Gold Rush! (later retitled California: Gold Rush!)[1] is a graphic adventure video game designed by Doug and Ken MacNeill and originally released by Sierra On-Line in 1988.
Gold Rush! is one of the last games that Sierra made with the AGI interface and is one of the most complicated. The rights to the game are currently owned and published by The Software Farm by its original developers the MacNeills.[1]
The game is set in 1848, just before the California Gold Rush. The player is Brooklyn newspaperman Jerrod Wilson, who soon receives word that he must go to Sacramento to meet his long-lost brother. After a few minutes of gameplay, word arrives that gold has been found in California, and it becomes much more difficult for Jerrod to settle his affairs in Brooklyn and find a way to Sacramento.
There are multiple paths which Jerrod can take to get to his brother. He can travel on a stagecoach, which is the cheapest path, and the only path that is always available to Jerrod, no matter how long he spends in Brooklyn. This path brings Jerrod into contact with Native Americans, unruly oxen, parching deserts, and the likelihood of a winter storm in the Sierra Nevada. He can also travel by ship to Panama, cross through treacherous swamps and jungles on foot, and then catch another ship to Sacramento. This route is more expensive than the others and also requires Jerrod to prepare carefully for many hazards of the tropical climate of Panama, from malaria to jungle ants to crocodiles. The third and most time-consuming path is to journey all the way around Cape Horn on a ship. This choice has its own perils, from storms to scurvy. On each route, Jerrod can perish at random by a disease for which there is not yet any cure, such as cholera, making it prudent for players to save their game whenever possible and in multiple slots. Once Jerrod arrives in Sacramento, the three routes converge and all of the puzzles are the same. In California, Jerrod must try to prospect for gold, avoid bandits, and locate his mysterious brother.
Copy protection
Gold Rush! uses words from the official game manual as a form of copy protection. If the player fails to enter the correct word at a certain point during the game, their character is immediately arrested for claim jumping and hanged on the gallows, which is the same as the regular in-game punishment for claim jumping, being caught in someone's hotel room, or stealing.
Reception
In 1989, Dragon gave the game 4½ out of 5 stars.[2]Computer Gaming World gave the game a positive review, noting it mixes historical simulation with Sierra's traditional adventure gameplay.[3]Compute! called Gold Rush "entertaining, somewhat educational, and a terrific escapade for first-time adventure game players", but warned that its simplicity might disappoint veteran gamers and that the graphics were inferior to that of some other Sierra adventures.[4]
In 2011, Adventure Gamers named Gold Rush! the 96th-best adventure game ever released.[5]
Australian Commodore and Amiga Review (Oct, 1989)[14]
Legacy
Collector's edition
The Software Farm released a collector's edition of California: Gold Rush! in a wooden box in 2000. They also released an economy pack with just the game in an envelope.[1]
Remake
German game developer Sunlight Games secured the rights and re-released the original version on July 25, 2014.[15] A remake with the name Gold Rush! Anniversary was released on November 7, 2014 for Microsoft Windows.[16]OS X and Linux versions were released later in November 2014. The ports for iOS and Android were released in March 2015. All graphics are pre-rendered, but all animations and characters are displayed in real-time 3D. The game's graphics are in high definition and the music was remade. All text from the original game was optimized with newly recorded voiceovers. The game can be controlled by a point-and-click control or with a parser (only Windows, Linux and Mac), which is similar to the old Sierra games which use the AGI interface.[17]Gold Rush! 2 was released in April 2017 as a sequel to Gold Rush! Anniversary.[18]
Sunlight Games has also released a Special Edition which is limited to 350 copies. The Special Edition comes in a box with a banderole, and the content of the box is similar to the old Sierra boxes is: a copy of the game on a DRM-free DVD, a poster, a card with the serial number, a printed making-of booklet, a printed booklet with concept drawings, and a golden-colored coin. Gold Rush! The Special Edition can only be ordered at Sunlight Games' online shop.
^"Australian Commodore and Amiga Review, the - Volume 6 Issue 10 (1989-10)(Saturday Magazine)(AU)". October 1989.
^"Gold Rush! Classic". from the original on August 8, 2014. Retrieved July 30, 2014.
