Cherokee Trails Review

|Tap-Repeatedly|FFC Archives

           

Cherokee Trails

Review by TogerNovember 2002

“The Trail Where They Cried”

As darkness falls at the flea market, you and your friends gather around the campfire to hear another of Lynetta’s stories. Because she is getting old and has no children, she feels that she must tell the story of how her people, the Cherokee, were forced to leave their enchanted lands in Georgia and move to the Indian territories.

The United States Congress passed the Indian Removal Act in 1830.  The Cherokee attempted to fight the removal by creating an independent Cherokee Nation and by legally challenging the law in the Supreme Court. In 1832, Justice John Marshall decreed that the Cherokee Nation was sovereign and would have to agree to a treaty in order to be removed from their land. In 1835, a small minority of the divided and despondent Cherokee Nation agreed to the Treaty of New Echota, thus giving President Jackson the authority he needed to begin the removal of the Cherokee to the Indian territories, in what is now present-day Oklahoma.

The Cherokee were given no time to gather their possessions or the provisions necessary to make the long journey. Men, women and children were crowded into makeshift forts, then forced to march 900 miles with minimal supplies. Approximately one-third of the Cherokee making the journey died as a result of the removal.  The route they traveled and the journey itself became known as “The Trail of Tears” or, translated directly from Cherokee, “The Trail Where They Cried.”

With this story fresh in your mind, your party is magically transported to the past to retrace the steps of those who have passed before you.

Shop ‘Til You Drop

Cherokee Trails’ in-game mechanics couldn’t get any simpler.  Classic point-and-click with a difference: No pixel hunting! No squinting of the eyes or scrunching of the nose trying to see objects blended into the background. A left-click anywhere on a screen in the flea market, and you’re shopping. Click on a screen where you interact with a person or animal, and you’re hearing a story or trading, plus you can save anywhere in the game. Can’t get out of the flea market to begin your adventure? There’s a walkthrough included on the game CD. The game plays from the CD with only a small game file and your save games going to the hard drive. It played flawlessly on my ancient, wheezing rig: PII 300 MHz, Win95b, 192 MB RAM.

The game begins in the flea market. Here you can browse the eight or ten different shops and stalls to purchase items for your journey.  As you visit each shop, click on the proprietor to hear a short speech. With the exception of Lynetta, most shop owners won’t say much. They’re limited either to greetings or a tiny blurb on what they have to sell. When you meet Lynetta in her shop, she will tell you another Cherokee fable and, perhaps, give you a box.

Clicking anywhere in the shop or on stall contents causes a pop-up box to appear, in which you can purchase various items. Most shops have at least two or three screens of goodies to buy: t-shirts, candy, horse riding equipment, seeds, flowers, souvenirs, fruit, etc. Purchasing from the flea market is simplicity itself. The pop-up screen lists the items on the left with the prices to the right. A drop-down box allows you to adjust the quantity of each item, and a running total is displayed at the lower right. When you’re ready to buy, just click the “purchase” button.  You’ll also see how much money you have left after each purchase.

Left your credit card at home, did you? Not to worry, you’ll receive $400 to spend. Of course, if you decide to go hog wild and spend all your money at the flea market, a warning will appear telling you you’ve spent too much and to save some money for the trading posts. Most, if not all, of the items purchased at the flea market are for trading with people or animals that you meet along the trail. When you’ve bought all that you think you’ll need, it’s time to begin the journey. As you leave the flea market, you’ll get a message that you won’t be able to return once you leave and are you really sure you want to do this. (If you don’t leave, you won’t have an adventure, will you? Onward!)

Wagons Ho!

Cherokee Trails is presented in the first-person view.  The game screens are static photographs with the animation doing its thing on top. The animations within this game are all excellently done. The lip synchronization between the visuals and the audio is superb! I found myself watching the characters’ faces and listening, like you do when you’re talking to a live person, more than reading the texts provided. The scenery was beautiful. It made me feel as if I was taking a walk in a beautiful wooded area. In areas where you could fish, I wanted to stay forever—if I were really into fishing—as they were peaceful and soothing. At some fishing holes you’ll encounter deer, geese, beavers, wolves, snakes and bugs, all going about their own lives as if you didn’t exist.

Did I mention the skeletons? You’re asking, “What do skeletons have to do with the Trail of Tears?” Well, since you’re dealing with spirits on the trail, doesn’t it make sense to encounter skeletons manning the trading posts? Each skeleton has its own personality. Among other things, you’ll find them playing chess, strumming a guitar, showing off a huge red bow tie and putting a flower in a vase. Half the fun of going to the trading post is seeing what the skeleton will do!

