As a covered wagon party of pioneers, you head out west from Independence, MI to the Willamette River and valley in Oregon. You first must stock up on provisions, and then, while traveling, make decisions such as when to rest, how much food to eat, etc. The Oregon Trail incorporates strategy and planning ahead along with discovery and adventure as well as action (hunting and floating down the Dalles river).
The first Oregon Trail game was made way back in 1982. The idea is simple; you're leading a wagon of settlers over the wild territory heading to the west. You start, at Independence, Missouri and you have to reach to Oregon.
The version you will try and hopefully like is the Deluxe version of the game. This means that the graphics are nice colorful VGA in high (640X480) resolution, the game is fully mouse controlled, and there are some Soundblaster sounds setting the mood (but not really much of them - neither are there many sound effects). The game is quite a guide book you can use and learn from. It's a sort of encyclopedia containing information about the places you get to see on the game.
But what about the game-play? You need to supply yourself at Independence and then take off. You can buy supplies at all the army forts on your way (if you reach them), and the prices will rise depending on the distance covered away from “the civilization”. You can also trade things with the people on the way, you can just buy something from them or try to trade, but there's never a guarantee that they'll have what you need.
On the way some hardships can happen (snake bites, blizzards, cholera, oxen deaths…), so make sure you get enough rest and keep an eye on the food supply. You will have to buy, trade or hunt for food (some areas are better for hunting than others). I have to warn you though not to hunt too much, because you can't carry more than 200lbs of food per hunt, the rest is left to rot (so if you get a buffalo you can pack up and go on - because it always weighs way over 200lbs).
There are places where you can decide to take a shortcut or take the long way (usually to get supplies) and sometimes you can choose between a safer or more hazardous trail. The choice is yours, but in order to know what to expect you should talk to other people. They can share experiences, knowledge… It's always good to use native guides if you have the opportunity. They know the territory and will be able to help you. Remember, you should play it safe, rather than trying to break some speed records getting there.
At the end there's a scoreboard and you get some scores in addition to how well you did your trip (how many people reached there with good health and so on).
The game is rather simple and somewhat easy, but it is a fun game that even children could enjoy and it has a sort of educational value added to it, even if that's not the prime goal. A nice little “time killer” by all means, but not really addictive enough to become a classic (and there's not really enough challenge on the game).
So try it and I hope you'll like it. If nothing else, you'll get a chance to be a pioneer for a while, even if you find out that real pioneering wasn't really that glorious, but mostly dull routine and hard work.
Probably the least known entry in MECC's famous Oregon Trail series that is now up to the fourth edition, Oregon Trail Deluxe is a solid VGA remake of the 1988 original Oregon Trail release that set new standards in edutainment. Notable for being the last floppy-based release of this series, Oregon Trail Deluxe is great to look at and a lot of fun to play.
As in the original game, Oregon Trail Deluxe puts you in the year 1848 as the Gold Rush was in full swing. Your goal: emigrate from the US' East Coast to Oregon in the West before winter sets in. After deciding which occupation your alter ego has, you will plan for a long journey by buying food, spare wagon wheels, bullets, mules, and other necessities. There are many factors to take into account while you are on the road. Pushing your animals too hard can cause them to collapse from exhaustion. From time to time, the game will offer you a choice between two or more routes to take, each with its own advantages and disadvantages. Tough decisions like these are half the fun of Oregon Trail, and what makes the game varied and interesting. To liven up your journey, you will pass several notable monuments along the way, each with a short but concise description and/or history.
As in the first game, there several arcade-style mini-games, including hunting and fishing. And there are more opportunities to talk to and trade with other pioneers this time around. The on-line help is always available to give you hints throughout the game, and Oregon Trail Deluxe comes complete with comprehensive historical reference about objects, people, and places. Overall, this last floppy version of the game is a very nice update to the original edutainment classic, and arguably the best version before MECC went down the "multimedia extravaganza" route, releasing Oregon Trail II and subsequent entries on CD-ROM that focus more on form than content.
Offering adventure, educational, role-playing (rpg), strategy, simulation in a world of history, managerial, real-time, Oregon Trail Deluxe is an abandonware developed by MECC and published by MECC. Released in 1992, you wander around in a perspective.
The Oregon Trail, well known road crossing the Rocky Mountains used by the settlers in the 19th century.
MECC made an educational game based on this memorable part on the USA story. The player must cross the oregon trail and fight against the difficulties the settlers had. Hunting for food, trading supplies, survive LOTS of possible deaths (snakes, typhoid, dysentry...).
Should you succeed in your journey, your points will be based on your profession, the number of settlers still alive, your remaining cash and much more.
Oregon Trail was played by a lot of American people born in the eighties and the game stay into memory as one hard, unforgiving and unbeatable game. Some family would eventually play the game together and children in school would even make competition over who got the farthest before dying in the game!
How to run this game on modern Windows PC?
People who downloaded Oregon Trail Deluxe have also downloaded:
Amazon Trail, The, Where in The World is Carmen Sandiego? Deluxe Edition, Odell: Down Under, Sim City 2000, Where in The USA is Carmen Sandiego? Deluxe Edition, Lords of The Realm 2, Dinopark Tycoon, Number Munchers
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