El Dorado

Hello
Today I will tell you of El Dorado, a short puzzle game of a german developer, real_Troll. But before talking about the game, let's talk about real_Troll!
This is the creator of some rad games like Moloch City, a sort of parody of Dick Tracy with gangsters and shooting sections, Piratenweihnacht, a game about pirates, Wolfenhain, a fantasy rpg, Endzeit, a superhero post-apocalyptic adventure, and one of the best Rm2k3 adventures I ever played: Die Reise ins All (The Journey to Space)! This was a classic rpg adventure but set in a sort of alternate 19th century that incorporates elements from the works of Verne, Doyle, Shelley and Wells. Yeah totally crazy and fun (4.5/5 rating if you want my opinion)!

Crazy and fun is a term that apparently can be also referred to El Dorado, a 2010 puzzle game that in 2012 was followed by a sequel (El Dorado 2, sadly untranslated, that is bigger and longer than this one), and in both we play as Hernando, a spanish conquistador that is obsessed with gold and treasures, El Dorado is in fact the name of a legendary place full treasures, gold and gems. But to reach this place Hernando has to beat ten levels in which he has to collect golden bars.


Apparently the native did not took too kindly our arrival! Now I'm in pieces!

Uhm. Well are these golden bars a sort of indication of the path to El Dorado? Well, probably, but Hernando doesn't care and just wants them all, but he has one minute to complete each level. Clearly there are traps, lots of them, but Hernando is an adventurer, so nothing will scare him, anyway be prepared to face angry natives, tigers, clowns, astronauts, and even dragons to collect the gold. But the worst enemy will always be the clock, ticking mercilessly.

Each level takes place on a single screen where we control Hernando and we have to perform a series of actions in the correct sequence to avoid being killed. I mean there are a lot of dangers in the jungle, some are often unseen, so expect to resort to the old trial-and-error system, since sometimes it's impossible to predict what is safe and what is not! Also there are sometimes items that are useless and will only let you waste time, so probably the fastest way to solve the game is using a walkthrough, but what's the fun of that? Well use it only if you are stuck, something that can probably happen in the later levels. Oh and remember that save points are once three levels, well due to the many ways to die I'd have preferred a save after each level, but it's ok. It's only one minute each or less isn't it? Yeah, right!

Mapping is ok, everything you need is always crammed in the single screen map, so these are more functional that beautiful to look at, afer all this is a puzzle adventure, so it's ok I guess. On the other hand, real_Troll added a lot of animations, not to mean some custom sprites (like the various characters including Hernando) made in the style that was also used in the previous games I mentioned before. It's a different style, a bit exaggerated to look like caricatures (see for example Hernando's huge nose!) but it fits very well with the rest and the animations are excellent, complemented also by the sound effects for Hernando. These are great and memorable! Music is ok, nothing really special or that stands out.
There isn't much else to say, there is no complex storyline or anything similar, but for a puzzle game is enough, on the contrary Hernando is a masterfully designed antihero, a little greedy man!


Even dragons won't be able to stop us!

Final Verdict
El Dorado is a little cool adventure game. It's a pretty fun game but also one that may lead the player to frustration after seeing the same death scenes again and again, so if you feel irritated, go back and play something else for a while! I mean game is hard, but it's still an adventure game so there aren't exactly difficult arcade tasks or unnerving quicktime events... well anyway time is still an issue, but only if you do not know what you are supposed to do!
Overall a little cool puzzle game with lots of style.