All of the voice work was very well done. There were lots of different voices and personalities. Who knew that bears, wolves and birds had that kind of personality? All speech is subtitled, except when talking to the flea market vendors. There isn’t a lot of dialogue in the game à la The Longest Journey; when you meet up with a spirit or animal, clicking on it initiates a short speech about things it saw or heard as the Cherokee passed through. The animals usually have a fable and/or wisdom to impart instead of a memory. Once its speech is finished, you click on that character again in order to trade with it. And you’ll want to trade with most people or animals as that’s how you’ll acquire the ointments, unguents and herbs you’ll need to heal the sick or injured.

There isn’t a lot of music during the game. During the beginning cutscene when Lynetta is telling her story, you’ll hear Cherokee chanting and singing, along with drum sounds. Ambient sounds in the game include geese, deer drinking water, fish splashing and frogs jumping from rock to rock. Music for the rest of the game consists of a jaunty little fiddle tune that plays when you’re outside a trading post and, for the balance of the game, a short, upbeat melody. During times of disaster, you’ll hear a crash of music for emphasis.

Are We There Yet?

You’ll hear that emphatic disaster or hardship music at just about every turn, too! There are wolf and bear attacks, snake bites, drowning, exposure to the elements, pneumonia, frostbite, severe cases of poison ivy/oak, cholera and hunger. The horses can take ill. The wagon can overturn in a river crossing and dump most of your supplies. Snow and thunderstorms will slow your progress or stop it all together.

When one of your party has met with disaster, you’ll be given the chance to cure him. There are varying degrees of cures ranging from just keeping the person warm all the way up to curing her with various herbs, rubs or ointments—if you have them. The game will keep track of what you have and offer only those options that apply to your situation. For instance, if you don’t have cayenne pepper to cure frostbite, then you can only choose between two different methods of warming the afflicted person’s feet.  You can check the status of your companions at any time during the game.

Hungry? You’ll need to eat on this long arduous journey, and there are no McDonalds along the way! Feeding the hungry horde in your wagon becomes an all-consuming task. Keeping a reserve of fish is important. If you don’t fish at every opportunity, the horde will eat all of the stores purchased from the trading posts—and the trading posts are few and far between. Once the trading post stores are gone, people will have to forage for food and that will slow you down, if it doesn’t stop you completely.  By checking your inventory you’ll be able to see your game reserves, remaining trading post items, traded items and flea market finds.

On top of all that, there is the all-important time element.  Yes, Virginia, the entire game is timed, albeit in a very unobtrusive manner. Little white dots will steadily march across the top of the screen. If they reach the end of the bar before you’ve reached Oklahoma, the spell is broken and everyone comes home. Game over.  If anyone dies, it’s game over as well. On the up side regarding the possibility of dying, you can save anywhere. So if you’re not sure what option to choose when crossing the Big Muddy, save before you make a decision.

I can tell that you want to ask about the replay value of Cherokee Trails. This is a great game to replay! Not only will you experience things that you hadn’t in previous games, you’ll also be able to try to improve upon your previous score. (Oh yes, you’re scored in this game as well. Feeling pressured?) I’ve played this game three times, once with another twisted adult and twice by myself. The first time, we made it into Arkansas before we ran out of time. The second time, I was so overwhelmed by disasters that I only made it 25 days into the journey before someone died.  (I only scored 5 points for that game!) The third time, I ran out of time at the Oklahoma/Arkansas border.

Is That Your Final Answer?

Is this an edutainment title? Yes. Will you have fun with the game? Absolutely!

The purpose of the game is to teach you about the tribulations that the Cherokee faced on this not-so-fun cross-country walk, and it does that marvelously. On the other hand, you will be entertained by the presentation of the story itself, the animation, the trading post skeletons and listening to the bizarre little stories that the animals have to tell. You will be amazed at the lip-synching and dance to the jaunty little tunes. Aaand you’ll tear your hair out trying to keep your friends alive long enough to reach your final destination. The fact that I became obsessed with keeping that horde of locusts in my wagon alive is enough to garner a star from me! (Don’t feel too badly if you want to offload said locusts by the side of the road after they’ve been bitten by wolves three times, gotten frostbite four times and eaten all the food. I won’t tell.)

Now if you’ll excuse me … I have a wagon party to lead to Oklahoma and this time I’m gonna make it! The End

The Verdict

The Lowdown

Developer: Pharos Games Publisher: Pharos Games Release Date: October 4, 2002

Available for: Windows

Four Fat Chicks Links

Player Feedback

Screenshots

Click to enlarge Click to enlargeClick to enlarge Click to enlargeClick to enlarge Click to enlargeClick to enlarge Click to enlargeClick to enlarge Click to enlargeClick to enlarge Click to enlargeClick to enlarge Click to enlargeClick to enlarge Click to enlargeClick to enlarge Click to enlarge

System Requirements

Windows 95/98/ME/XP/2000 Pentium II or equivalent 800×600 screen resolution MP3-capable soundcard

Where to Find It

Pharos Games 15.00 alone or 24.95 with four other games

Prices/links current as of 11/12/02Links provided for informational purposes only.  FFC makes no warranty with regard to any transaction entered into by any party(ies).

