Oregon Trail is an update of the classic Radio Shack TRS-80 staple, albeit with modern graphics replacing the antiquated text-based visuals. The goal of this gold rush-era game is to get your family’s wagon from the Mississippi river to the West Coast. It essentially comes down to resource management. For instance, push too hard and your wagon is more likely to break down, but go too slow and you won’t make it to Oregon before the extremely harsh winter. While the original had vague historical highlights, the revamp has you meeting specific figures like General Custer and Mark Twain – often done as colorful, colloquial characters. The timely dialog and resource balancing is broken up by minigames to, say, fix your wagon or catch fish to eat. The most entertaining is hunting, specifically buffalo, as the herd runs towards you and requires quick decision making – a much needed adrenaline boost inOregon Trail . There is a sharp, almost sarcastic humor throughout the game, giving it a smart edge, but I couldn’t help but feel bored after the fourth river crossing or the eighth time the wagon had to be prepared. The control scheme also has flaws – hunting in particular requires an anally-retentive preciseness that was both frustrating and unnecessary. The slow pace, detailed planning and long adventure definitely convey the heaviness of the original Oregon Trail , though playing it again may take away some of the shine of our memories of the classic.
