How The West Was Won....Again

A Review of The Oregon Trail II

Rich Cunningham

For anyone who has played a game on a computer over the last 20 years or so, one game that has probably been seen or heard of was The Oregon Trail. I first heard of it in the early 80's on the Apple II. It was a game that mixed entertainment and educational objectives to teach a lesson, in this case how the west was opened by our pioneering ancestors. The most recent incarnation of this game is Oregon Trail II, a multimedia CD experience for both the Windows and Macintosh platforms.

The basic premise of the game is to take a wagon train of pioneers from a midwestern city and reach the promised land of the Oregon Territory. You must select supplies with which to make your journey, and then face the trials and tribulations of the trail, ie. snakes, no water, no food, snowstorms, etc. How well you do depends on how well you manage your resources and how many of your party reach your destination and how fit they are. You are also assigned an experience level based on the type of pioneer you are (tenderfoot, banker, adventurer, doctor, merchant, etc.), which determines how much money you have to make the trip, and how well you perform on the trip (for example, a merchant will do better at trading with the natives than will a banker).

The basic concept of this game has not changed since it's inception. What has continued to improve is the playability of the game based on the capabilities of the hardware it was programmed to be played on. Initially, if I remember correctly, the game was text based. It then progressed to basic graphics, and eventually to a CD ROM based version with limited multimedia attributes. This new version takes the game a step further, to an extent that calling it Oregon Trail II, instead of just Oregon Trail, is very appropriate. The changes are very, very striking when compared to previous versions.

One of the most important aspects of this game is, like any trip, the advance preparations that you must make prior to departing. You must select your supplies, based on what you feel you will want or need on your journey. Here is major improvements over previous versions: instead of choosing a weight of food, you must choose from several hundred varied items that any pioneer may need. They include spices, hardware utensils, bullets, guns types of clothing, etc.

In this game, you not only need to select a firearm, you can choose pistols, rifles, shotguns; and then you have to remember to ensure that you have enough bullets, shells and (surprise) gunpowder. Don't underestimate how much of these items you'll need, or you too could be caught in the desert without any ammo, like a certain reviewer who shall remain nameless. You acquire these items by exploring the town that you have selected to depart from, and visiting the various business establishments. There are also a variety of townsfolk to talk to and visit with. Be sure to talk to everyone, since they may or may not have some good advice for you. (Note: in this version, the drawings have been replaced by digitized photographs of real people in the appropriate dress.)

At the very start of the game, you start a journal describing who you are, what you do for a living, the names of your party, the date you are starting and where you are starting from. The date you start has an impact on the game, since the earlier you start gives you fewer cities to start from, and fewer destinations (just like real pioneers). If you start in 1840, you can only start from Independence, Missouri, and your destinations are either the Willamette Valley or Southern Oregon. If you start in 1860, there are several starting points (St. Louis, Independence, St. Joseph, etc.) and you have more destinations that are actually named (Sacramento, Oregon City, Jacksonville, Or. etc.). I was born 5 miles from Jacksonville, so I usually try to head for there. Who says you can't go home again? This journal is updated as the game progresses and can be printed out at the end.

The age range of this game as suggested by the manufacturer is 10 to adult. I feel that it is a very accurate range. My 10 year old daughter had no trouble mastering the basic concepts of planning the trip, even though her choice of supplies left a lot to be desired. The mechanics of the actual game play were no problem for her however, and she did reach Oregon a few time. My 7 year old daughter and 8 year old son both had problems getting started, and the game play was a little too detailed to hold their attention span for very long. An example of this detail is the maps that are used to chart the progress of your journey.

In previous versions, the entire Oregon Trail was seen at once. In this version, it is broken up into several smaller maps, usually representing 150 to 200 miles sections of the trail. There is an overall map available from the pulldown menu to see where you really are in relation to where you are going.

There is also an extensive on-line help section available that should be used. It is broken into 2 parts: Advice and Itinerary. Advice is an 80 page user's manual on the finer points of the game, while Itinerary contains the landmarks and paths that you will take on your trip west. It is an indispensable guide that should be used extensively (to avoid wandering aimlessly in the desert, again like a nameless reviewer). A nice feature of this section is that is representative of the time your are traveling, ie. 1846 itinerary contains only that information that was available in 1846. A nice touch of realism.

A couple of notes of a technical nature: the manufacturer says that a double spin CD Rom is required to run the program. During review, I used both double-and single-spin CD ROMs to test the game, and noticed no degradation in performance. I also had problems with the sound cutting out during game play, both music and voices, but it was minimal, and most likely due to my CD and sound card set up. Disabling the background music took care of the problem.

The mechanics of the game play of this program could go on and on. It is very accurate in it's depiction of the life of a pioneer traveling the Oregon Trail. Installation was very easy and straight forward. The educational values it helps impart to the player are organizational skills, resource management, and problem solving. It does it in a very graphical and colorful way, which for me, makes it easier to learn. My children picked the game up very quick, with a minimum of instruction from me. I would recommend this game without hesitation as a game that not only entertains but teaches at the same time. And to me, that is the secret of a great educational game. Who says learning can't be fun?

Screen Shots

Windows: 486 or higher; Windows 3.1 or higher (in 386 enhanced mode).
Will work in Windows 95; Dos 5.0 or higher; 256 color SVGA; 4M of ram, (8M
recommended);
12M Hard Drive space; mouse; double speed CD ROM; Windows-compatible sound
card.
Macintosh: 68030 required (LC III or greater), 68040 or Power Mac
recommended;
System 7.1 or higher; 5M ram required (8M recommended); 13" display required
(640x480, 256 colors); 12M Hard Drive space; double speed CD ROM

Overall Score:

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