^"Gold Rush: Der Sierra-Klassiker bekommt ein Remake" (in German). December 12, 2013. Retrieved December 12, 2013.
^ abHouser, Jeffry (November 18, 2014). "Gold Rush! Anniversary Review". Just Adventure. from the original on January 22, 2015. Retrieved January 21, 2015.
^Ehrenhofler, Courtney (January 16, 2015). "Gold Rush! Anniversary review". Adventure Gamers. from the original on February 5, 2015. Retrieved January 31, 2015.
^Bart (December 13, 2014). "Gold Rush Anniversary – Review". 3D strike. Retrieved February 5, 2015.
gold, rush, this, article, about, adventure, video, game, other, uses, gold, rush, disambiguation, this, article, uses, bare, urls, which, uninformative, vulnerable, link, please, consider, converting, them, full, citations, ensure, article, remains, verifiabl. This article is about the adventure video game For other uses see Gold rush disambiguation This article uses bare URLs which are uninformative and vulnerable to link rot Please consider converting them to full citations to ensure the article remains verifiable and maintains a consistent citation style Several templates and tools are available to assist in formatting such as Reflinks documentation reFill documentation and Citation bot documentation September 2022 Learn how and when to remove this template message Gold Rush later retitled California Gold Rush 1 is a graphic adventure video game designed by Doug and Ken MacNeill and originally released by Sierra On Line in 1988 Gold Rush Developer s Sierra On LinePublisher s Sierra On LineThe Software FarmSunlight GamesDesigner s Ken MacNeillDoug MacNeillProgrammer s Ken MacNeillArtist s Robert Eric HeitmanDoug MacNeillComposer s Anita ScottEngineAGIPlatform s DOS Amiga Atari ST Macintosh Apple II Apple IIGSRelease1988Genre s Adventure gameMode s Single playerGold Rush is one of the last games that Sierra made with the AGI interface and is one of the most complicated The rights to the game are currently owned and published by The Software Farm by its original developers the MacNeills 1 Contents 1 Gameplay 2 Copy protection 3 Reception 4 Reviews 5 Legacy 5 1 Collector s edition 5 2 Remake 6 References 7 External linksGameplay EditThe game is set in 1848 just before the California Gold Rush The player is Brooklyn newspaperman Jerrod Wilson who soon receives word that he must go to Sacramento to meet his long lost brother After a few minutes of gameplay word arrives that gold has been found in California and it becomes much more difficult for Jerrod to settle his affairs in Brooklyn and find a way to Sacramento There are multiple paths which Jerrod can take to get to his brother He can travel on a stagecoach which is the cheapest path and the only path that is always available to Jerrod no matter how long he spends in Brooklyn This path brings Jerrod into contact with Native Americans unruly oxen parching deserts and the likelihood of a winter storm in the Sierra Nevada He can also travel by ship to Panama cross through treacherous swamps and jungles on foot and then catch another ship to Sacramento This route is more expensive than the others and also requires Jerrod to prepare carefully for many hazards of the tropical climate of Panama from malaria to jungle ants to crocodiles The third and most time consuming path is to journey all the way around Cape Horn on a ship This choice has its own perils from storms to scurvy On each route Jerrod can perish at random by a disease for which there is not yet any cure such as cholera making it prudent for players to save their game whenever possible and in multiple slots Once Jerrod arrives in Sacramento the three routes converge and all of the puzzles are the same In California Jerrod must try to prospect for gold avoid bandits and locate his mysterious brother Copy protection EditGold Rush uses words from the official game manual as a form of copy protection If the player fails to enter the correct word at a certain point during the game their character is immediately arrested for claim jumping and hanged on the gallows which is the same as the regular in game punishment for claim jumping being caught in someone s hotel room or stealing Reception EditIn 1989 Dragon gave the game 4 out of 5 stars 2 Computer Gaming World gave the game a positive review noting it mixes historical simulation with Sierra s traditional adventure