The frustrating formula of jumping and climbling through each level to complete some mundane task feels very awkward...
The obvious said, let us venture into the finer, more exaggerated points of the game, per se.
There are 20 levels found throughout the game, with various "boss battles" in between. In each level, you must choose who to play as: Tulio or Miguel. You can choose this by pressing the A or B button. Both have the same abilities, except that Tulio jumps higher and Miguel jumps farther. Each level consists of running through a short 2D side-scrolling area, filled with enemies and secret areas. Your player starts with three hit points, but your Life Meter has 5 notches, so you can exceed 3 hit points. You lose a hit point when you get hit by an enemy. If all your hit points are gone and you get hit, you lose a life. Lose all your lives and the game is over.
You have a choice of two weapons to fight against enemies: your trusty sword or a limited supply of throwing...bags, or something like that; I'm still not sure what they are, but you don't have an infinite supply of them. Most enemies (snakes, rats, crabs, bugs, theives, the lot) usually go down with one hit, but some take (gasp!) two hits to kill. Coins and money bags are scattered in secret areas in the levels and give you points when you obtain them. If you obtain enough points, you get another life. Extra hit points are also found throughout the levels.
Boss battles, which are found each 4-5 levels, involve either pressing the A and B buttons at the right time to avoid hazards, or by repeating a series of attacks to defeat an incredibly monstrous enemy. After successfully completing the level, you get a password that is used to continue your game should the unthinkable befall you.
The even more obvious said, the game is basically a regular 2D side-scrolling game. But that's it's faulty point. Sure, we've encountered a plethora of cute little movie-based games that end up being boring sice-scrolling games. Nearly all of them are the same. This one, unfortunately, is no different. The frustrating formula of jumping and climbing through each level to complete some mundane task feels very awkward, but what would you expect? Finding the secret areas in the game aren't anything to cheer about, as they give you little that actually helps you. Sure, you could always use an extra life, but the point score to get one is too high. Slowly climbing your way up vines and ropes, jumping across pit after pit, and slashing the little squirms on the screen that resemble enemies is not enjoyable in the slightest, especially when combined with the sound in the game.
Oh, by far, the sound quality is the worst. Slow inappropriate tones that are supposed to be Aztec tunes are all that you hear as music. Tunes repeat themselves throughout levels, making each of them hardly noticeable as you play. It seems as though Ubisoft had bothered to program these tunes just so that they had music to put in the game, and that it's "better than nothing". Each of the songs are all similar to each other, which figures.
Accompanied with these godawful tunes are sounds that just don't seem at all pleasant. Every time you attack an enemy, a strange fart noise plays, and when you get killed, a quick, dramatic, high-pitched noise occurs, followed by an odd bang, like a boulder rolling on the ground. Interesting.
It's not too bad, but still just like any old 2D platformer that's influenced by a recent box-office hit movie. You don't get much out of El Dorado. Even though the game boasts 20 whole levels, you can breeze through the game in 15 minutes. 15 minutes! That's less than a minute a level! I'm serious. If you just come out of the movie theater loving the movie and want more, I guess this game could be worth at least a rent. But seriously, don't bother if you're even interested. Remember, curiosity killed the cat...or at least, made him bored out his mind.