Retro Unknown presents Sierra Classics that Time Forgot - Part III - Gold Rush!

by Beeslo

(There’s gold in them there hills!!!)

I know its been a long time since Part II, but with the release of GTA IV (which I’ll be doing a Retro Review of in 20 years) and other personal matters, I had to put this article on the back burner. But that was then and this is now, so I proudly present Part III of…

Ah, another classic Sierra text adventure presented in 3-D!!! Well perhaps thats not exactly right. Very much in the same vein as King’s Quest, this is what was considered 3-D gameplay back in the day. Back in 1988, we got our history lessons from not a teacher, what do they know? But from a computer game made by Sierra Online. Granted there was one and only one topic we could learn about considering only one game was made but none the less, as children we all were very well versed in the time period that was the…

This game was indeed a sleeper hit at its time and has since faded away, being overshadowed by other Sierra classics released at that time like King’s Quest IV. But like Codename: ICEMAN (which we looked at last time), this game was overly complicated at times falling on you to know certain protocols that were followed in 1848. At times this game makes you think of Oregon Trail (anyone old enough to remember that one?) especially when the game makes you plan out your trip to California and securing supplies for the journey. Set out into the frontier without a certain piece of equipment, well you will be screwed my friend. Think you can make it all the way to California without running into masked thieves who wish to pillage you of all your goods, well look at the freakin’ game box and you can plainly see that that is a possibility. But all is not so complicated. In fact the game does a pretty good job operating like the other Sierra adventure games of the time. For 1988, the graphics and animations in this game were some of the best and the music was pretty great too (well, music generated by the PC…this was before Sound Cards, people).

Honestly, this game is a good example of the adventure games of old, much before that new fangled point and click interface came into being. It was games like this that not only expanded your mind as far as history went but also improved your vocabulary and typing skills. Heck, I learned to read and write partly because of these types of games and this game was one of the first instances I learned of the “gold rush” period. If you can find this game or other Sierra classics like it, I highly recommend you play them. They are worth every moment.

Stay tunes for Part IV…. (which will be next week, swearsies!)

6 Comments

Comments RSS TrackBack Identifier URI

Leave a comment

Name (required)

Mail (will not be published) (required)

Website