Staged Fighting: Guacamelee's Combat

Guacamelee's combat feel different that of other beat'em up games I've played.

Elsewhere, combat seems like it's about rhythms, about getting in sync with the enemy, about learning the right times to attack and when to counter or dodge.  Or they're about button mashing, or combo memorization, or pattern recognition.

Guacamelee (2013) has some of that, all of that, certainly.  But it asks something different of you, I think, than games like Devil May Cry, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, Castle Crashers, Dark Souls, the Batman: Arkham games, or older beat'em ups like Double Dragon or that Simpsons arcade game.  It's more active.  More dynamic.  Like I said, different.

Footsteps to Follow: On Brothers: a Tale of Two Sons and Ico

Imagine you are the younger of two brothers. You will not get to forge your own path through childhood, because there will always be an elder sibling that came before you. Your parents and your teachers will always look at the two of you, and they won't be able to help but compare. Your own decisions will be flavored by the choices your older brother made before you, and at every turn, there will come a question: will you emulate, or differentiate? Will you invite the comparison or run in the opposite direction?

Brothers:  the story is about two brothers trying to cure their ailing father

Brothers: a Tale of Two Sons is a story about two brothers, trying to find a cure for their ailing father. And it is a game, one that is consciously trying to follow in the footsteps of an earlier game, Ico. The shadow Ico casts is long: it is considered a classic, a game that pushed the medium in new directions upon its release in 2001 by Sony Computer Entertainment.  Developed by Fumito Ueda and team ICO in Japan, Ico is a name that is likely to come up when you try to discuss Games as Art, for its style, for its storytelling, for its innovation, and for its imagination.  Brothers, released 12 years later, developed on a different continent by Swedish developer Starbreeze Studios, and directed by filmmaker Josef Fares, embraces the influences of Ico proudly and eagerly, and because of that you can't help but compare the two as you play through it.  (here's a link to an interview where Fares says Ico influenced his game:  Shack News - Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons creator talks inspiration and a grander world)