Oregon Trail 5th Edition does a nice job of coupling history with decision-making skills

History and adventure collide along The Oregon Trail, but while children are learning about the hardships and legends of the earlier trek west, they’ll also be building decision-making skills.

The Oregon Trail 5th Edition from The Learning Company, for the PC, is a delightful program that succeeds with its intertwining tale of three children headed west from Independence, Mo., to Oregon City. Geared for ages 9 and up, this program most likely target group would be 7-12/13.

A dust storm cuts visibility – do you continue along the trail, slow down or stop and hope the weather abates? You come to a river that is 2 ½-feet deep – will you try to cross it, caulk up the wagons and float it, hire local help or pay for a ferry?

Money is finite, so you must make every dollar count. That plays into buying your supplies and animals for the trek. If you buy a rifle, you can hunt along the way. If you buy a fishing kit, you can fish. Those are both nice ways to keep your supplies up without overburdening your animals by forcing them to haul too much to start with.

You are about to come down a hill – will you lock the brakes and continue, or anchor the wagon and continue down? A wrong decision could result in the loss of your wagon.

But don’t worry, there are three difficulty levels, and the ‘greenhorn’ level seemingly won’t allow players to fail. However, at other levels, the weather gets nastier, and the possibility of your trip ending in disaster increases.

The game, ostensibly, follows the journey of the Montgomery children, who are headed west to rejoin their father (who had gone ahead alone). With their mother dead, they must rely on Captain Jed Freedman to guide them. Along the way, through animated cutscenes, Captain Jed shares tales of the Oregon Trail. There are sites to see, and historic landmarks along the way.

You can talk with fellow travelers, or get the insight of those camped out along the way.

The controls are very simple and easy to understand. This is a mouse-driven game, and you have only to click on the icons displayed either in the screen or along the button to access a wealth of information. The player interface is well designed and easy for gamers to work through.

Graphically there is a lot of repetition in this game. Every time you cross a river, the same cutscenes are displayed. There are photo shots of wildlife and local scenery along the way. The true hero in this area of the game is the animation. It rivals most of the cartoons currently seen on television. This, in regards to the Montgomery children’s tale, is linear, but players can alter the problems of the game through selection of the difficulty level, and decisions along the way.

The sound, during gameplay, consists mostly of a catchy little frontier-style melody, which can grow old in a hurry. Though a bit out of synch with the animation, the vocal characterizations are well done.

This is a game that is rich with history, as well as challenging for younger players. It will improve decision-making skills, while providing a touching storyline.

This program is not rated, but would be applicable to Everyone.

Install: Easy
This is a hybrid disk, playable on either a PC or Macintosh, and requires only 100 megs of hard-drive space.

Gameplay: 7.5
There are interruptions along the way; every nook and cranny along the Oregon Trail begs to be stopped at, or explored for counsel. However, there are almost 2,000 miles of this nation to traverse, and this game does a nice job it showing the terrain and hardships.

Graphics: 7
The animations are very good; the static in-town graphics are very average.

Sound: 7.5
The animation’s vocal characterizations are well done; the others are somewhat bland. The music, lively at first listen, can get overworked toward the end of a game.

Difficulty: 8
This is a simple game to navigate through. The interface is easy to grasp and use, and the in-game screens, though not completely interactive, are still nicely done.

Concept: 7.5
The fifth edition in the series means innovation may be suspect, but still this game does a very nice job of incorporating history with adventure and problem solving.

Overall. 7.8
This game is a mish-mosh of graphical characteristics, but the historical perspective, coupled with the decision-making attributes, makes it a very good game.