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What’s the Story?

Reviewed by Jinny Gudmundsen

In THE OREGON TRAIL for the iPhone/iPod Touch, you join a historic wagon train traveling westward in the 1800s from Missouri to Oregon. You make all the decisions during the trip, including when to rest, what route to take, and what supplies to bring. In the process of traveling across the country, you can talk to characters and play 8 fun minigames that make great use of the device's touch screen and its motion sensors.

Is It Any Good?

5

This highly polished game is easy to play, a delight to look at, and offers hours of gameplay. The game is easy to play with submenus dropping down from the top of the screen. There are plenty of interesting characters to talk with and some are famous including a young Custer and Samuel Morse. Many of these characters offer you extra quests. The integration of the eight minigames also helps to keep the gameplay fresh. Some involve timing your touches to do something like hammering a nail to fix the wagon or shooting an animal. While others involve rotating the device to use the accelerometer to accomplish things like panning for gold.

The only annoying flaw in the game is its long load times. Even so, The Oregon Trail is worth playing because it brings history alive and it offers a lot of depth, clocking in at 2-3 hours per game.

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