Gold Rush!
| Developer: Sierra On-Line | Graphics: |
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| Publisher: Sierra On-Line | Sound: |
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| Year: 1989 | Difficulty: |
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| Genre: Adventure | Lastability: |
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| Number of players: 1 | Rating: |
6/10 | |
I have already presented, on the King’s Quest, the type of adventure games in which Sierra On-Line specialised, halfway between interactive adventures (text-only) and point-and-click games.
This one dates from 1988 (year of release on 8-bit computers, four years after King’s Quest). While the gameplay is similar, it represents the refinement of the formula (alongside The Colonel’s Bequest, released shortly after). The staging proves to be very carefully crafted. The game is teeming with animations and small details that will only reveal themselves to the most curious and persevering players. In contrast, as with previous titles, the Amiga version is content to reproduce the original specifications (16 colours, shrill sounds). One could even criticise a degradation of the colour palette on Amiga, giving all characters red skin.
You play as Jerrod Wilson, a young New York journalist, eager for adventure, in 1848. Rumour has it that gold deposits have been discovered on the other side of the new continent, in California. You are about to abandon your old life to take part in this announced gold rush.
The adventure thus begins in Brooklyn, New York. Three routes are available to you to reach California, which represent as many narrative branches that eventually converge once you reach your destination. You thus have the leisure to restart at least three times, and notice slight variations in each playthrough, while events (some predetermined, others random) trigger in real time, with or without your intervention. All this contributes to creating an appealing and credible atmosphere.
Another characteristic of this title is its historical authenticity. Costumes, buildings, means of transport (and associated dangers) seem meticulously researched. The game is moreover accompanied by a novella on the theme of 19th-century gold seekers.
The handling remains rustic. Only movements are performed using the mouse (very slowly, and to be truthful, the keyboard arrows respond much better). For everything else, you must type commands in English on the keyboard. It is already exhausting to conform to dated ergonomics, to elucidate unintuitive puzzles (and within a time limit), to avoid all untimely (or random!) deaths, but if you add the disadvantage of not being perfectly bilingual, the task becomes absolutely impossible.
Look at me trying, full of goodwill and assisted by a walkthrough, which enjoined me to enter my own house:
“Open.”
What do you mean?
“Open door.”
You can’t do that from here!
“Kick door.”
Ouch!
“Climb door.”
You don’t need to climb it.
“Break window.”
What do you mean?
And a few minutes later, armed with a Let’s Play:
“Unlock gate.”
…
At that moment, I understood that I would be completely incapable of the slightest initiative. I therefore preferred to watch the rest on video. The cinematic staging, sprinkled with historical anecdotes, lends itself rather well to this format, after all.
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