This past weekend I took my last major trip for most likely a year or so, and I went to the grand ol’ city of Amarillo, Texas to visit one of my best friends and her new baby. When I was telling my podcast cohorts that I would be flying to Amarillo, they were honestly speechless as to why I would fly within my own state. If you don’t live in Texas, I understand it’s difficult to comprehend just how damn big this place is. To give you just a small idea, driving from the Dallas area to Amarillo is about 6-7 hours. From the southern-most tip of Texas, Brownsville, to Amarillo, which even isn’t the most northern city in the Panhandle, is close to 900 miles. From Texarkana to El Paso, east and west Texas, is 850 miles. I live in a ginormous state that has a whole lot of NOTHING in between big cities. So hell no, I wasn’t going to drive to Amarillo.
That said…
I did pack my Vita on my short plane ride. Guacamelee released last week, and while I went back and forth on whether I would get it or not, as soon as I discovered I had $15 of unused PSN cards on my account, it was a no-brainer. I was hesitant about the game because while at PAX East I heard it was a brawler, Twitter was telling me it was also a platformer. Yeah, we all know how that will bring me to a screeching halt. But if I already had the money in there due to gift cards, of course I’ll take the plunge.
The game is pretty. It’s adorable. It’s hilarious. It has platforming jumping techniques that have me absolutely stuck at 30 minutes in.
I haven’t played a real solid platformer in a long, long time, so I’ve forgotten what makes me not like them. Guacamelee has reminded me. If platforming was simple jumping from one area to another, I wouldn’t hate it so much. But they aren’t that simple; platformers introduce jumping techniques that require remembering specific button combinations to execute properly. I have never had fast fingers or great muscle memory for these types of game mechanics, hence why I play so many RPGs, JRPGs, and shooters.
I’m really disappointed too, because I really liked what I played of the game thus far. Sadly, it’s just not for me, and probably won’t ever be.
So on the trip back, I tried out Touch my Katamari, a game I bought at launch for the Vita and have not tried once. I haven’t played a Katamari game since the first one, and I was pleased that not much really has changed. It’s actually a perfect game for the Vita or handheld in how bite-size it really is. I see me playing more of that one when I travel. At least I’ve finally found a Vita exclusive I like. It’s taken me long enough.
Beautiful article as always. If you want another Vita game( though not exclusive) try Sly Cooper. It is marvelous.