Demo Overview

[Windfola]

I'm writing this for all of you who can't download the demo or get it to work. If you want more info on anything in particular just let me know. :)

Luckily I had no problems with the demo apart from waiting for it to download on dialup. tonguegre The graphics look great though the quality is a little low, but I put that down to the demo being set at a lower resolution than the one I'm running. I like the menu/interface setup. It's very easy to use. The animation is good. There's another game I play that was a real leap forward in the animation of the horses so this wasn't quite as groundbreaking to me as it sounded, but I am really happy with it. The thing that jumped out at me the most was the rider. It's the best I've seen yet. The hands actually move with the horse! :bravo:

On startup you enter both your rider and horse names then you're able to access the other options. Obviously most of the choices are locked for the demo. Also, we don't know what they may add or change before the game is released. The first menu has Ride!, My Horse & Me, Achievements, Profiles, Options, Credits, Quit. My Horse & Me is where you can customize the horse and rider and groom your horse.

The Horse:
There are no breed choices which doesn't bother me, but the fact there are no markings either is a real shame. There are 14 choices for both coat color and mane/tail colour though, so quite a few combinations can be made. With the unlocked options available I made up a nice Silver Bay (http://www.unicornerfarm.com/images/colors/baysilv.jpg). After picking your colour you can choose from 16 different coloured saddle pads and 12 saddles.

The Rider:
There are 2 males and 4 females to choose from. While there is no way to alter the rider there is a great choice of clothing. 35 shirts, 12 pants, 18 shoes , 24 jackets which include both competion ones and padded vests, 24 caps which include helmets, baseball caps and cowboy hats, and 8 gloves. The jacket, hat and gloves are optional.

Grooming:
This is very simple but fun. The horse starts out quite filthy and you can clean it with a hard brush, soft brush, sponge and hose.

Ok, the next part is the competion side of things. The Ride! option on the main menu takes you there. Here you will find choices for Practice, Show Jumping, 2/3/4 Player Show Jumping and Mini Games.

Mini Games:
There are 7 to choose from though only one is available in the demo. Butterfly Fields is a simple but fun game where you have to collect butterflies (just ride through them) and return them to the right circle. There are three colours & you can collect many before turning them in, but only one colour at a time. Each time you turn in the right amount of each colour you level up, but don't dawdle as the clock is ticking!

Show Jumping:
It looks like we will have to wait till release to get a good look at the competion side of the game as there is only one available choice here. Under this option there you will find Beginner, Amateur, Semi-pro, Professional and Elite. Only Beginner is clickable and while there are 9 choices under that only one, Rolling Nine, is available. This course is a straightforward nine jumps with no combinations. The one thing I really don't like is that you just have to steer as the horse jumps on it's own, but hopefully that's just in the beginner courses.

[kalniel]

Great write up, thanks :)

[pandora20]

Thank you for the awesome, detailed, writeup! Its funny that you mentioned the fact that the you dont have to do anything to make the horse jump...i was going to post a question about that...if it stays like that throughout the whole game and all the difficulty levels it will be a bit of a down fall rolleyesa

Do you know if there are any falls or refusals? or does the horse just...jump every time.

By the sounds of it there sounds like there's lots of courses available. I think one of the biggest problems with horse games on the market are that there is few selection of courses :noooo: but did you say the beginner mode has 9 to choose from? do you think the other difficulty levels have just as many?

anyhoo thanks for your input on the game! it was great. mdr1 :bravo: :nuts:

i should get that star download so i can try the demo....I left my internet connected overnight to try and download it but when i got up there was still 7 hours left sour:

ps. what was the game that you were playing that made you not so shocked about the graphics on this one?? it's always hard to find good quality horse games

[Windfola]

Thanks pandora20, glad you liked it. :)

As for the show jumping course available, it's not hard at all. I got silver first go then gold on my second go. Of course, it is in the beginner section so I imagine the higher levels will be harder. I just had a couple of goes to check out the boundaries, just mucking about. To get a refusal you pretty much have to run at the wing. Taking the jumps at an angle or right at the side just gets you comments about aiming for the middle and taking them straight. Oh, and if you jump the wrong fence that's it. It would be nice to be able to jump whatever you want in your own order just for fun.

