iPad Review: The Oregon Trail

Remember that game where you used to play it all the time in the computer lab during elementary school? Yeah, Oregon Trail, that game. Well, Gameloft has decided to modernize it and give it to you on the iPad so you can relive all your childhood memories. Oh, how nostalgic.

Gameloft has taken the original version of the game and revamped it to give you the same game, just a different look and a little different gameplay. You still have to choose your party, member names, and when you want to leave to ensure that you get to your destination in one piece, with all five members before you die on the hardened Oregon Trail.

Oregon Trail was one of my favorite games that I played while growing up and it will always remain a classic for me, which is why I was excited to see this version because I wanted to see what it was all about. I can’t say that this version is terrible because really, it’s not all that bad, but it’s not that great as well. There’s not much of a tutorial, so basically you have to experiment while playing the game. When I began to play the game, my younger brother joined me as well because it was one of his favorite games. And for the love of life, we could not figure out how to stop our wagon from running out of supplies and losing days for our journey until my brother ventured further into one of the shop’s categories and found the supplies for the wagon. That only took use 30 minutes to do so, by which we already lost precious time.

In addition, though there are missions for you to play and earn coins, there just aren’t that many opportunities to earn coins, meaning that you’re pretty much screwed if you don’t learn how to ration your coins. You also have to figure out what speed you want to go at. Go too slow and you’ll be traveling for way longer than you expected to. Go too fast and you’ll be seeing your party members get picked off one by one like flies.

What I was also astonished at was the dialogue present. Basically, as the father and main character of the game, you don’t seem to get any injuries or illnesses. While your family is falling prey to injuries and illnesses, you just keep running along. The dialogue that I mentioned? Man, if one of your members falls ill or becomes injured, the father will say, “Suck it up.” or “You don’t need to rest. Resting wastes time!” And one time, we accidentally let the wife die and the father said, “Good riddance.” Seriously? Gameloft, what are you trying to promote? That getting to your destination is far more important than the health of your family? Wrong message there, Gameloft.

Oh, remember me mentioning the lack of opportunities to get coins? Well, you can also get coins by buying them in the game, but that’s just a waste of money. Yes, the game itself costs $0.99, but I’m not paying over $10 just to get some coins that will be gone within a certain period of time. No sirree. Not worth my money. And especially if you’re going to die of boredom soon after.

If you were to ask me of my opinion, I would tell you that the original version is much better than this version, despite the fact that the former is old. It’s just more classic and doesn’t require you to actually spend money in buying supplies or anything, though if you prefer the newer version’s graphics, then that’s fine by me. I can’t control it. If you’re going to play this game, play it but don’t buy anything in the actual game, unless you’re willing to fork over money. And if you’re going to do that, you might as well just give me the money or someone else who needs it more.

Interested in wanting to know more or to purchase the game? Check it out here.