Mysterious Cities of Gold: Secret Paths is a game based on the French-Japanese animated series of the same name.  To preface this review, I have neither heard of nor seen the Mysterious Cities of Gold show prior to playing the game.  With that being said Mysterious Cities of Gold provides a good game experience but likely nothing that an experienced gamer would invest a lot of time in.

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The core game experience is solid throughout the game and provides a good level of difficulty at times but overall most of the puzzles are pretty straightforward and don’t vary much from level to level.  The addition of stealth elements to the levels and puzzles was a welcome one but again was absent of any kind of variety.  The levels are very linear but this is likely due to the puzzles within the levels and to ensure that players don’t end up getting stuck or breaking the puzzles.

Mysterious Cities of Gold Secret Paths

The graphics and musical tracks in Mysterious Cities of Gold are nice but some of the voice acting and repetitive sounds effects could have used more work.  By no means was the voice acting bad but it was mediocre at best and felt like more effort could have been put into this aspect of the game.  The cut scenes seemed thrown together and some were even cut short at the end.  Additionally, without seeing the show it is hard to say if the game follows the story from the animated series but it seemed like the cut scenes where simply scenes ripped straight from the show.  The use of the cut scenes set the story nicely for the various but it felt like more care should have been taken during the editing process.

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Players are encouraged to find all scrolls and secret treasure chests throughout the levels within the time limit.  Not only does this provide some replay value but can also encourage players to challenge themselves using the level’s time constraints.  Discovering the secret treasure chests unlock concept art for the game, although it is a nice bonus, the low difficulty level of the game causes it to feel like a lackluster reward.

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It is easy to see that the developer tried to stay true to the Mysterious Cities of Gold cannon but it falls short in variety throughout its many levels.  Mysterious Cities of Gold: Secrets Paths is not a bad game but may be better suited for a younger gamer with limited game experience. The fans of the show may also find the game more entertaining.  While the game is solid in gameplay and visuals, it could have used some work in a few other areas.   I was able to finish the game in just over 5 hours and at a cost of $14.99 Mystery Cities of Gold may not be a great purchase for a more experienced gamer, but fans of the show or younger gamers may find a good game experience in Secret Paths.