The head of games at Helio, Leo Jun, was kind enough to send us a preview copy of the new Oregon Trail game from Gameloft. Yeah, yeah, I know. Lots of game talk recently, however, there is some cool new stuff upon the horizon.

Most people remember the Oregon Trail from the old Apple II (If you don’t, check out the Wiki article on it). It was probably the best game in the late 80s on that system. If you’ve never played, it revolves around a family traveling along the trail to Oregon back in the 1800s, and you have to hunt for food, avoid diseases, snake bites, drowning while crossing rivers, and essentially getting to Oregon.

Gameloft’s refreshed version definitely does not disappoint. They did an excellent job of reviving the Oregon Trail series, which I was kinda worried about (Since sequels, especially mobile ones aren’t usually great). They kept the core gameplay pretty much the same and added new mini-games, side-quests, and graphics without ruining the classic style of it. I also found some parts of this game hilarious, such as the bear attack animations, the snake bites, and other things I don’t think I should spoil. Everything you would expect and more is there from the original game, such as hunting, and navigating the river when you miraculously make your wagon float and oxen swim. Some new things such as fixing the wagon by whacking nails, and fishing add to the gameplay in a positive way.

This is definitely a hot game so I’ll make a post once it hits the Helio store. It’s just got a few tiny bugs in it, so it shouldn’t be too much longer before it’s released. Stay tuned!

Helio and Gameloft have teamed up again for a Helio exclusive contest with some really cool prizes.

The Rules:

You must be a Helio member.

One internet entry per person.

You must be over 16 to enter the contest.

What do you have to do to enter, you might ask? You can enter two ways. Over the internet (only once) or by purchasing at least one of the following games:

Guitar Rock Tour

American Popstar: Road to Celebrity

New York Nights: Success in the City

Meteos Astro Blocks

Asphalt: Urban GT 2

And the most important thing: the prizes. They will be giving away DJ Consoles and iPod Nanos each week. Remember: If you download more than one of those games, you will be entered for each you buy. Contest ends at 11:59:00 p.m. EST April 18, 2008.
For the rest of the rules, head on over to the rules page.

Just a side note, Gameloft doesn’t have the newer Helio phone models in there, but just pick PN-8300 (Pantech), SPH-A303 (Samsung) or SPH-A503 (Samsung) and everything should be alright.

Enjoy! Let us know if any of you Heliocity users end up winning!