With both zombie games eternally beloved by gamers, and parody games finding popularity recently, Organ Trail, here in Director's Cut form, is a fine example of how to blend humour and blood letting. It's a zombie spoof of a classic educational title (yes, really) that was developed way back in the 1970's called The Oregon Trail. In this (supposed) learning aid players were tasked with guiding a group of pioneers across the real life Oregon Trail, a 2000 mile expanse across the United States that settlers navigated in the first half of the 19th century. The game hit widespread popularity in the mid 1980's when it was ported to the Apple 2, the computer found in most schools in North America at the time. Kids must have been thrilled. Here was a legitimate way to play video games in school. It was hardly the blast-a-thon they probably craved, but given the lack of other options they made do, and began to enjoy the deep gameplay on offer. The game went on to be a cult classic, and received many updates, including a recent version on the 3DS. Now, I am assuming that a large amount of the appeal of Organ Trail lies with the nostalgia and amusement factor of playing a zombie spoof of a game you experienced at school. As I have never played the game before I feel like I may not be the target audience for this re-imagining. But on the plus side, I can review the game with no rose tinted spectacles clouding my judgement!
The
aim of Organ Trail, much like the educational Oregon Trail game, is
to get your group of people from A to B, from the East to the West,
from shit creek to assumed safety. You and four friends jump in a
newly acquired station wagon, stock up on the essentials (food, fuel,
cash, ammo, medkits, and other bits and pieces) and hit the road.
The
first thing to strike you are the visuals. They are wonderfully retro
and emulate the look of 80's home computers perfectly, even down to
the static cut-scene screens that look as though they were drawn by a
5 year old in crayon. Though incredibly primitive in places, the
graphics still manage to convey a sense of grim desperation and
horror. The music also deserves half of the praise for setting the
mood, with some great dingy, indie rock tracks that fit the game to a
tee. These could have been taken from any modern zombie flick (they
remind me of 28 days / weeks later), and create an 'authentic' zombie
atmosphere. The sound effects mainly consist of bleeps and bloops
that seem more fitting to Pong on the Atari 2600 than anything else,
but in combination with the retro parody nature of the game it works
well. I especially liked the authentic clicks and taps of an 80's
keyboard and mouse used in-game.
The
journey is shown from a side scrolling 2D perspective, your car
trundling its way along the road taking up the top half of the
screen, the bottom half showing your stats (food and fuel remaining,
distance to next checkpoint, health of comrades etc). As you drive,
food and fuel are automatically consumed and need to be topped up
regularly, and you are at the mercy of the many random encounters you
will face along the way. Like someone rolling a dice in the
background to determine your fate, every few seconds (it seems) a box
appears informing you of some important, usually bad, news. A team
member may inexplicably now have a broken leg or arm, or maybe a
hideous, life sapping disease. Maybe one of the clumsier members of
the team decided to sit on some ammo, breaking it, or drop some fuel out of the window. There are absolutely loads of different things that can happen, but all of them point to the alarming conclusion that you are travelling with idiots. Sometimes Mother Nature steps in to
have a go, chucking snowstorms, fog and other bullshit your way to
make life even more difficult. The undead also like to get involved,
standing around in the road, blocking your path, or attacking you
outright. Fortunately, good things can happen too. Random food, fuel
and money stashes can be found at the side of the road but, more
often than not, these random encounters are usually not of the
helpful variety.
It
is always a huge relief to reach the next settlement or safe house in
order to regroup and sort out your affairs before moving on. Here you
can purchase and sell items, fix up your wheels, take on jobs
(usually of the shooty variety), tend to your injured allies, or
scavenge for more shit that you need. The scavenging and job parts
take the form of more arcade style sections. You guide your character
around the area, collecting spawning items while avoiding the undead.
Shooting is a slow paced affair, and is certainly not a Robotron
style blast-fest. To fire you must hold down the mouse button, drag
the mouse backwards (away from the target), before releasing the
button to fire a slow moving bullet. It takes some getting used to,
and is quite clunky in practice, but it does give the game an added
air of tension as you struggle to fend off the approaching zombies.
Luckily for you, some towns have combat experts who can teach you new
tricks, such as faster bullets or movement, for a price of course.
The simple mechanic of being able to name your party means you genuinely become attached to them and don't want them to die. The majority of other humans you face on the road are out for your blood, including hoards of angry bikers that you must run down with your car, and bandits hiding in buildings that you must shoot from cover. These action segments fit perfectly alongside the more strategic side of the gameplay and are often tense and challenging. There are also some additional game modes exclusive to this Director's Cut edition including a silly, physics based driving mini-game, and 'Endless' mode in which you can find collectable items granting you new abilities and items.
Organ
Trail is a deep and immersive experience that defies its initial
appearance as merely an amusing parody game, and you will soon be
hooked. Each time you play you will manage to progress that little
bit further towards your final destination, through learning how to
better manage your resources, and practice in the arcade sections.
Even being constantly fucked over by illness, zombies, snowstorms,
and many other occurrences adds to the rich variety of Organ Trail,
and it keeps you coming back again and again, even after you have
been unfairly killed off by elements outside of your control for the
umpteenth time. It's fair to say that Lady Luck plays a large part in
proceedings, much more so than any other game I can think of (bar
Russian Roulette, perhaps). But this element of surprise, although
often frustrating, is what makes each new game feel fresh and full of
possibility. It is an immersive and strategic game that possesses a
real sense of urgency and fear. Far, far better than your initial
impression would lead you to believe, and I highly recommend you take
the trip. If you grew up playing Oregon Trail at school then you will
probably want to add another point to the overall score.
The
Good
- Authentic 1980's graphics and sound effects
- Atmospheric soundtrack sets the mood perfectly
- Strategic gameplay is gripping and enjoyable
- Element of chance keeps you coming back
- Wonderful spoof of the original Oregon Trail
- Online scores and bonus mini-games
The Bad
- Constant random factors could irritate some players
Developer : The Men Who Wear Many Hats
Also available on : Mac, iOS, Android
Price : £2.99
Price : £2.99
