Voyageur

Voyageur

Apple II - Screenshot - Title.

Developer MECC Publisher MECC Published 1980-??-?? Platforms Apple II, Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64, TRS-80 Genres Educational, Management simulator, Simulation Themes Adventure, Historic, Wilderness Series Trail Distribution Commercial

Voyageur is a management simulator developed and published by MECC for the Apple II and first released in 1980 in a compilation program called Elementary-Volume 6. It was then ported to a few other platforms and released in Expeditions. It was created and functions in much the same way as Oregon, so I include it as part of the Trail series. The game appears to have been written in BASIC, but probably assembly used for graphic routines.

The game is a teaching aide for students and meant to educate them on the difficulties early American colonists faced while traveling from Lake Superior, up the Pigeon River along the Minnesota/Ontario border in order to trade in furs. In the game, the player manages the expedition and decides which items to take, how to respond to dangers and inclement weather, and what to trade.

Personal

Own?	No.
Won?	Yes. Apple II and Commodore 64 ports.
Finished	Commodore 64: 2021-04-28 / Apple II: 2024-02-19.

My elementary school had the Commodore 64 version of Expeditions in our class which included Voyageur. I remember watching it being played, but don't remember playing it myself. Three decades later, I was trying to find all the old software I played as a child. I had a hard time finding this title because it was only ever published in compilations that are now poorly-documented. But, once I did, I played it and beat it.

Review

2	2	2	1	2

Best Version: Commodore 64

— This section contains spoilers! —

Good

• The game gives at least a little bit of information about Northern fur traders in the 1800s.
• The manual that MECC produced helped teachers add educational value of the game.

Bad

• I found it trivial to beat, and there are no difficulty settings to make it harder or easier.
• The graphics are quite low fidelity for 1983 and are mostly just text characters. They're also poorly drawn and suffer from jittery animation.
• The sound is limited to beeps and very short jingles.
• The decimal values Voyageur don't make much sense. They should have just multiplied everything by 10 and stuck with integers.
• The game has several fixed encounters, like Indians giving you a bag of toxic blueberries right at the onset. It's interesting the first time, but you see it in every subsequent replay, and you can never refuse to take them.

Ugly

• The game is short and dull.
• For an educational game, it's not very informative.
• The frequent random events are entirely outside of your control, and, for the few things you do have control of, don't matter all that much. As long as you buy items sensibly and are decent at shooting, the game pretty much plays itself.
• The graphics are quite primitive. The Apple II port is the worst, but the others aren't much better.

Media

Documentation

• 

  Manual - Atari 8-bit.

• 

  Manual - Commodore 64 - Revised.

Screenshots

• 

  Apple II - Title.

• 

  Apple II - Introduction.

• 

  Apple II - Status report.

• 

  Apple II - Map.

• 

  Apple II - Victory.

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  Commodore 64 - Summary.

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  Commodore 64 - Map.

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  Commodore 64 - Bad Day.

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  Commodore 64 - Victory.

Videos

Gameplay - Commodore 64 - Voyageur.

Play Online

Apple II, Commodore 64

Representation

Strong female character?	Fail	There are no women.
Bechdel test?	Fail	There are no women.
Strong person of color character?	Fail	Indians are mentioned, but don't play an important role.
Queer character?	Fail	There are no queer characters.