The Lost Tribe is an addictive game which I first played in the early 1990's. The enjoyment starts straight away with some renditions of some well known classical songs such as Pachabel's Canon. The objective of the game is fairly simple. You are the leader of a tribe, who need to leave their current home at the base of a volcano which has disastrously erupted with no warning! You must take the tribe from this unfortunate event and lead them across to a new lush volcano (which apparently is not active.
.. yet...) where they can continue their happy lives. However, the journey is harsh and you must be a fortuitous yet dedicated leader to get them there. Using the mouse you move into different regions on a map.
Along the way you must hunt to gather food and so keep the tribes morale high. There are dangers along the way, fighting a mammoth can never be achieved without casualties. If your tribe becomes unhappy (generally this is due to lack of food) they can revolt and overthrow your leadership, thus ending the game. The map which you must cross can be covered in many ways; there are mountains and rivers, plains and grasslands. The route you choose is all part of the tactics, and the fun!
Along the way you can gather food by collecting berries, fishing, or fighting animals. There are also various challenges along the way, for which you must use the men in the tribe to try and overcome.
Lost tribe is very unlike most dos games I have encountered. It is reminiscent of various more recent strategy games, yet the game play is more focused on survival than proliferation. The simple ideas within this game can be seen much more developed in games such as Civilization. The action scenes within the game are fun and give a very good sense of action which detracts from the mental challenges of deciding your route across the treacherous region. I have ended up playing this game more times than I care to remember yet I still find it amazing fun every time I load it up.
Obviously, being an old DOS game the graphics leave much to be desired. The tribe members resemble little stick men, and their movements are erratic at best. However, it is these features which make it so endearing. The sound is also very tinny, yet with the fantastic soundtrack it can be forgiven!
The game play does not take too much time, if your tribe do not revolt you will be setting up camp at the base of a beautiful volcano in about 30 minutes, and probably be ready for another go! I would definitely recommend this game to anyone who can look past dodgy graphics and enjoy the game for what it is; amazing!
