"Oregon Trail" Facebook App Review: A Classic Game Meets Social Networking

The new "Oregon Trail" app has officially gone live on Facebook in the Beta phase as of February 2^nd, 2011. The app enables this classic video game to be revisited by thousands of long-time fans of the "Oregon Trail" world, while simultaneously being introduced to countless new players thanks to widespread influence of social networking applications.

The app, which was developed by The Learning Company, launched with 1,000 players signing up within the first 15 minutes of it going live, according to the official "Oregon Trail" blog. By the end of the first day, 80,000 Facebook users had stumbled into the 1800s to test their luck and skill against the untamed test. Less than a month into live play, the app has 53,000 "Likes" on Facebook, and countless users entirely addicted to the game.

The "Oregon Trail" App: Getting Started.

Players can once again battle the treacherous, deadly conditions that the settlers endured-only now, they can enlist friends as members of their "Oregon Trail" 5-person party. You can opt to invite people on your Facebook friends list who are already using this highly anticipated app, or you can recruit non-users in an attempt to hook them on the game, too. Whichever type of Facebook users you decide on, all "Oregon Trail" players have an independent team which is not currently influenced by the separate games of friends who happen to be on their 5-person crew. While you can choose to repair a friend's wagon, or hunt for food to replenish their stores, you can do this for anyone on your friends list currently playing "Oregon Trail," rather than only those you selected for your party.

As in the original computer version of "Oregon Trail," the latest remake once again awards players with starting cash and a General Store with supplies. In the Facebook app, more options are initially available for your trip, including different oxen, better wagon pieces and bonus rations or medicine. With only a few hundred dollars to spend and 15 free Trail Notes-the currency which can be purchased using Facebook credits and real-life funds-the options for your first trip are fairly limited.

Players will complete the "Oregon Trail" multiple times in order to level-up and gain access to new professions, higher level equipment, bonus Trail Notes and more.

The "Oregon Trail" App: Game Play.

Much like the original version of the "Oregon Trail," players must choose their speed while encountering injuries, dwindling food supplies and dangerous landscapes. Currently, users cannot select at which speed they want to use the food supplies, unlike in the original PC version. However, different situations-like a heat wave-can cause the five settlers to go through food more quickly. Also, the faster your wagon plows over the terrain, the quicker it deteriorates.

Your party has energy, in addition to stamina, plus the food stores and wagon condition. With energy, you can opt to perform one of three tasks; hunting for a random item using "Search the Scene" for 15pts, "Repair Your Wagon" for 30pts, and "Hunt for Vittles" for 30pts, the last being a hunt-for-food feature. Unfortunately, the hunting portion of the app is still extremely lagged, causing most hunting attempts to be thwarted. When it does work, players can shoot squirrels, rabbits, bears or even buffalo in addition to the rare "epic" creatures. As in the original "Oregon Trail," you can only carry back 200lbs of food at a time.

Repairing your wagon is a "Tetris" style puzzle, in which players must plug in pieces of wood to fill the voids without overlapping pieces. Using only 8 pieces-and having no overlapping pieces-gives +40 condition to your wagon. As more pieces are used, the repair attempt drops to +30, +20, and so forth. While searching for a random item can be very beneficial, it will also cost you much needed energy which is often better spent securing food, or repairing the wagon.

Stamina is the endurance your party of settlers has to keep traveling. Once it reaches 0, it takes real-life hours to replenish unless you opt to spend a hefty amount of Trail Notes to continue playing. Once again, "Oregon Trail" is a balance of speed, rest and food-especially as your party members will almost continuously be suffering from fevers, snake bites, and other ailments.

The "Oregon Trail" App: Random Encounters.

In addition to the random injuries and illnesses, players encounter a variety of random situations during the "Oregon Trail" adventure. This can include dust storms and other inclement weather, in which the user must decide to wait-out the storm, continue more slowly, or pay Trail Notes to receive help from a Native American. There are also buffalo stampedes, traveling merchants, bandits, and a whole host of possibilities. Naturally, with each of these random encounters, how you decide to proceed will either hinder or enrich your journey, and the result seems to be based on luck and random chance rather than a set cause-and-effect chart.

A supply of medicine-which is difficult, given that the inventory for your trip is minimal-will greatly benefit your party members, and help to reduce lost time for recovery. The ultimate goal of the "Oregon Trail" is to reach Oregon before the December snow starts to fly, so speed is always an important factor.

The "Oregon Trail" App: Tips & Verdict

While playing the Beta version of the "Oregon Trail" app, I stumbled upon a few tricks or considerations to keep in mind for a smoother adventure.

*Spend your money wisely, especially the first few trips out. Rations are inexpensive, but they can also be obtained on the trail by hunting or finding random bundles of +5 food stores. Some of the food in the general store can add a lump of +200 food stores to your wagon, making them a very worth-while investment for one of your inventory slots.

*Medium speed is a good middle ground between the wagon-destroying high speed and the time-wasting low speed. It also allows you to devote extra days for injury recovery when a member of your party inevitably steps on a rattlesnake.

*So far, "Oregon Trail" party members seem immune to death-something which frustrates fans of the classic version of the game-even if they health deteriorates into the red zone. Either the game designers have made it very difficult to lose party members, or they have entirely removed it from the app. This means that while your characters will be uncomfortable traveling while they have an injury, there is no risk of them dying on you.

*Use your free Trail Notes wisely. Unless you intend to purchase Facebook Credits and purchase more, you won't generate a huge volume of this special currency. Also, the "Oregon Trail" developers do not currently offer a reward program for taking surveys and completing offers. Fortunately, they are one of the few who automatically award these special dollars as players complete runs to Oregon and begin a new cycle of the adventure.

Ultimately, the "Oregon Trail" app manages to pay homage to the original while incorporating elements unique to social networking applications. Although it would be nice to see the "free gifts" for fellow players implemented for the "Oregon Trail" app, users can interact via free wagon repair and hunting trip per 24 real-life hours. You can also post updates to your wall and update stream, which enables you to interact with the friends in your 5-person crew at least on a minimum level.

As someone who has been a fan of the original "Oregon Trail" since elementary school, I am pleased to see it being introduced to a whole new audience-while those of us who remember the original get a nostalgic trek back into the 1800s. I would rate this Facebook app a 4/5, and I hope that once the lag is repaired and a few more features are implemented it will hit 4.5/5 or better.

Sources:
Oregon Trail - Official Game Site, "Oregon Trail facebook game makes a splash online"