Post by Farulosonoth on Dec 1, 2010 11:47:14 GMT -5
The Oregon Trail from Gameloft is a strategy/adventure game with mild RPG elements. This is a remake of a game from the Golden Age of computing of the same name originally released on the Apple by The Learning Company. I remember playing this back in school as it also has a slight educational element to it.
Apple II
Windows Phone 7
Story
The story is about you taking the role of settlers heading across the Oregon Trail in the 1800’s. You encounter various historical personalities and locations in your journey west and each has his/her own story to tell.
Gameplay and Controls
The main gameplay is pretty straight forward with basic controls for speed and resting or checking your quest log. Each mini game has different control, which when you go through the first time you get a little tutorial. The only one that took me 2 or 3 times to figure out was the fishing.
You first control the hook to where you want it, then tap the fisherman to reel the line in and you get everything in between. Other than that you need to just keep in mind that sometimes the game prefers a ½ second press and hold as opposed to a super fast tapping action. After some practice it is easy to get the hang of. Be prepared though, this game actually takes longer than it’s predecessor to go through. If you play a standard game and aren’t rushing through and take part in most of the activities along the way, a full game will take you about an hour and a half to complete. Fortunately, it does save your progress at certain points, although it doesn’t tell you when it is doing so. But if you stop and pick it back up at a later time, you won’t be far behind, if at all behind of where you left off.
Graphics and Sound
The graphics aren’t too bad, for sure better than the original. That in mind, the original I don’t think was trying as hard as this version is to be cute and cartoony, (not that they had much choice back then) however it’s not so cute and cartoony as to turn my stomach like say… Barney the dinosaur or something. It’s cartoony in a funny little flash game you play online kind of way, so it’s not too bad. The sound is adequate for a game of its size and on a phone. I played it on the HTC HD7 so there is no stereo sound, and the sound is coming out the back, it is what it is. The music is appropriate and you get some minor dialogue from the NPC’s (I suppose we will call them that if were using RPG terminology.)
Conclusion
I quite enjoyed The Oregon Trail for Windows Phone 7. It was nice to actually play a remake that was well done instead of just trying to cash in on a property title. There is a nice mix of various game types within the game itself which keeps it fresh and fun to run through. Being on a phone, it’s going to automatically get a minus to my score just… well just because that’s the way it is. If you ever see me score a game on a phone with all 7 pieces of the rod of 7 parts, you know it will be amazing.
I give it
[glow=red,2,300]5 of 7[/glow]Pieces of the Rod of 7 Parts
[glow=blue,2,300]Compare the Versions![/glow]
Apple II
Windows Phone 7
Story
The story is about you taking the role of settlers heading across the Oregon Trail in the 1800’s. You encounter various historical personalities and locations in your journey west and each has his/her own story to tell.
Gameplay and Controls
The main gameplay is pretty straight forward with basic controls for speed and resting or checking your quest log. Each mini game has different control, which when you go through the first time you get a little tutorial. The only one that took me 2 or 3 times to figure out was the fishing.
You first control the hook to where you want it, then tap the fisherman to reel the line in and you get everything in between. Other than that you need to just keep in mind that sometimes the game prefers a ½ second press and hold as opposed to a super fast tapping action. After some practice it is easy to get the hang of. Be prepared though, this game actually takes longer than it’s predecessor to go through. If you play a standard game and aren’t rushing through and take part in most of the activities along the way, a full game will take you about an hour and a half to complete. Fortunately, it does save your progress at certain points, although it doesn’t tell you when it is doing so. But if you stop and pick it back up at a later time, you won’t be far behind, if at all behind of where you left off.
Graphics and Sound
The graphics aren’t too bad, for sure better than the original. That in mind, the original I don’t think was trying as hard as this version is to be cute and cartoony, (not that they had much choice back then) however it’s not so cute and cartoony as to turn my stomach like say… Barney the dinosaur or something. It’s cartoony in a funny little flash game you play online kind of way, so it’s not too bad. The sound is adequate for a game of its size and on a phone. I played it on the HTC HD7 so there is no stereo sound, and the sound is coming out the back, it is what it is. The music is appropriate and you get some minor dialogue from the NPC’s (I suppose we will call them that if were using RPG terminology.)
Conclusion
I quite enjoyed The Oregon Trail for Windows Phone 7. It was nice to actually play a remake that was well done instead of just trying to cash in on a property title. There is a nice mix of various game types within the game itself which keeps it fresh and fun to run through. Being on a phone, it’s going to automatically get a minus to my score just… well just because that’s the way it is. If you ever see me score a game on a phone with all 7 pieces of the rod of 7 parts, you know it will be amazing.
I give it
[glow=red,2,300]5 of 7[/glow]Pieces of the Rod of 7 Parts