For [one of the] text-only 70s version[s] that is not for any of the platforms available to list here: (moved over from the review being on 1985 Apple II release, this review is originally from October 2021)
Look: -/10
Sound: -/10
Play: 9/10
I have a certain nostalgia for text-only games, owing mostly to playing Shilla a lot in middle school. I wasn't sure what I would think about text-only games now, but so far so good! This and Hamurabi have impressed me. It's surprisingly fast-paced, thankfully turn-based, and addictively fun. I replayed it a few times, albeit all in one relatively short sitting. Hot tip: if you're a fast typer, choose the top shooter rating (top ace or w/e, press 1 ha) and it helps soooo much. I said no to the minister when I died and didn't have anything sent home, poor Aunt whatever. My bad. It was nice to see humor, variety, surprises, and relatively forgiving gameplay. I feel like the 1990 version I was used to from school gaming as a child was actually harder (and longer) than this, though I expected vice versa. I suppose RNG can only do so much (well, I guess I should wait to make any judgment between the games till I replay the 1990 version as an adult, heh). Anyway, I truly enjoyed this version of the Hunt feature, because I love to type. I'm excited to see if other/later text games have similar, clever features considering the constraints of text-only.
Feel: 9/10
To be honest, I didn't want to enjoy some Polk-celebrating settler roleplay: "you too can be a settler!" But... it was fun and consistently interesting to play (again, though, very short). I love that it's turn-based, so I could walk away, deal with something, etc. Maybe I'm overrating this because it's my first text-only game since Shilla in the early 2000s, we will see how I feel when I replay it next. When looking back to this, after playing several later text adventures and interactive fiction games, I have to admit this game resolved a lot of usual issues with text adventures, like the menu (which this game had an excuse to need a lot of menu aspects) and lack of challenge outside rng (tho this game still relies on a frustrating level of rng, the hunt aspect makes this so fun for a text-only game).
Attachment: 8/10
I already replayed this multiple times in one night. I enjoyed the 1990 version of Oregon Trail a lot as a kid, and this one surprised me with its execution of the text-only gameplay. So yea, this really could be a 9 but we will see if I ever return to early text adventure games. If I do, I foresee this, colossal cave, cottage, and scott adams games getting higher ratings over time! Who knows, maybe first person shooters and text adventures will grow to be favorite genres, shocking indeed.
