Despite the title, Amazon Trail 3rd Edition: Rainforest Adventures is a remake of Amazon Trail II. The title was developed and published by The Learning Company, a company that specializes in educational software for children. An adventure title, the player navigates the Amazon River, and through time travel, meets several figures in history, and learns how their influence shapes the region today.
Reviews View More
I played this gasme a TON as a kid on my windows 98 computer, but I almost never had any idea of what was happening. I liked the fishing minigame. There's probably some good historical information in it but clearly my little brain didn't absorb any of that.
A lot of kids born around the early 90's played Oregon Trail, but for me another MECC/Learning Company game, Amazon Trail, was always more my jam; namely this installment which you may remember being in your cereal box. I got my start in video games in the mid 90’s by playing PC edutainment games, which included this one, so I have a fondness for it and does hold it up pretty well nostalgia aside; it’s an engaging game that does a bang up job merging learning about the Amazon with its mechanics, so much so it still works for adults.
Amazon Trail 3 has more simplified resource management than Oregon Trail as exploration and interacting with characters is given far more importance and I think that it’s to its benefit. I always felt Oregon Trail to be really bland but Amazon Trail really deep dives into the Amazon as an ecosystem and its history, having you explore the flora and fauna as you take pictures of them and go harpoon fishing as well as interacting with the people of the region across the centuries, such as many of the local people and historical figures such as Teddy Roosevelt and Tupac Amaru II. Your main goal is similar to the original Amazon Trail, you have been summoned by the Ancient Ones to canoe up the Amazon from the Brazilian port city of Belem to Vilcabamba, one of the last refuges of the Incas in the Peruvian Andes, which will take you across centuries of the Amazon’s history. Unlike the first game though, there is no hard time limit. You can take as long as you want to get to Vilcabamba, the only thing you lose out on is a higher score.
You spend a good chunk of the game sailing up the Amazon and making sure you go the proper way. Food collection is also an important aspect as you can either harpoon fish which its own mini-game, or explore the rainforest for edible plants. As stated you can also take pictures of animals and that’s fun, though completely optional. Some of the animals are kind of rare and you might spend a good deal of time going back and forth to get them to spawn, which can be kind of annoying. Once you successfully go up a part of the Amazon you’re taken to a different time period and interact with people where you can trade with them or engage in missions there where you can get a piece of The Jaguar Spirit’s shield, such missions include identifying fish and insects, hearing legends of the locals, or helping people in need. The people are played by live actors in FMV style and they're delightfully cheesy at times. The game's got a strong atmosphere with quite a banger of a soundtrack too.
Some of its themes and messages are at odds with each other though having come back to it as an adult. This is notable because of how strongly the game revolves around its environmentalist message about the sheer importance that the Amazon as an ecosystem has on the world as essentially that is what the Ancient Ones has sent you on this journey to teach you as well as also how the game gives a great focus to the native tribes and sides with them most of the time against colonialism both classic and neo. It casts infamous conquistador Lope de Aguirre as a brutal monster who can't be reasoned with and has to be defeated through potentially killing him, but then later on in the game commends you for helping a similar band of conquistadors by giving them food after they just jovially boasted to you about how they just recently murdered a bunch of natives in their raids for supplies. There is also a part of the game where it tries to both sides an oil corpo trying to take native lands for drilling, but still seems to side with the natives even though it does this whole weird neo-lib song and dance of not outright committing to a strong statement? It’s odd and especially discordant when I was playing it while the Amazon was on fire a year ago. Definitely feel likes a product of 90’s America, both good and bad. This is also the like the only real flaw I can think of that the game has too so that’s why I also brought it up.
Overall Amazon Trail 3 is a great edutainment game that really holds up and it’s something we really don’t see much of any more in modern gaming. Sucks that it hasn’t been rereleased though because it deserves to be played.
Amazon Trail 3 has more simplified resource management than Oregon Trail as exploration and interacting with characters is given far more importance and I think that it’s to its benefit. I always felt Oregon Trail to be really bland but Amazon Trail really deep dives into the Amazon as an ecosystem and its history, having you explore the flora and fauna as you take pictures of them and go harpoon fishing as well as interacting with the people of the region across the centuries, such as many of the local people and historical figures such as Teddy Roosevelt and Tupac Amaru II. Your main goal is similar to the original Amazon Trail, you have been summoned by the Ancient Ones to canoe up the Amazon from the Brazilian port city of Belem to Vilcabamba, one of the last refuges of the Incas in the Peruvian Andes, which will take you across centuries of the Amazon’s history. Unlike the first game though, there is no hard time limit. You can take as long as you want to get to Vilcabamba, the only thing you lose out on is a higher score.
You spend a good chunk of the game sailing up the Amazon and making sure you go the proper way. Food collection is also an important aspect as you can either harpoon fish which its own mini-game, or explore the rainforest for edible plants. As stated you can also take pictures of animals and that’s fun, though completely optional. Some of the animals are kind of rare and you might spend a good deal of time going back and forth to get them to spawn, which can be kind of annoying. Once you successfully go up a part of the Amazon you’re taken to a different time period and interact with people where you can trade with them or engage in missions there where you can get a piece of The Jaguar Spirit’s shield, such missions include identifying fish and insects, hearing legends of the locals, or helping people in need. The people are played by live actors in FMV style and they're delightfully cheesy at times. The game's got a strong atmosphere with quite a banger of a soundtrack too.
Some of its themes and messages are at odds with each other though having come back to it as an adult. This is notable because of how strongly the game revolves around its environmentalist message about the sheer importance that the Amazon as an ecosystem has on the world as essentially that is what the Ancient Ones has sent you on this journey to teach you as well as also how the game gives a great focus to the native tribes and sides with them most of the time against colonialism both classic and neo. It casts infamous conquistador Lope de Aguirre as a brutal monster who can't be reasoned with and has to be defeated through potentially killing him, but then later on in the game commends you for helping a similar band of conquistadors by giving them food after they just jovially boasted to you about how they just recently murdered a bunch of natives in their raids for supplies. There is also a part of the game where it tries to both sides an oil corpo trying to take native lands for drilling, but still seems to side with the natives even though it does this whole weird neo-lib song and dance of not outright committing to a strong statement? It’s odd and especially discordant when I was playing it while the Amazon was on fire a year ago. Definitely feel likes a product of 90’s America, both good and bad. This is also the like the only real flaw I can think of that the game has too so that’s why I also brought it up.
Overall Amazon Trail 3 is a great edutainment game that really holds up and it’s something we really don’t see much of any more in modern gaming. Sucks that it hasn’t been rereleased though because it deserves to be played.
Simultaneously super ahead of its time while also being the weirdest shit ever. The animal maniac in me loved it. Fishing and photographing different animals was the highlight. Talking and trading with the NPCs was a nightmare.