As described Guacamelee! is a metroid/vania action platformer. The game is easy to fall in love with immediately - the bright colors, fantastic art direction, fun combat, exploration and side-quests - all make it absorbing from the start. Guacamelee! will easily keep you in this state of absorption for the first and middle parts of the game, it is only towards the end where things begin to fall apart. Towards the last 3rd of the game you will more than likely want to unlock some of the secret orbs (which if all are collected gives you a flight ability and different ending). What's disappointing is this ability is incredibly difficult and frustrating to get as it requires an absurdly unforgiving amount of platforming to reach and is ultimately not utilized by the game in any way. This is a shame as flying around with the ability is quite fun and would be more so if it was used in a way to unlock more secret areas or simply complete the normal ones. There is a trend among developers lately to embrace this kind of unforgiving, frustration from their old school nes/snes origins. What made Super Metroid a classic was its lack of frustration and feelings of completion in exploration. Brutally punishing one-size-fits-all games belong in the dustbin of history or on a separate game mode. Guacamelee! while not entirely embracing a pathology of punishment towards its audience, certainly dips its toe in such waters. This is ultimately what prevents it from becoming a new classic and instead simply relegates it to a game I can recommend in spite of its flaws.