Seeing as the game just covers show jumping I think that they will be giving us a lot of courses. Yep, there are 9 in the beginner league, but I can't look at the others as they are locked. It looks like there is even variety in the mini games as there was three chioces listed under Butterfly Fields but only one available.

The other game is Lucinda Green's Equestrian Challenge. I hadn't played it for a bit so I pulled it out today to refresh my memory. I still really love the game, and it's eventing which adds more variety, as well as being open ended. While the animation still looks a little off at times, while doing extended paces for instance, the basic walk, trot and gallop look really good. Also, something I enjoy sometimes, you can ignore the correct order and just ride around the show jumping & cross country courses in what ever order you want for as long as you want. It was great to be able to practice at tricky spots in the courses.

Now don't get me wrong though, I think that from what I've seen so far they've done a great job with My Horse & Me. The horse actually leans into the turn for one. Also, as I said, the rider is probably the best I've seen personally. They keep with the horse over the jumps, their hands actually go with the movement, and they even post at the trot! :bravo:

[pandora20]

no matter what, i'll be buying this game when it's released....most likely off eBay, and having it shipped to north america as i've heard it's not released here to february tonguegre and i can't wait that long haha.

I have lucinda green's equestrian challenge as well, and i also like the fact that you can just ride around and jump what you want.

just curious, did you knock any rails while you were playing the demo or does the horse jump clean? I think something that would have made the game better is if you had to press a button when you wanted the horse to jump, and if you asked to early or too late you'd either get a refusal or a rail. it would just make it more realistic....but maybe in the later rounds it's much more difficult? No offence to you, but to get silver the first go....i was hoping it would prove more of a challenege....maybe your just really good :)

as for what i've seen in the little preveiw video on this site, the rider does look really well done! and the movement of the horse still amazes me. looks great. the rider posts? hehe yay :bravo: i hope there are combinations once you get to higher levels. would have been cool if there were banks and table top jumps as well lol. anyways i guess we wont be able to find out much more about the harder levels till it actually comes out.

:salut2:

[helliz]

I'm writing this for all of you who can't download the demo or get it to work. If you want more info on anything in particular just let me know. :)

Luckily I had no problems with the demo apart from waiting for it to download on dialup. tonguegre The graphics look great though the quality is a little low, but I put that down to the demo being set at a lower resolution than the one I'm running. I like the menu/interface setup. It's very easy to use. The animation is good. There's another game I play that was a real leap forward in the animation of the horses so this wasn't quite as groundbreaking to me as it sounded, but I am really happy with it. The thing that jumped out at me the most was the rider. It's the best I've seen yet. The hands actually move with the horse! :bravo:

On startup you enter both your rider and horse names then you're able to access the other options. Obviously most of the choices are locked for the demo. Also, we don't know what they may add or change before the game is released. The first menu has Ride!, My Horse & Me, Achievements, Profiles, Options, Credits, Quit. My Horse & Me is where you can customize the horse and rider and groom your horse.

The Horse:
There are no breed choices which doesn't bother me, but the fact there are no markings either is a real shame. There are 14 choices for both coat color and mane/tail colour though, so quite a few combinations can be made. With the unlocked options available I made up a nice Silver Bay (http://www.unicornerfarm.com/images/colors/baysilv.jpg). After picking your colour you can choose from 16 different coloured saddle pads and 12 saddles.

The Rider:
There are 2 males and 4 females to choose from. While there is no way to alter the rider there is a great choice of clothing. 35 shirts, 12 pants, 18 shoes , 24 jackets which include both competion ones and padded vests, 24 caps which include helmets, baseball caps and cowboy hats, and 8 gloves. The jacket, hat and gloves are optional.

Grooming:
This is very simple but fun. The horse starts out quite filthy and you can clean it with a hard brush, soft brush, sponge and hose.

Ok, the next part is the competion side of things. The Ride! option on the main menu takes you there. Here you will find choices for Practice, Show Jumping, 2/3/4 Player Show Jumping and Mini Games.

