It's Halloween, kids, and you know that means I really have no choice but to pick something silly and shlocky to give you for your Free and Worth Every Penny installment. Luckily, the game makers of the world are in the mood to provide just such fare, and Ryan Wiemeyer, Ben Perez and Micheal Block of The Men Who Wear Many Hats have come through in fine form with a playable beta of their humorous spin on a childhood classic. Join me as we travel on the...
You'll forgive me if I make this a piece short on words and long on funny screenshots, because come on. You know what The Oregon Trail is. I don't need to describe that for you. This is that, but with zombies. As described on their product page...
| Organ Trail was an edutainment game developed in 1971. Schools across America used this game as a teaching tool to prepare children for the impending zombie apocolypse and dysentery. Re-live your childhood with this faithfully emulated version of Organ Trail for the Apple-II. |
So what's changed from the game you actually remember playing back in the early 80's? From a gameplay standpoint, almost nothing. You'll still stock up at the beginning on the East coast, picking your difficulty level and your limited supplies - though now you'll need mufflers, batteries and spare tires for your station wagon (see what they did there?), rather than oxen and axles. You'll still travel to the West, hitting cities and landmarks along the way.
The map looks a little different, though.
You'll still deal with running out of supplies along the road and needing to try to find people to trade with. You'll encounter zombie hordes you need to cross that substitute for the rivers of the original, with suitably creative options for doing so. You'll still go hunting, though it's called "scavenging" now and there's a lot less wildlife than there was before.
The worst part is, I'm only gonna be able to carry back half that shopping cart anyhow.
And of course, as a hallmark of the series, random events will still bless or curse you every so often along your journey. Some of these have been predictably customized for the new setting...
...Sorry, hon. I didn't see him in the back seat there.
...and some of them are old friends.
Are you effing serious? I'm still dealing with dysentery in the zombie apocalypse? Sigh.
Why does the game carry a beta label? Well, because it isn't finished. It's playable through to the end, to be sure, but there are pieces notably missing - try to talk to people in town, for example, and you'll get no response - and parts of the game will occasionally bug out. I had a trading screen get garbled on me early in the game and had to start over, costing me 10 minutes or so of progress. The full list of features planned for the final game but not yet implemented includes: saving your game, music, "lots more art", an updating map, extra minigames, a better ending, and conversation.
So you'd be forgiven for deciding to wait for all that stuff to make it in, before giving this a try. But I'm glad they put it out now anyhow, and I'm glad I played it. It's an idea that rests entirely on the seasonal appeal of its theme - if ever I was going to play a zombie themed Oregon Trail parody, Halloween weekend is when I was going to do it - and the idea really doesn't suffer much from not having all that extra stuff. You still manage resources, rationing food and tweaking your pace as you go. You still get sad when somebody dies. You still hate that goddamned dysentery message.
So did I make it to Oregon? I did, I'm pleased to say. ...Well, mostly. Ryan had a pretty serious fever, and he didn't make it. But four of us did. That's better than I used to do in elementary school.
Have fun beating my score. I might've overdone it with the bullets.
There you have it: your free Halloween-themed time waster for the weekend. If I may make a request of the Internet for next year, though: something other than zombies, hm? They're beginning to be seriously played out.
Organ Trail is...
- a clever twist on a classic game.
- clearly unfinished, but playable and enjoyable in its current state.
- full of bits that made me smile, even if hunting is still a pain in the ass.
- a good use of a half hour if you have fond memories of the previously zombie-free series.
No download necessary for this one, just a Flash-supporting web browser. Get your zombie on by clicking right here.
"Free And Worth Every Penny" is a column I collaborate on with Mike Bellmore at Colony of Gamers. This piece also appears there.