An Old School Road Trip (Super Amazing Wagon Adventure Review)

QUICK FACTS:

Developer: Sparsevector
Initial Release Date: July 6, 2012

Platforms: PC, Xbox 360

Rating: Not Rated (Mild Cartoon Violence and Blood) 

Remember the good ol' days? I'm not talking about the days of the VCR and five channel televisions, but further in the past. No, not the time when cave men slapped rocks against each other and grunted. That's too far back and completely irrelevant.

I am talking about the days of dusty streets, old western towns, and lively piano music playing out of every wild saloon. You may have seen the famous shootouts on television involving two crazed gunmen looking to end the life of the other in a split second, but I am not discussing that either. In fact, my interest lies in the three people riding into the sunset with their trusty, pixelated wagon.

At the start, I got to choose their names and their appearances. The appearances were straight forward. There were options for dark hair, light hair, blue eyes, green eyes, and other combinations of the same, but their looks were too similar to be relevant or get invested in. Each member of this adventurous crew consisted of a series of colored blocks against a similarly geometric backdrop. So why did I become invested in barely animated pixels? It was all in the name.

I clicked through every screen as quick as possible, not lending much thought to what they looked like, or what wagon they rode in, but when I got to their names, my world was changed. A lot of people will probably name the three heroic pioneers after someone they know, or after a famous person, or even a random name like Persephone, but I had a better plan. With a spark of genius, I looked at the screen and frantically typed in their three names.

Once I clicked the start button, the adventure of Somebody, Nobody, and Everybody had begun. In the middle of my journey, a dark screen with bright white text informed me that I was hunting animals. "OK." I said, and rapidly pressed the button on my controller, leaving the blocky carcasses of my unlucky animal friends to collect. As time passed, the screen informed me "Somebody went to look for supplies". Of course, my first thought was, "Which one was it? Somebody, Nobody or Everybody? All three of them are someone." And I laughed to myself.

As my adventure continued, Nobody got killed by buffalo, Somebody found a fur trader, and Everybody (except for Nobody cause he died) had a great idea to jump a river, which I somehow managed to accomplish. Then, my heart started racing as Somebody got sick and Everybody (except for Somebody because he was sick) left the wagon to explore a cave. Sadly, Everybody didn't come out and Somebody was left all to her lonesome. Somebody got pretty far until she ate some wild mushrooms and didn't quite make it back to being sane again.

And so my story ended...about ten minutes after it began. You see, every story will be different. Maybe Everybody will survive, and Nobody will die, while Somebody goes and looks for food. Or, Somebody could get sick, and Nobody could leave the wagon, while Everybody dies. The possibilities for fun stories are nearly endless! Controlling the wagon that the heroes are on is simple as going up and down and pressing a button.

If you're the kind of person who has a sense of humor, doesn't mind playing a game that looks as old as the Oregon Trail itself, and can enjoy the pleasure of simplistic gameplay, then I'd recommend playing Super Amazing Wagon Adventure. It's pure fun in a retro package that is hard to find anywhere else.