Mini Games:
There are 7 to choose from though only one is available in the demo. Butterfly Fields is a simple but fun game where you have to collect butterflies (just ride through them) and return them to the right circle. There are three colours & you can collect many before turning them in, but only one colour at a time. Each time you turn in the right amount of each colour you level up, but don't dawdle as the clock is ticking!

Show Jumping:
It looks like we will have to wait till release to get a good look at the competion side of the game as there is only one available choice here. Under this option there you will find Beginner, Amateur, Semi-pro, Professional and Elite. Only Beginner is clickable and while there are 9 choices under that only one, Rolling Nine, is available. This course is a straightforward nine jumps with no combinations. The one thing I really don't like is that you just have to steer as the horse jumps on it's own, but hopefully that's just in the beginner courses.

Hi ;D
Just got the real game now but when i install it ,it doesnt come any icon or so,I pressed finish and nothing happened : eekblue: :'(
Can some one help me? Is the colour on the cd ,black????
The demo worked perfect here ;)

[knweee]

Thanks for the great overview! I've played the demo enough to get under 1:06 every time for the Rolling Nine jumps with not faults. rolleyesa (I'm not obsessed, what are you talking about?)

Anyways, what you guys have been saying about 'having to press a button to jump' - I think it's better that the horse jumps on its own, personally. I mean, they're trying to make it realistic, right? And you don't need to press a button to make a horse jump in real life. You use aids to direct it to the jump, then you move with the horse over the jump. But it doesn't need a special que to actually go over the jump itself. It makes it much more realistic in my opinion.

And yes, the horse does knock down poles, refuse and even dodge the jumps. If you go towards the jump at an angle or too close to the edge, the horse will probably jump but knock down a pole. If your angle is really severe as you approach the jump(I decided to experiment mdr1 ), then the horse will jump to the side and dodge around it, like in real life. If you're too far to the edge and against a fence (Yes, I even expiramented this :cool: ) the horse will turn sharply around and head in the other direction. I couldn't get the horse to do a sliding stop/standstill refusal or to get the rider to fall. I doubt if it will in the actual game, either.

[showjumperpepsi]

WOW! Thanks for this whole page of information! i can't wait to play the game (I know I got it because I did a little sneak peak in the Christmas bags Shhh! rolleyesa) So I'll be playing the real game this Friday (we're having Christmas early cos my mom's going to America the 17th.) But THANKS SO MUCH! :salut2: mdr1

[helliz]

Thanks for the great overview! I've played the demo enough to get under 1:06 every time for the Rolling Nine jumps with not faults. rolleyesa (I'm not obsessed, what are you talking about?)

Anyways, what you guys have been saying about 'having to press a button to jump' - I think it's better that the horse jumps on its own, personally. I mean, they're trying to make it realistic, right? And you don't need to press a button to make a horse jump in real life. You use aids to direct it to the jump, then you move with the horse over the jump. But it doesn't need a special que to actually go over the jump itself. It makes it much more realistic in my opinion.

And yes, the horse does knock down poles, refuse and even dodge the jumps. If you go towards the jump at an angle or too close to the edge, the horse will probably jump but knock down a pole. If your angle is really severe as you approach the jump(I decided to experiment mdr1 ), then the horse will jump to the side and dodge around it, like in real life. If you're too far to the edge and against a fence (Yes, I even expiramented this :cool: ) the horse will turn sharply around and head in the other direction. I couldn't get the horse to do a sliding stop/standstill refusal or to get the rider to fall. I doubt if it will in the actual game, either.
Hehe you only got 1.06?
My record is 57:79 Beat that ;D

[mad4pinkhorses]

Did you try the first person mode?

Is it just me or doesn't the horse turn as sharply on this mode?

Good review (Y)

[helliz]

Did you try the first person mode?

Is it just me or doesn't the horse turn as sharply on this mode?

Good review (Y)

You will need to use the mouse to,then the horse turn sharper.
Record on first person view : 58:89 ,did this like a million times.
I am beating myself like with a sec every time I play. HEHE :nuts: 10sur10

[Mousenose]

I guess I am just impacient. Okay it started now.