High Plains Review

Quick Pros: Good storyline, bonus buildings

Quick Cons: A lot of requesting, less attractive backdrop than Beaver Valley

Review: The High Plains are probably the best story-led area of the Pioneer Trail, at least up to now while Fort Courage remains a mystery. The addition of the familiar McBaggins has given a homestead connection and, having helped them out once, there is a certain satisfaction in moving through the Trail, watching their expressions change and helping to make the Plains a significantly more attractive place.

Although not as attractive as Beaver Valley the fact the Plains adapt as you work through them is interesting, dry riverbeds fill, broken buildings are fixed, generally there's a real sense of changing the scenery as you go.

The fact you can collect bonuses from six buildings on the trail (and at 8 hours not 24) is a plus as well, it gives a little taste of home and is a nice addition for a few more XP and Trail Points.

It's biggest problem however is partly to do with the buildings. Combining the McBaggins House and the Windmill along with many of the missions involved in the main thread there's just too much requesting for what it is.

I'd suggest the Plains are the most obvious of all examples of the slightly schizophrenic nature of the Trail. On the one hand it's been designed as a quick diversion, NOT a game in it's own right BUT... when everything you're doing is requesting of some kind it drags.

Popping in for 5 minutes to clear up some debris and shoot turkeys to find the meat for a mission is fun. Popping in for 5 minutes to send three wall requests, well, frankly it isn't. You soon tire of waiting on timers and then the problem worsens, you miss one of the resets to ask, further setting you back and making it even longer before you'll be able to finish the mission.

There's obvious reasons why wall requesting is needed, as a social thing and, let's be honest, a marketing thing for the game itself. But as well as it becoming dull for us, if our friends just see endless requests and no mission success posts etc then that's the impression they'll get, that it's a request heavy program.

All in all I loved the plotline of the Plains and I think the missions, taken on their own merits, felt more different and varied than Beaver Valley. But too often, when you have two or three missions active and they ALL need requests of some kind, it just feels more like a real slog through a prairie in the dehydrating sun than a game.

Stability: Issues have arisen with the appearance of Hidden Missions. Generally other than that it has been fairly stable

Ratings (out of 5)

Fun: It's fun, but has a tendency to drag when missions involve requesting.

Spam:  For what it is and how long it takes, there's just too much.

Time:  It'll take you some time, especially waiting on friends to click.

Overall (out of 10): 

A great story and a wonderful world changing mechanic, but let down by too much time spent posting on your own wall and desperately digging through those of your friends.