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.