Oregon trail computer game

Ages 9-15. $24.99 SRP. Mac/PC hybrid CD-ROM. Windows 95/98, 2000/Me/XP; Mac System 8.6 to OS X.

The Learning Company, 800-227-5609, www.learningco.com. Available in stores.

The Oregon Trail is a classic. Wisely realizing this, the Learning Company has not significantly changed the original format for the Fifth Edition. This program brought back all sorts of memories for me, and it also enchanted the generation of new users: my younger brothers and sisters. For the past three days, someone in my family has been travelling some part of the Oregon Trail.

The basic premise: You're a settler heading out West. You start by choosing your profession, skill level, wagon, starting point and destination, date of trip beginning (April is best), and number of people in your party. By referring to the extensive advice in the Guidebook and by talking to people around the fort, you then decide which supplies you will need for the trip. Will you depend extensively on hunting, or will you save time and pack all your food? Will you be travelling during wintertime, and thus need expensive winter coats? What about ropes and chains for getting up steep hills? This part is probably both the most essential, and the most confusing for young players as there is no step-by-step guide to what you need. However, you can buy a basic 5- or 6-month package of supplies, which helps new players somewhat.

Finally, you begin your journey. This is where the real fun begins, as there are numerous factors to consider and numerous negative events which can occur. Suzie breaks her leg--do you rest for a couple of days, immobilize the leg, or apply some sort of medicine? Make the wrong medical choice, and in a week or two Suzie may die. Other wagons on the trail are kicking up dust--do you wait, slow down, or continue as normal? The wagon train stops frequently at various landmarks and points of interest, and you can talk to people, trade, and get advice for the journey.

As if this basic game wasn't enough of a trip back in time, for the Fifth Edition we get to follow the (fully skippable) animated adventures of the Montgomerys--three kids travelling to meet up with their father in Oregon, under the guidance of Jed, a wise and knowledgeable trail guide. The level of animation was tolerable even for me (age 18), and I daresay most kids and homeschool moms would find it quite cute.

Jed's regular campfire anecdotes of historical events such as James Marshall finding gold and the Whitmans' mission are actually very fascinating, besides being educational.

My only issue is with the section in which the youngest boy is bitten by a snake and Jed sucks the poison from the wound. The problem is not with whether this action is historically accurate, but with whether this would actually leave both Jed and the boy hale and sprightly for the next movie. I learned in a CPR/First Aid course that not only would this not necessarily work for removing the venom, but that your mouth would probably absorb enough to poison you as well.

The Oregon Trail is not an easy program to master, but that only makes it the most interesting and instructional piece of educational software I have seen in quite some time. I loved it ten years ago and I still love it now; the very "feel" of the program is just right for its subject matter. After four times along the trail, I have still not exhausted all the possibilities of the Fifth Edition--but I look forward to trying! ****11/42