Cherokee Trails

by Pharos Games

Product Features

• An imaginative journey that parallels the trek of the Cherokee tribe across 19th century America.
• Dangerous wild animals will threaten you.
• Natural obstacles like rugged hills and wide rivers will bar your way -- you must learn the lay of the land and use your map wisely.
• Encounter the ghosts of the past, some of whom may help or hinder you.
• By making the correct decisions at each leg of the journey you safely lead your party to their destination.

Product Details

• ASIN: B0007WSOUO
• Date first available at Amazon.com: February 27, 2005
• Average Customer Review: 1.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #35,266 in Software (See Top 100 in Software)

Product Description

Product Description

A wise Cherokee woman transports you from a roadside flea market to a ghostly trail where you can trade with the spirits and unravel the secrets of the Cherokee Trails. You'll use herbal remedies and Shaman potions along the way. If you trade wisely, you'll overcome all the obstacles and makes the full journey from Cherokee, North Carolina to Tahlequah, Oklahoma.

Product Description

This unique adventure game takes you back in time to explore Native American history. You'll lead a party of your friends on an imaginative journey that parallels the trek of the Cherokee tribe across 19th century America. The way ahead is difficult, but it will be an important expedition, filled with opportunities to come into contact with and learn about Cherokee culture. Still, it won't be easy. Dangerous wild animals will threaten you. Natural obstacles like rugged hills and wide rivers will bar your way -- you must learn the lay of the land and use your map wisely! Along this timeworn path, you will encounter the ghosts of the past, some of whom may help or hinder you. Only by making the correct decisions at each leg of the journey can you safely lead your party to their destination. The game is non-violent, although the subject matter may require parental guidance for younger children. Winner of the 2004 SIAF award for best educational software. For ages 9 and up.

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Neither "educational" nor a "game", August 18, 2005

By 

J. Vickery (Texas) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Cherokee Trails (CD-ROM)

I purchased this game, expecting it to be akin to The Oregon Trail. Instead, it starts out in a modern-day flea market, where five kids are turned loose with $20 each. From the flea market, they're supposed to get whisked back in time to the days of the Trail of Tears -- but that happens only if they read the cheat sheet and figure out the hidden path to the past.

Once in the past, the "game" only gets hokier. Players basically get to sit and track their supposed progress on a screen. Every now and then, they'll be asked if they want to stop at a trading post for supplies. Of course, every trading post is the same -- staffed by a skeleton, and selling the same tired list of ridiculously-priced supplies. (Who fixed the price of flour at $1 a pound??? Probably the same person who assumed the average family on the trail had at least $500 in gold on them.)

As for the trading players supposedly get to do for supplies, a couple of details need to be pointed out. For starters, the only people in the game are the children who get swept back in time. Everybody and everything else they encounter along the trail is either a "good spirit" or a "bad spirit." Players are supposed to distinguish between the two and only trade with "good spirits." Once you get past the whole communing with the dead element, you'll find that even "good spirits" offer you nothing worth trading for.

In the end, players get to buy food every now and then and decide whether to stop or continue on in thunderstorms. Other than that, this so-called "game" consists of watching a line progress across the screen and being told when a member of the wagon party is sick or dying. The introduction to the game does relate a bit of the history of the trail of tears, but absolutely nothing beyond what you would find in the most basic of references. Reading an online encyclopedia article would be more informative, just as interesting, and a whole lot cheaper.