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Once upon a time, long before the original X-Box and Playstation ever hit store shelves, there was a game called The Oregon Trail. While the graphics weren't great it was a surprisingly entertaining semi-educational game that put you in charge of transporting a group of settlers across America in the Wild West days. It wasn't an arcade game as such, though it did have arcade sections. Instead it was a sort of sim where you had to make decisions such as whether to risk your lives fording a river or take the long way around, whether to hunt for food or keep going and generally try to keep you party alive. It also had characters who could die of dysentry, which ended up being a source of misplaced amusement.
The Organ Trail, on the other hand, is less about dying from the squits and more about fleeing a zombie apocalypse. The whole game is depicted in glorious 2D retro vision, complete with blocky graphics. Yes, it's a tribute/parody of The Oregon Trail, with zombies. Sounds like a bit of lark, right? Problem is, it doesn't quite come off that way.
The game begins with you naming your for characters at which point you jump in a car and head off along the road to a distant 'safe zone' - travelling through various cities along the way. You run into hazards along the way, and have to decide how to handle them. For example, you may find yourself having to drive through a horde of zombies. Do you sneak through quietly, blast your way through, or hope they disperse? It's up to you. Managing food and spare parts is also a big issue - if your car breaks down, you'll find yourself stuck if you don't have parts, so it's important you trade for parts and also fuel when you need to do.
So far, so good. Travelling from town to town is mildly entertaining, and you do get attached to your characters. Which makes it more of a shame when one of your characters gets bitten and you can decide whether to shoot them or not. Unfortunately, soon or later you have to deal with the game's action sequences. The game will either force you to undertake these sequences or you'll have to pick one yourself as a means of gathering food. And they are really terrible.
Not because the graphics are poor, that is. No, the action sequence controls are really terrible. You have to touch a zombie and then swipe towards your character to fire, which produces massively inconsistent results. You also have to swipe to move your character which is really frustrating when you're tying to avoid zombies and can result in character death. The PC version of the game is nearly as bad since while you can use the keys to move, the swipe system is still there, albeit replaced with the mouse and it's every bit as terrible.
So ultimately, The Organ Trail is an interesting game idea that's ruined by poor controls. Which is a shame, as I'm a huge fan of zombies but when there are better zombie games about, such as Zafehouse Diaries and State of Decay, there's no reason to buy this. A wasted opportunity, The Organ Trail should be left for dead.
Score: 4 out of 10.
Pros:
It's got zombies in it.
The game's not too bad till you hit the action sequences.
Cons:
The controls are so terrible it ruins the game.
Really, really terrible in fact.
The Organ Trail, on the other hand, is less about dying from the squits and more about fleeing a zombie apocalypse. The whole game is depicted in glorious 2D retro vision, complete with blocky graphics. Yes, it's a tribute/parody of The Oregon Trail, with zombies. Sounds like a bit of lark, right? Problem is, it doesn't quite come off that way.
The game begins with you naming your for characters at which point you jump in a car and head off along the road to a distant 'safe zone' - travelling through various cities along the way. You run into hazards along the way, and have to decide how to handle them. For example, you may find yourself having to drive through a horde of zombies. Do you sneak through quietly, blast your way through, or hope they disperse? It's up to you. Managing food and spare parts is also a big issue - if your car breaks down, you'll find yourself stuck if you don't have parts, so it's important you trade for parts and also fuel when you need to do.
So far, so good. Travelling from town to town is mildly entertaining, and you do get attached to your characters. Which makes it more of a shame when one of your characters gets bitten and you can decide whether to shoot them or not. Unfortunately, soon or later you have to deal with the game's action sequences. The game will either force you to undertake these sequences or you'll have to pick one yourself as a means of gathering food. And they are really terrible.
Not because the graphics are poor, that is. No, the action sequence controls are really terrible. You have to touch a zombie and then swipe towards your character to fire, which produces massively inconsistent results. You also have to swipe to move your character which is really frustrating when you're tying to avoid zombies and can result in character death. The PC version of the game is nearly as bad since while you can use the keys to move, the swipe system is still there, albeit replaced with the mouse and it's every bit as terrible.
So ultimately, The Organ Trail is an interesting game idea that's ruined by poor controls. Which is a shame, as I'm a huge fan of zombies but when there are better zombie games about, such as Zafehouse Diaries and State of Decay, there's no reason to buy this. A wasted opportunity, The Organ Trail should be left for dead.
Score: 4 out of 10.
Pros:
It's got zombies in it.
The game's not too bad till you hit the action sequences.
Cons:
The controls are so terrible it ruins the game.
Really, really terrible in fact.
