The Oregon Trail (1971) review

Recommended

by Graham Kaletsky

While the version I grew up with had better graphics (I played a copy of the Apple II port from 1974, the original had no graphics at all), this version still retained the fun of trying to survive the trail. The history aspect is also really interesting, allowing the player to live the history and understand the different context better than a simple text book would. The game-play is very simple, and familiar to people who have played old-school text adventure games. Press Y to indicate yes, press N to indicate no, use numbers to choose from a menu. Simple, yet effective. It’s the scope this game creates in the mind that helps it to surpass such simplicity, which is pretty impressive for a game that is almost 50 years old now.