Review: Oregon Trail (Mobile)

Since I started grade school in 1990, all that I can remember from elementary school are Oregon Trail and Carmen Sandiego. And my times table.

Oregon Trail needs little introduction. We all remember this as the game that made us fear typhoid and dysentery. Back in those days, the biggest decision we had to make as a kid was whether or not to ford that river.

So, surprise to my eyes, I see that an updated version of Oregon Trail is available for mobile phones. Of course, I grab this title as quickly as I can and start playing. How does the ol' Trail hold up?

The first thing that I notice is the lack of options in the general store. Gone are the days when you had to worry about axels and oxen and clothing, etc. All you are given the option to purchase is with which wagon you wish to journey. At subsequent stops, the only things you can buy are food and "wagon supplies". Ammo isn't even a commodity anymore. So how do you hunt, you may ask? Well, that's where things derail a bit.

Periodically, along the trail, you come across a few events with one of them being hunting. That's right, you don't get to choose when you want to hunt anymore. Instead, you'd better hope that you'll come across one of these events if your coffers are running low. The hunting is based on a goal the hunter gives you (shoot 6 squirrels, etc) which makes things a little more interesting. What isn't cool is when your wagon crew is starving and the guy has you hunting rabbits.

The hunting controls well enough, but you're also required to pick up the meat after shooting an animal. This gets a little frustrating after a while after the 6th time you get mauled by a bear. Oh yeah, and there's still that 100 lb. limit.

The game also includes a few more mini-games like fishing and wagon repair. Fishing isn't really that fun (and it's also pretty hard sometimes) while wagon repair is a pseudo-rhythm game where you nail nails into a plank of wood. When given the opportunity to caulk the wagon or take shortcuts via a nearby river, the game cuts into a driving game that doesn't control quite like I wish it would.

New to the game is the inclusion of quests. There are three different quest types: delivery, race and hitchhiker. Hitchhiker is pointless; Race will leave your party exhausted. Delivery is a train quest (where you deliver from fort-to-fort) that will get you a few dollars. The delivery quest attempts to have a sub-plot narrative, but [SPOILER] it eventually leads to nothing.

A funny little addition is the dialog your party has if you're going at easy or medium pace. Here's a little exerpt:

Son: I'm hungry.
Wife: Well, there's cake.
Son: That's a lie!

Har-dee-har-har. I wish the dialog was a bit self-referential because we all know the only people buying this will be looking for that nostalgia.

My main beef with this game is how repetitive it is. There's about four minutes of content spread over 30-45 minutes. Just a few more different random events would've made this a bit more interesting. Instead, after the fourth time my kid got bit by a snake, I let the little bastard die. Stop fucking with snakes, moron.

In the end, poor game design slightly beats out nostalgia for me. I'm playing through this game again taking a running diary, so hopefully I'll be posting that soon.

Rating: Thumbs down.