Developper: Sunlight Games
Publisher: KISS ltd
Platforms: Pc, Mac, Linux
Tested on: Pc
Gold Rush Anniversary – Review
As a sequel to the purely text based Gold Rush Classic, this game stays true to its roots, but builds upon the foundation laid by the previous game. This is a far more forgiving and player friendly experience, so if you’ve played Gold Rush Classic, you might be in for a surprise. It’s the same and yet feels completely different.
Story
You are Jerrod. Eleven years ago, your brother left for the west and he hasn’t contacted you since. As time passes by, you’ll be informed that the great Gold Rush has started and everyone has migrated to the Wild Wild West. So say your goodbyes and take the journey, by foot, by boat or by horse carriage. Don’t expect things to go smoothly though. You’ll be confronted by numerous dangers along the way.
Graphics
If you’ve played Gold Rush Classic, then you’ll be surprised to see what the creators have done with the graphics. The pixel art has been replaced by crisp and clear 3D modeling. The animations are fluid and the colour palette is more vibrant. Jerrod doesn’t blend in with the ground anymore. Whereas the previous game had problems giving you signs on what you could do and where you could interact with the environment, this game surrounds your cursor with a yellow glow. This way you’ll know that you can interact with the item or with that particular part of the environment, which makes it easier to pick up on cues and rewards you for searching.
Sound
Gold Rush Anniversary does the complete opposite of Gold Rush Classic. From the get go, the game’s verbal intro draws you into the story of Jerrod. The voice over is dependent on the way you play the game. If you play point and click, the voice overs will be present, but if you type in your commands, the voice over disappears and you’ll see the text pop up in the middle of the screen. The background noise is still present in both modes. The voice acting is convincing.
Because of the enhanced background noises, the world feels more alive. You’ll hear a horse drawn carriage ride down the street or when you inspect the graves of your parents you’ll hear a sad piano tune.
Gameplay
Gold Rush Anniversary lets you play in two different ways. Either you pick the point and click route and you’ll be given cues on where to look and what items you can interact with or you pick the typed commands way and you play the way you play Gold Rush Classic. The game lets you switch between modes mid game, so you don’t have to worry if you are stuck on a certain part. In Gold Rush Classic, you can just enter your house by typing in the command. In Gold Rush Anniversary, however, there is no way for you to get in the house by just point and click methods. You have to enable commands and have to type in: Unlock gate. This will happen on multiple occasions, where you’ll have to switch in between game types to get the prompts to move the story on. This is a bit of a miss on the developer’s part as when you play the game by typing in commands, you’ll miss the visual cues and the voice over and if you play the game with only the cursor, you’ll notice that you’ll have limited access to commands.
When you click and hold an item that gives a golden hue to the cursor, you’ll see that three commands will light up. There’s a look, an action and a cancel button. If you use the ‘Use’ button, it won’t always do what you want it to do. The example of the house is one of them, where you have to type in the command or you can’t get in the house, and you need to get in the house to be able to sell it. This is just one of the moments where you’ll be forced to change your settings from point and click to typed commands.
It’s not a big thing, but because of the voice over they have a different feel to them and it’s jarring to know that they don’t mix very well. A fourth interact button on the cursor could have been implemented with a ‘type’ command attached to it, making the best of both worlds. Gold Rush Anniversary is a lot more compelling and a lot more inviting to newer players and is less aggressive in its punishments. A horse carriage running you over won’t kill you and because the menu is easy to access, saving your progress is less of a hassle.
Conclusion
Move aside, Gold Rush Classic, there’s a new sheriff in town. The graphics are completely different and the sounds set the bar for an adventure in the Wild West. The voice overs and story telling are compelling and you’ll quickly lose yourself as you look for the action that will open up the next part of your journey. If you loved Gold Rush Classic for its hard core command type gameplay, you’ll be pleased to know it has returned. If you found that same gameplay a bit lacking and too unforgiving, however, you’ll be glad to hear there’s been some fine tuning and you can now play by pointing and clicking, a delight that won’t go amiss to newcomers of the genre.
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