Gold Rush! Anniversary
 |
| Gold Rush! Anniversary | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Sunlight Games GmbH |
| Publisher(s) | Sunlight Games GmbH |
| Platform(s) | Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, Apple iOS, Android |
| Release | PC: 7th November 2014 Mac OS X: 15th November 2014 Linux: 19th November 2014 Apple iOS: 2015 Android: 2015 Windows-Tablet: 2015 |
| Genre(s) | Adventure |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
Gold Rush! Anniversary[1] is a remade of the adventure game Gold Rush!, which was released in 1988 by Sierra On-Line. It was developed by the german independent game developer Sunlight Games. The most part of the plot is identical to that of the original. Only the random deaths and dead ends was removed. The aim is to move a man (Jerrod) through various scenes.
Plot
The game is set in 1848, just before the 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.
The game is notable for its inclusion of 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 travel on a ship to Panama, cross through treacherous swamps and jungles on foot, and 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. In each route, Jerrod could perish at random by a disease to which there was no cure, such as cholera, forcing players to save their game whenever possible. Once Jerrod arrives in Sacramento, the three routes converge and all of the puzzles are the same.
Once in California, Jerrod must try to prospect for gold, avoid bandits, and locate his mysterious brother.
Remake
Gold Rush! Anniversary is a complete new development, but the story and quests are almost the same as in the original. The game can be controlled by a point&click-control or with a parser, which is similar to the old Sierra games, which uses the AGI interface. All graphics are prerendered, but all animations and characters are displayed in realtime 3D. The maximum resolution is Full-HD. The music was recorded new. Also all texts from the original game was optimized and voices was from them recorded.
Collectors edition
Sunlight Games has released a limited Special Edition, which is limited to 350 pieces. The content of this box which is similar to the old Sierra boxes is: besides the game on DVD which is DRM-free, a high quality poster, a card with the serial number, a printed making-of booklet, a printed booklet with concept drawings and a golden-colored coin in the design of Gold Rush! The Special Edition can only be ordered in the online-shop of Sunlight Games.