Gold and Glory: The Road to El Dorado

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs

GAME DESIGNER:
GAME DEVELOPER:Revolution
GAME PUBLISHER:UBI Soft
Copyright 2001, Revolution

Gold and Glory: The Road to El Dorado is a fun adventure game for kids that was released with surprisingly little fanfare by UBI Soft, despite having the coveted Dreamworks movie license and designer credit to Revolution Software, makers of critically-acclaimed Broken Sword series. In this traditional point-and-click cartoon adventure, you will follow the exploits of movies heroes Miguel, Tulio, and Altivo the horse in their efforts to find and pillage the lost City of Gold.

After playing the game, though, one shouldnt be surprised if El Dorado becomes the least successful of all Revolution games. Despite sporting outstanding graphics and cartoon animation that fans of Broken Sword are familiar with, El Dorado is disappointingly short. I finished the game in about 7 hours or less, and thats with replaying some segments a few times, including the lengthy cutscenes in between. Although El Dorado is ostentatiously a kids game, puzzles are so easy that they provide almost no challenge whatsoever. The dice game within the game, for example, is virtually impossible to lose (the game just won’t let you), not to mention painfully lengthy to complete. Thats a real pity, because the games exotic and historical setting could make for a much more educational and worthwhile experience.

In the end, fans of Revolutions other adventure games may not be disappointed with El Dorado, but will probably regret that the game provides only a few evenings of entertainmentor even less. Recommended, but only if you can get it at a steep discount from other, longer games.