In Guacamelee 2 is time yet again to save the Mexiverse from the forces of evils. This sequel is the follow-up to the original Guacamelee, an excellent metroidvania with a unique theme and a wonderful sense of humor. Everything that made the first game great is back from the responsive platforming, to the hilarious dialog, and the sprawling level design. The big new addition to Guacamelee 2 is the ability to swap between different dimensions. This feature has a rather significant effect on both the story and the gameplay. If you never played the original game I highly recommend watching a trailer but for those who did you'll be in for a real treat with this sequel.
I'm horrible when it comes to keeping track of the story in games that aren't focused purely on the narrative but I'll try my best to recall some details. I Guacamelee 2 you play as the masked luchador named Juan. After the events of the first game you are living peacefully with your wife and two kids. You're out on a errand when the crap starts to hit the fan and you're old mentor, in the form of a goat, calls upon you to help once again save the day. The lead villain is masked luchador himself but unlike Juan doesn't appear to be in the greatest shape. His motives for tearing apart the Mexiverse is pretty ridiculous but then so is most of the story beats. The humor really shines through in all moment to moment dialog that can be found sprinkled throughout the entire game.
The humor is great but I can assure you the gameplay is an equal treat. This action packed game offers tons of wonderful platforming and exciting brawls. You start with just some basic attacks but as you level up you'll become quite the wrestler. You can use uppercuts to reach flying enemies, dash punch through multiple foes, or send a foe flying with a head butt. The platforming slowly gets more and more interesting as your ability to jump around and scale obstacles gets better over time. Each level really does a wonder job of slowly forcing you to use each new power you receive until you feel confident you've mastered every skill. Of course in traditional Metroidvania style you'll see areas you can't access until you've found certain skills.
Although Juan is a great warrior you'll spend a fair amount of time clucking around as chicken. Just like with Juan you'll constantly be upgrading you poultry powers. For those familiar with Metroid you can think of the chicken as the equivalent of Samus's ball power allowing you access to narrow corridors you normally couldn't fit through. This game can get a little bit challenging at times but thankfully the checkpoints are very forgiving. Yet you know for some this could make the game seem a little on the easy side. No worries though because their is an incredibly difficult series of optional challenges scattered throughout the endgame that will push you abilities the absolute brink.
Wow had I forgotten how much fun this series was. Its been much too long since I've played the original so I can't really make any comparisons but this new game is just as much fun or more than my memories of the first. I would say if I noticed any difference it might be in the length of the game. My playthrough clocked in at 10 hours which I believe to be a bit longer than the original. I will note the play time only includes completing one of the super difficult key challenges. I feel I could have done the extra challenges with enough time but I have so many other games I want to get around to playing. There are a lot of great Metroidvanias out there but the clever humor and Mexican theme really sets this series apart and definitely make it worth checking out.