enough – it plays flawlessly, has a great sense of humor, fully realizes the Mexican theme, and is packed to the brim with content. If you love action, adventure, and exploration, you’re guaranteed to have a fantastic time with Guacamelee.