The Oregon Trail Review: Nostalgic Remix

App Name:	The Oregon Trail
Platforms:	iPhone, iPod Touch
Publisher(s):	Gameloft
Version Reviewed:	1.7.4
Genre(s):	Edutainment
Release Date:	January 25, 2010
Price:	$0.99
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It is quite possible that the very first computer game I ever played was MECC’s classic edutainment title The Oregon Trail. And like any child of the early 1980s, my memories of fixing wagons, fording rivers, and mourning the loss of little Susy to measles is enshrined in glittering nostalgia.  So when I saw that Gameloft had taken on the task of updating that classic for the iPhone, it was the nostalgia that hit me first. It’s the Oregon Trail! On my iPod! Squee!

The game has definitely moved away from its educational roots. The Oregon Trail for the iPhone uses the trappings of the times, but everything is put towards entertaining you, not educating you. Its basic concept is still there: get to Oregon with your family intact, and face the dangers of the trail along the way. But the trail is longer here, with more routes and more options for traveling, and it is littered with colorful characters, historical luminaries, quests to complete, and — because this is 2010 and not 1980 — minigames. Lots of minigames.

Not that these are necessarily all bad things. The original Oregon Trail, after all, had minigames — shooting critters, fording rivers — and those games are here. There’s also berry-picking, fishing,panning for gold, and even a Morse Code game (like Simon, but with Samuel Morse himself). Many of these games, as well as the quests you’ll encounter along the way, are delivered by historic figures like Abraham Lincoln, Asa Whitney, and George Custer.

Done a certain way, this all could have been aimed squarely at the “Learning can be fun!” goals of the original game. But here it’s all played for entertainment, and even for laughs. This isn’t a game that will be used in classrooms; it’s a game that students will have on their iPhones. Or, more likely, that older adults who were once students in the 1980s will have on their iPhones.

Ultimately, the whole experience is a mixed bag. There was something honest and pure about the original Oregon Trail game. Here, it’s become so laden with little games and encounters that it doesn’t evoke the same joy that I remember as a kid. It’s all a bit silly and frantic and … just so not serious. I still found myself wanting to play the game out all the way to Oregon, but I felt a little guilty as I did so.

It doesn’t help that, on the whole, the game is ridiculously simple in its standard mode. The minigames barely rise to the level of challenging for an adult, and many of the choices in the game — take this path or that — amount to little more than a decision on what minigames to play next. Though adults will be the first to download this title, it’s really a game designed for kids, who will be the only ones that find it challenging. Nostalgic adults will play it through once, and then quickly delete it from their device.

One thing I did like about the game was its aesthetic. The cartoony redesign really appealed to me, and it certainly fit the less serious tenor of the gameplay. I also still enjoyed the core experience. I mean, at some level, this is still The Oregon Trail game. In the end, I just couldn’t hate it.

The Oregon Trail lives in the memories of all those who went to school in the era of Commodore 64 and Apple IIe. It’s great that they’ve tried to give it a slick iOS facelift, and it’ll certainly tickle anyone who remembers the original. I just wish they hadn’t add all that extra stuff.

Our Score: 3 out of 5

About the Author

Writer@Large Brian P. Hudson is an educator and freelance writer currently living in Dearborn, MI.

 

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