Oregon Trail II
Reviewed by Jason Levine
Published by MECC

Age Group: Age 8 and Up, Adults Type: Puzzles & Memory, Thinking Games Price: $ 49.95

PC version requires:
486 8 MB RAM, 12 M 2x CD-ROM, Windows 95, also on Windows 3.1, 640x480x256

Mac version requires:
Version is available.

Description:

There are probably two series of kids' computer games that can rightly lay claim the adjective "classic." One is Broderbund's Carmen Sandiego series, the other is the Oregon Trail. If memory serves, Oregon Trail has an even longer history than the Carmen games, starting out as an all-text game back in the late '70s or early '80s on the Apple II. A few years ago, MECC issued a CD-ROM version of the game that featured colorful VGA graphics and then-state-of-the-art sound effects. That version garnered MECC a whole wagon train full of well-earned awards. Now MECC has issued another new version of the game, this time taking advantage of today's technology by adding SGVA graphics, digitized photographs, full motion video clips, and full-fledged multimedia sound. To differentiate it from their previous offering, the good folks at MECC have decided to call this new version Oregon Trail II. Whatever it's called, Oregon Trail II is in every respect a worthy successor to this great series' mantle.

As its name suggests, the subject of OTII is the opening of the American West, specifically that period of American history known as the "Great Migration." Between 1843 and 1860, hardy pioneers set out in great wagon trains from Missouri for the fertile promised land (initially) of Oregon's Willamette Valley and (later) other parts of the Northwest.

In the game, players take the role of a party leader trying to get a wagon and its occupants successfully (i.e. alive) to trail's end. In order to achieve success, the players must make the right decisions in provisioning the wagon before setting out on the trail and at critical points during the journey. Thorough reading of the game's extensive on-line documentation is absolutely necessary for proper decision making. Except for easy-to-master hunting and Columbia river rafting sequences, there is no eye-hand coordination or arcade-type action in OTII.

Installation, Interface, and Documentation

OTII installed easily from the Windows 95 autoplay menu, and several playings failed to reveal any noticeable bugs in the program. The program can be uninstalled either from its own utility or the Control Panel. The game ran quite briskly on my Pentium 120 with 16M RAM, but I cannot say what the performance would be on the minimum listed 486 with 4M (8M for Windows 95) RAM, especially since the documentation doesn't state which flavor of 486 is required. My advice for those planning to run the game on a 486 is to purchase the game from a retailer that allows you to try the game out first or that has a favorable return policy. (Note: With the publication of Oregon Trail II, MECC has reissued its original version of Oregon Trail in a bargain-priced value edition. Retailing at less than $20 US, the original game remains an outstanding value for those whose machines aren't quite up to the specs of the new version.)

Every action in the game is controlled by the intuitive mouse interface. In towns and other settlements, arrows appear on screen to indicate possible directions of movement. Pass the mouse over a character that you can speak to, and a speech balloon appears over that character. Clicking on the character brings up a dialog box with appropriate selections for that conversation. In the previous version of the game, the characters were represented by drawings and text. In OTII, the characters are digitized photographs of real people whose faces move as they speak to you in clear, digitized audio. Supplies can be purchased by moving into any of the shops in a town or settlement. Clicking on the shopkeeper or wares brings up a dialog box with all the possible items that can be purchased. Players can change the quantities selected either by typing in a new number or using the standard Windows drop arrows to click on a new quantity from the menu.

Since the interface is so intuitive, the slim manual contains all the information needed to get the game up and running. Far more impressive is the 80-page online guidebook that is always available by clicking on its icon at the bottom of the screen. Although I'm normally not a big fan of online--as opposed to printed--documentation, the setup of this electronic guidebook justifies its digital nature. The guidebook is divided into two parts: The first is Advice, which describes in detail everything the gamer needs to know to survive on the trail, including what supplies to purchase and in what quantities, which routes to take, what kind of wagon to use, how to get up and down steep hills, and (most important) how to treat diseases and how to cross rivers. This part of the guidebook remains constant.