gameplay 3 Compute called Gold Rush entertaining somewhat educational and a terrific escapade for first time adventure game players but warned that its simplicity might disappoint veteran gamers and that the graphics were inferior to that of some other Sierra adventures 4 In 2011 Adventure Gamers named Gold Rush the 96th best adventure game ever released 5 Reviews EditThe Games Machine Jul 1989 6 ASM Aktueller Software Markt Mar 1989 7 ASM Aktueller Software Markt May 1989 8 Power Play Mar 1989 9 Zzap Jul 1989 10 Commodore User Jul 1989 11 Amiga Computing Sep 1989 12 Amiga Format Oct 1989 13 Australian Commodore and Amiga Review Oct 1989 14 Legacy EditCollector s edition Edit The Software Farm released a collector s edition of California Gold Rush in a wooden box in 2000 They also released an economy pack with just the game in an envelope 1 Remake Edit German game developer Sunlight Games secured the rights and re released the original version on July 25 2014 15 A remake with the name Gold Rush Anniversary was released on November 7 2014 for Microsoft Windows 16 OS X and Linux versions were released later in November 2014 The ports for iOS and Android were released in March 2015 All graphics are pre rendered but all animations and characters are displayed in real time 3D The game s graphics are in high definition and the music was remade All text from the original game was optimized with newly recorded voiceovers The game can be controlled by a point and click control or with a parser only Windows Linux and Mac which is similar to the old Sierra games which use the AGI interface 17 Gold Rush 2 was released in April 2017 as a sequel to Gold Rush Anniversary 18 Sunlight Games has also released a Special Edition which is limited to 350 copies The Special Edition comes in a box with a banderole and the content of the box is similar to the old Sierra boxes is a copy of the game on a DRM free DVD a poster a card with the serial number a printed making of booklet a printed booklet with concept drawings and a golden colored coin Gold Rush The Special Edition can only be ordered at Sunlight Games online shop Adventure Gamers gave the remake 1 stars out of 5 19 Just Adventure gave the game a rating of B 17 3rd strike gave the game a 7 0 20 References Edit a b c The Software Farm California Gold Rush Archived from the original on December 12 2011 Lesser Hartley Lesser Patricia Lesser Kirk May 1989 The Role of Computers Dragon 145 44 53 Chaut Michael April 1989 Californy or Bust Computer Gaming World no 58 pp 59 60 Guerra Bob August 1989 Gold Rush Compute p 73 Archived from the original on March 16 2014 Retrieved November 11 2013 AG Staff December 30 2011 Top 100 All Time Adventure Games Adventure Gamers Archived from the original on June 4 2012 Retrieved December 31 2019 Gold Rush review from the Games Machine 20 Jul 1989 Amiga Magazine Rack http www kultboy com index php site t amp id 1189 bare URL Aktueller Software Markt ASM Magazine 67 1989 Kultpower Archiv Komplettscan Powerplay 4 1989 Gold Rush review from Zzap 51 Jul 1989 Amiga Magazine Rack Commodore User Magazine Issue 70 July 1989 Amiga Computing Magazine Issue 016 September 1989 https archive org stream amigaformatmagazine 003 Amiga Format Issue 003 1989 10 Future Publishing GB page n86 mode 2up Australian Commodore and Amiga Review the Volume 6 Issue 10 1989 10 Saturday Magazine AU October 1989 Gold Rush Classic Archived from the original on August 8 2014 Retrieved July 30 2014 Gold Rush Der Sierra Klassiker bekommt ein Remake in German December 12 2013 Retrieved December 12 2013 a b Houser Jeffry November 18 2014 Gold Rush Anniversary Review Just Adventure Archived from the original on January 22 2015 Retrieved January 21 2015 Gold Rush Retrieved April 30 2017 Ehrenhofler Courtney January 16 2015 Gold Rush Anniversary review Adventure Gamers Archived from the original on February 5 2015 Retrieved January 31 2015 Bart December 13 2014 Gold Rush Anniversary Review 3D strike Retrieved February 5 2015 External links EditOfficial website Official website for the remake by Sunlight Games Gold Rush at MobyGames Gold Rush at IMDb Gold Rush review at Adventure Gamers Gold Rush Classic Remake on Steam Store Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Gold Rush amp oldid 1115078218, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
