Guacamelee!

With visuals that could easily be mixed in with a dozen of modern-day cartoons, Drinkbox's magnanimous initiative to maintain a level of artistic fidelity in a 2D action-platformer has been whittled down to core values of new, shiny, and fun. Best of all, it works wonderfully and leaves us wanting simply more to do.

Easily one of the best downloadable titles on the Vita. Grab it pronto. [June 2013, p80]

The PlayStation Vita for too long has relied on spin-offs and ports from its older brother but with focus continuously shifting towards directly downloading from the PlayStation Network, small developers are now getting the chance to flex their creative muscles. Considering that the game is basically one big homage to the Metroid-Vania sub-genre, DrinkBox Studios have reinvented a classic style of gameplay and given it a much needed, high definition polish.

Guacamelee! goes right to the narrow circle of the most exciting games published on PS Vita.

The combination of excellent level design, amazing art-style and spot-on combat should appeal to any gamer. But when you add in humorous dialogue and gads of tongue-in-cheek jokes, memes and homages to the video games, it elevates Guacamelee! to a must-purchase.

Guacamelee is an amazing Metroidvania game, a real tribute to old style game filled with references and funny easter eggs. One of the best PS Vita titles so far.

Guacamelee takes a tried and tested formula, and puts its own sheen onto it, in the process crafting one of the best titles, downloadable or otherwise, available for Playstation Vita.

The latest game from DrinkBox Studios is an explosion of colours, rumbles and references from the Mexican folklore or the video game culture. The adventure is quite short, but always intense and entertaining.

Guacamelee! feels welcomingly familiar but still manages to bring something new to the table through excellent combat and a whole lot of charm.

Gorgeous action platformer with a deep combat system and some very tricky platforming segments. Some of the best fun PSN has to offer.

Guacamelee! is genuinely funny, massively enjoyable, and filled to bursting with good ideas. It's your next essential Vita game.

Guacamelee isn’t the second coming of anything like that. It takes a tried and tested formula and just delivers. It gets the basics right and makes sure fun is at the forefront of what it does. Great platforming, wonderful adventure, silky smooth combat and the perfect balance of challenge and enjoyment.

The combat is addicting, the animations are beautiful, and the narrative is entertaining. What more could you want?

It’s Drinkbox’s best game so far (and I was a big fan of Mutant Blobs Attack on Vita) and it’s the best combo-brawler on PSN. It’s also one of the best platform puzzlers and one of the best Metroid-vania style games. Not content with that list of “bests”, Guacamelee! is also one of the best games for your Vita.

Everything about it is finely-tuned and dripping with polish—the bright, stylized visuals, the rock-solid handling, the smart decisions in its core design, use of its Mexican themes, and so on.

If Super Metroid is fine dining on exquisite steak then Guacamelee is a night at the wild Mexican place down the street, the one where you're sure the salsa is either aggressively seasoned or mixed with the chef's blood. This might leave Guacamelee too abrasive for certain tastes, but for most everyone else it’s the equivalent of a celebration riot in its declared genre.

A vibrant, compact and ruthlessly difficult Metroidvania let down only slightly by its own (occasionally) insufferable self-awareness. [July 2013, p.81]

Guacamelee! is a surprising source for a number of in-depth questions regarding ethnic art and internet influence, but it’s also one of the finest games available for the PlayStation Vita.

It's a game with heart.

Guacamelee is a solid, well-paced Metroidvania-brawler hybrid with style to burn and a fun spin on a doddery old narrative. It also tries desperately hard to be funny, though, and it falls well short of the mark.