The second part of the guidebook is the Itinerary, which describes the various geographical points along the trail. This part of the guidebook is dynamic in that its contents change depending on what date the gamer starts from. For example, a journey beginning in 1840 will have only one possible starting point, Independence, Missouri, and the only possible destinations will be the Willamette Valley or Southern Oregon, while a journey beginning in 1860 will have several possible starting cities and many more possible destinations, including branch trails such as the Mormon Road to Salt Lake City, Utah. The Itinerary section of the guidebook shows only the possible destinations and settlements along the way that existed when that particular journey was undertaken, a very impressive feature. The entire guidebook is hypertext-linked to its table of contents for easy reference.

OTII also includes an electronic journal that is automatically updated at every stop along the trail. The player can also type in his/her own entries in the journal. At trail's end, the journal can be printed out, and kids might be surprised to find what interesting reading their journal makes.

Game Play

OTII begins like a role-playing-game in that the first thing the player does is create a character and party. And just like a standard RPG, the player can customize his/her party and its characteristics or jump right out on the trail with a "pre-rolled" pre-equipped party. If you choose to create your own party, you can still make things much easier for yourself by purchasing one of the prepared bundles of supplies from the town merchants. The bundles will generally get you through, though you may have do some hunting and buy some extra supplies along the way. Purchasing your own supplies individually adds a whole new level of detail to the game, and in this mode its absolutely necessary to study the online guidebook carefully beforehand lest you find yourself literally up a creek without a paddle.

Once you've purchased your supplies and started out on the trail, the game tracks your progress with a line drawn on a top-down overhead map. MECC's original Oregon Trail displayed the entire trail on one screen. OTII divides the map view into much more detailed 150 - 200 mile segments that are embellished with digitized photos of wildlife or sights or small full-motion-video clips. A map of the entire trail is still available from a pull-down menu.

At various points along the way, the map tracking will pause and the player will be presented with a picture of the current scene and a menu of choices to make. It may be that the party has simply reached an interesting site, and the player will have a chance to rest the party or simply talk to someone else, or it may be that the wagon train has reached a settlement or fort that the party will have an opportunity to visit and re-supply.

Reality Bites

The map tracking may also pause because the wagon train has reached a point where the player must make a crucial decision. It may be, as if often is, that there is a river to cross and the player has to decide whether to attempt to ford the river, caulk the wagon and float it across, or find another way around. It may also be that there's a steep hill to go up or down, or that a member of the party has taken sick and the player must decide how to best proceed. In these situations, it is critical to study the guidebook before proceeding or disaster is guaranteed.

In my opinion, it's a credit to the game's designers that disaster can still occur even if the player makes all the right decisions. Disease and drowning while attempting to cross rivers were the two leading causes of death among the wagon train pioneers, and this is accurately reflected in the game. Cholera and dysentery are dread diseases even in the late 20th Century, and the 19th Century pioneers were obviously ill-equipped to deal with them. So even if the player administers the best available treatment, one or more party members will probably succumb to one of these diseases before the journey is through. Similarly, a player can choose the proper action in crossing a river only to have a capricious eddy capsize the wagon and drown one or more of the party members. It happened to the real pioneers and it can happen to the player. The game doesn't dwell on it; it treats it matter-of-factly. The designers obviously concluded that the targeted age group for the game, 10 and up, is old enough to handle it, and I think that they were right.

Similarly, if the party runs out of meat, the player will have to go hunting. Hunting in OTII is a rather simple, arcade-style affair, in which the player uses the mouse cursor to aim the rifle (if you're equipping your party yourself, remember to buy ammunition and gun powder in addition to guns or you will be out of luck!) Although their is no blood or gore in these sequences, it's realistic enough. Deer fall over dead when shot and geese drop from the sky. Again, I find it refreshing that OTII's designers chose to neither dwell upon nor sugarcoat this part of the story as well.

Trail's End -- Summing Up

If you make it through to the Willamette Valley or one of the other available destinations, you'll get to file your land claim and learn about what happened to your party and its descendants. I was especially thrilled to learn after one journey that my descendants became senators and governors! In any case, OTII provides the player with a real sense of accomplishment after completing the journey. And not only will youngsters feel entertained by OTII, they will inevitably learn something new each time they play the game. That's quite an achievement for any computer game. Oregon Trail II is highly recommended.

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