The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly ranks up there as one of my top five favorite films of all time. It has a great story, great acting, and of course, great music. When I first played Guacamelee! Super Turbo Championship Edition there were so many tunes in the game that instantly reminded me of the famous Clint Eastwood western, I immediately fell in love with the soundtrack. Guacamelee's music captures not only the goofy nature of the story, that of magically powered Luchador battling the ruler of the land of the dead and his skeletal hordes, but it manages to do so in a way that makes it almost impossible not to smile.
From the understated trumpet sounds and gentle guitar strums of the mariachi music that plays for the town Pueblucho:
"Pueblucho"
To the action packed western and mariachi fusion music for the Forest del Chivo:
"Forest del Chivo"
The whole soundtrack works perfectly.
A generic mariachi soundtrack would have left you wondering why you just never felt engaged in the game despite its colorful backdrops and quirky story. Too much pizzazz and it would have seemed too glitzy and too cheesy; that's fine for an average game, but nothing that would stay with you once the game was powered off. But the soundtrack for Guacamelee es muy fantastico!
If you have a soundtrack with heart, a soundtrack that makes you take notice in a good way, a soundtrack that makes every action the character takes feel epic in scale and as weighty as saving the world--even if you're wrangling chickens--that makes the soundtrack one for the history books. And Guacamelee does all these things and more. Do I sound like I'm over-selling this? Too bad, the music deserves it.
Rom Di Prisco and Peter Chapman deserve an award for creating such a fun and infectious set of tunes. Di Prisco and Chapman successfully fused high-energy digital music with mariachi and western movie undertones in a way that compliments everything from the quirky towns to the metroidvania-esque action segments within the game. These elements and more make the soundtrack a must have for any game enthusiast and fan of fun music in general.
If you click here it will take you to a link so you can purchase the soundtrack. Or, if you prefer, you can hunt it down on iTunes, and you should. I love using some of the faster tracks for when I'm jogging or working out, and the slower tunes for towns make pleasant background music for just sitting around the house, or for when I'm writing, like now.
Sure I'm gushing a bit about Guacamelee's music, but the composers should get their due. They not only successfully brought the world of Guacamelee to life, but gave it a voice and heart all its own. I hope this game gets a sequel because hearing another set of tunes in the same vein as the original would be a pure delight.
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