      Copyright © Electric Eye Productions.  All rights reserved.  No reproduction in whole or in part without express written permission.

Pages

Top

Category Archives

Top

Blog Posts

Top

14 Responses to Fear Factor

  • Fear Factor | Tap-Repeatedly.com | Reality Topics Blog

    […] nobody@flickr.com (graftedno1) wrote a very interesting post today.   Here’s a quick excerpt:My greatest fear is to be trapped alone in a confined space with a blind human, in total darkness. They have a heightened sense of smell and hearing, and. […]

  • Matt "Steerpike" Sakey

    Lewis, you made me think of the scariest moments I’ve experienced in gaming, and we’re very similar people.

    Bioshock had two moments – the dentist and the flooded room filled with mannequins.

    Thief had Return to the Cathedral, which was terrifying to me. Thief 3 had Shalebridge Cradle, which is so scary it ought to be fined.

    System Shock 2 kept me on the edge of my seat, but it was more lonely panic than true fear.

    Korsakovia was so scary that I uninstalled it.

    And STALKER. Oh, god, the haunted labs in STALKER. The latter two games don’t have scares like that. Few games do.

    It’s especially rare for a game to have more than mere “moments” – for a game to be scary from beginning to end, that’s a triumph.

    Wonderful article. As if Gregg’s review wasn’t enough to convince me that Penumbra is not something I have the courage to play!

  • DPenn

    I’m with you Lewis … I’m a bit of a puss. I just have a hard time wrapping my head around the idea of dread as entertainment.

    Still, I’m drawn to dark stories when they have something interesting to say, whether it’s a game like Thief or a film like, say, Gaspar Noe’s Irreversible. So I’ll push through, sometimes peering through my fingers.

    The trouble with games, though, is that if you look through your fingers, you’re probably just going to have to play through the scenario again. :~)

  • Mike "Scout" Gust

    I wanted to play this game. I downloaded the demo but the controls were just too wonky for me to get my head around. I liked the atmospheric vibe a lot. I think I’m a bit desensitized from an overdose of horror movies in my youth so I don’t so much get the dread thing from these games as a nice creepy vibration. If only the controls were better…

  • Lewis B

    @ Mike, what’s wrong with the controls bud? As someone who despises poor control schemes, Penumbra’s is just like any other FPS, except to examine things you right click on them.  To use things you left click.  I’m not sure that can be considered difficult 🙂

  • Gregg B

    @Steerpike: Yeah my greatest shit-scared moments were with those games too. A few spoilers below people, so beware.

    Bioshock – Haha, I remember the dentist. I didn’t really find the game that scary overall but the bit where you go into the wine cellar and notice a mannequin facing the wall and after upgrading your weapon it’s stood directly behind you motionless and quiet just for a moment before attacking you. I shat a brick. I also missed that bit originally until Lew told me about it.

    System Shock 2 – same as you really, more unremitting tension all the way through rather than specific terrifying moments. Oh actually, theres a bit where you call a lift and it breaks then you realise a service droid is coming to fix it… I do remember having sleep issues after my first encounter with the cyborg ninjas though.

    Thief: The Dark Project – The Sword and Return to the Cathedral and Down in the Bonehoard and well, loads of them. The Sword made me break out into goosebumps though because there was a bit where you could hear this creepy giggling which seemed like it was following me about then it suddenly changed to this horrible throaty noise. What made matters worse was that the EAX (bless you Creative) made my foot steps sound like somebody else was there with me. That level was incredible, a bit too incredible as it seems I missed great chunks of it because I was so eager to leave.

    Thief II: The Metal Age – Trail of Blood where you end up in that opening with those damn tree beasts. God the first time I saw one of those hurtling towards me I actually died shortly afterward. Do you remember that Mechanist child walking around on one of the levels? That was a little creepy.

    Then there’s Penumbra: Overture – quite a few bits but I’m not mentioning them here.

    Oh and S.T.A.L.K.E.R. – The brain scorcher lab just because it was so damn quiet. My imagination seriously got the better of me there. Those stuffed animals and heads I’d seen in various buildings led me to believe that those creatures were lurking somewhere in the Zone, specifically that lab.

    @Mike: My control setup was perfect after some tweaking (as well as the simple weapon swing fix). If you ever fancy giving it another go, give me a shout and I’ll let you know my setup.