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Once upon a time, long before the original X-Box and Playstation ever hit store shelves, there was a game called The Oregon Trail. While the graphics weren't great it was a surprisingly entertaining semi-educational game that put you in charge of transporting a group of settlers across America in the Wild West days. It wasn't an arcade game as such, though it did have arcade sections. Instead it was a sort of sim where you had to make decisions such as whether to risk your lives fording a river or take the long way around, whether to hunt for food or keep going and generally try to keep you party alive. It also had characters who could die of dysentry, which ended up being a source of misplaced amusement.
The Organ Trail, on the other hand, is less about dying from the squits and more about fleeing a zombie apocalypse. The whole game is depicted in glorious 2D retro vision, complete with blocky graphics. Yes, it's a tribute/parody of The Oregon Trail, with zombies. Sounds like a bit of lark, right? Problem is, it doesn't quite come off that way.
The game begins with you naming your for characters at which point you jump in a car and head off along the road to a distant 'safe zone' - travelling through various cities along the way. You run into hazards along the way, and have to decide how to handle them. For example, you may find yourself having to drive through a horde of zombies. Do you sneak through quietly, blast your way through, or hope they disperse? It's up to you. Managing food and spare parts is also a big issue - if your car breaks down, you'll find yourself stuck if you don't have parts, so it's important you trade for parts and also fuel when you need to do.
So far, so good. Travelling from town to town is mildly entertaining, and you do get attached to your characters. Which makes it more of a shame when one of your characters gets bitten and you can decide whether to shoot them or not. Unfortunately, soon or later you have to deal with the game's action sequences. The game will either force you to undertake these sequences or you'll have to pick one yourself as a means of gathering food. And they are really terrible.
Not because the graphics are poor, that is. No, the action sequence controls are really terrible. You have to touch a zombie and then swipe towards your character to fire, which produces massively inconsistent results. You also have to swipe to move your character which is really frustrating when you're tying to avoid zombies and can result in character death. The PC version of the game is nearly as bad since while you can use the keys to move, the swipe system is still there, albeit replaced with the mouse and it's every bit as terrible.
So ultimately, The Organ Trail is an interesting game idea that's ruined by poor controls. Which is a shame, as I'm a huge fan of zombies but when there are better zombie games about, such as Zafehouse Diaries and State of Decay, there's no reason to buy this. A wasted opportunity, The Organ Trail should be left for dead.
Score: 4 out of 10.
Pros:
It's got zombies in it.
The game's not too bad till you hit the action sequences.
Cons:
The controls are so terrible it ruins the game.
Really, really terrible in fact.
The Organ Trail, on the other hand, is less about dying from the squits and more about fleeing a zombie apocalypse. The whole game is depicted in glorious 2D retro vision, complete with blocky graphics. Yes, it's a tribute/parody of The Oregon Trail, with zombies. Sounds like a bit of lark, right? Problem is, it doesn't quite come off that way.
The game begins with you naming your for characters at which point you jump in a car and head off along the road to a distant 'safe zone' - travelling through various cities along the way. You run into hazards along the way, and have to decide how to handle them. For example, you may find yourself having to drive through a horde of zombies. Do you sneak through quietly, blast your way through, or hope they disperse? It's up to you. Managing food and spare parts is also a big issue - if your car breaks down, you'll find yourself stuck if you don't have parts, so it's important you trade for parts and also fuel when you need to do.
So far, so good. Travelling from town to town is mildly entertaining, and you do get attached to your characters. Which makes it more of a shame when one of your characters gets bitten and you can decide whether to shoot them or not. Unfortunately, soon or later you have to deal with the game's action sequences. The game will either force you to undertake these sequences or you'll have to pick one yourself as a means of gathering food. And they are really terrible.
Not because the graphics are poor, that is. No, the action sequence controls are really terrible. You have to touch a zombie and then swipe towards your character to fire, which produces massively inconsistent results. You also have to swipe to move your character which is really frustrating when you're tying to avoid zombies and can result in character death. The PC version of the game is nearly as bad since while you can use the keys to move, the swipe system is still there, albeit replaced with the mouse and it's every bit as terrible.
So ultimately, The Organ Trail is an interesting game idea that's ruined by poor controls. Which is a shame, as I'm a huge fan of zombies but when there are better zombie games about, such as Zafehouse Diaries and State of Decay, there's no reason to buy this. A wasted opportunity, The Organ Trail should be left for dead.
Score: 4 out of 10.
Pros:
It's got zombies in it.
The game's not too bad till you hit the action sequences.
Cons:
The controls are so terrible it ruins the game.
Really, really terrible in fact.