  • Lewis B

    I’m not sure why guys, but one of my starting paragraphs had gone missing, even though I copied it straight from the original source, and It was fine earlier. 

    Incase you missed it due to some technical issue you might want to re-read just after “Well no she wouldn’t in truth, but in Penumbra: Overture you don’t want to move anyway.” at the very start for those who’ve already read the article. Apologies 🙂

  • Mike "Scout" Gust

    Lewis, it was the weapon swing. It had this terrible, unresponsive feel to it, like trying to hit through molasses. I couldn’t stand using it. I tried the .ini fix as mentioned in the review but it didn’t seem to help. Of course this was the demo…but that shouldn’t have made any difference. I might try the second game instead as I guess they did away with the weapons thing.

    I’m see your first paragraph just fine. It’s the dialogue, right?

  • jdeuel

    I like the argument that weapons can remove fear, but even loaded to the teeth with ammo in AVP’99 the Marine missions were frightful because the enemy was anywhere at any time.

    As for Penumbra Overture, if the controls are anything like the original Penumbra they need to hack in some Wii-Remote 3d controls. I did not like using my mouse for 3d movements.

  • Gregg B

    @Mike: I’ve read that many people avoided conflict altogether in Overture which incidentally is something forced upon you in Black Plague. As somebody who has been renovating a house over the last 6 months with no DIY experience I can safely say that swinging a hammer is significantly easier in real life than it is in Overture without the fix. The fix balanced that for me.

    I’d highly recommend completing the first Penumbra because it’s one big build up to Black Plague which spoils the ending to Overture in the intro. And it’s a great ending too. Just so you know!

  • Lewis B

    @ Steerpike, those moments you mention are all my worst too!!  Do you remember the Robot labs in SS2? Absolutely terrifying, waiting for robots to burst out on you! 🙁 oh and have you ever player Condemned?

    @ Mike, The use of weapons in Penumbra is different to say HL2, where the player is physically holding the weapon, as in Penumbra it floats slightly infront of you.  However, if you change the control method to normal weapon swing, it’s no different!  Speak to Greggi and he’ll tell you what to do 🙂

    @ jdeuel, AVP the original and its sequal were scary however what type of fear do you think it is? I don’t think it’s anything more than sheer tension.  Having a Smart Gun makes you feel incredibly powerful.  I can honestly say in Penumbra the fear is sheer unrivalled terror, where you actually have to force yourself to play on.  It genuinly is that scary! 🙂

  • Jason Dobry

    It’s so true, an arsenal of weapons and ammo rapidly deflates any sense of horror or uneasiness in any game for reasons you already mentioned. Sakey, I thought Bioshock was more “lonely panic,” while I was pretty much always terrified in System Shock 2. I really, really, REALLY did not want to enter The Many’s nursery, and my weapons were so unreliable and ammo so scarce that I never felt safe.

    Silent Hill was terrifying for the same reasons. Ammo was rare and I frequently had to rely on my pipe for self-defense.  Even when I had ammo, the game mechanics prevented my character from being anything other than marginal with any firearm.

    Fear had one moment for me: I was climbing up a ladder, and as I reached the upper platform, my guy briefly looked down as he climbed off. As my perspective looked up again, that Ring-esque little girl was RIGHT THERE, reaching for me. I screamed and she was gone.

    What else…the original Aliens vs. Predator sent me into a locker room and I could only hear the facehuggers scurrying about somewhere within. I had to go in there. I advanced about three steps before the damn thing screamed and filled up my screen with its repulsive underside as it implanted me with its spawn. My roommate made fun of me for weeks for screaming like a girl child.

    Korsakovia–meh.  I was too annoyed and frustrated by the box rearrangement/jumping puzzles to be scared. I uninstalled it after an hour of play, I think. Maybe the scary parts were later, but I doubt it.

    As for Penumbra, I did play through about half of it before other games distracted me. I remember unease and creepiness, but no sweaty fear. I think I’m to blame here, or, more precisely, my daughter, who was still an infant at the time and generally allowed me only to play during the day for 45 minutes at a time. I was denied total immersion and the fear effect suffered. Maybe I should give it another go after I finish Call of Pripyat since she sleeps through the night now. With any luck, Penumbra will keep me from doing the same.

  • Gregg B

    I played the demo of F.E.A.R. but that ladder scare is the only bit I remember. Christ, that made me jump. I’m not too good with cat scares.

    Also I felt exactly the same about Korsakovia. It was creepy at first but then it began to irritate me far too much and it just soured the experience. I stopped playing as a result. Not to mention, when I realised I could bash those smoke-things with my crowbar they didn’t bother me nearly as much.

  • Online Up

    Great article. I look forward to reading more in the future.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.