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IGN Review of My Horse & Me
Sometimes we wonder how many little girls open up their birthday presents and find a horse themed video game in lieu of an actual equine. Based on the sheer number of horse games in the past couple years it seems like it'd be the country's leading cause of disappointed little girls. But with My Horse and Me for the Nintendo Wii, W!Games may have created a game that will actually destroy anyone's desire to ever own a horse.
Instead of the American heartland farm setting of many horse games, My Horse and Me puts the player in the role of a professional show jumper. Players compete in events in scenic New England (or maybe European) areas.
The events are pretty basic, but are very similar to what we've seen in show jumping competitions that occasionally play weekdays in the mid afternoons on ESPN. There are a number of jumps that need to be cleared in a certain order, and players are ranked based on their time, with penalties given for mistakes.
The basic design of My Horse and Me isn't bad. The idea of competing in show jumping competitions has its appeal, and the courses are pretty well designed, if not a little repetitive.
However the game proves far too difficult to play, due in large part to the poor controls. Players use the Wii Remote and Nunchuck to ride, handling them like the horse's reins. Flicking down on the remotes makes the horse speed up, and pulling up slows it down. Turning is controlled my lifting either the remote or the nunchuck.
The poor controls make it hard just to beat the tutorial, or any event that requires a lot of accuracy. The first levels are easy enough that players can still manage to get through them, but after working up through a few tiers the experience becomes far more frustrating than enjoyable. The worst is on the smaller indoor levels where tight turning and pinpoint precision is necessary to earn a medal.
Doing well in the competitions earns the player new clothing and gear, and stuff for the horse. Some of the cooler items require gold medals in the harder events. It's really frustrating not to get the stuff we want because the game decides it's going to interpret our command as making the horse run into a fence.
The other major aspect of My Horse and Me is taking care of and customizing our horse. In the Nintendo DS version this was done through a series of touch screen minigames, but for the Wii game, it's done through practically nothing. There is an option to groom the horse, but nothing tells us how that is done. There's a hard brush, a soft brush, and a sponge, but where and how do we apply this to the horse?
Worse yet, the horse doesn't even respond. We scrubbed Rapidash's face with the hardbrush, and sprayed the hose all up on its underside, and our stallion stood like a mannequin. Oh, and trying to actually effectively scrub a small model of a horse with the twitchy controls is nearly impossible.
The people within the game aren't any more lifelike than the horses. All the character models have flat faces that look grotesque when the game zooms in. The spectators in each course are so few that it makes the game accidentally funny when the announcer talks about the great turnout. Of course, maybe six people is a good turnout for a show jumping event.
The announcer is always really excited, but only at the beginning of each event. He doesn't comment on the results. The game barely recognizes if we somehow managed to do well. There's no fanfare when we win a big competition.
There's a share-the-pain, er, multiplayer option for the game that has players take turns competing in the events. It's a slow experience since everyone has to wait for the other player to finish, and there's no excitement involved.
©2008-03-20, IGN Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Instead of the American heartland farm setting of many horse games, My Horse and Me puts the player in the role of a professional show jumper. Players compete in events in scenic New England (or maybe European) areas.
The events are pretty basic, but are very similar to what we've seen in show jumping competitions that occasionally play weekdays in the mid afternoons on ESPN. There are a number of jumps that need to be cleared in a certain order, and players are ranked based on their time, with penalties given for mistakes.
The basic design of My Horse and Me isn't bad. The idea of competing in show jumping competitions has its appeal, and the courses are pretty well designed, if not a little repetitive.
However the game proves far too difficult to play, due in large part to the poor controls. Players use the Wii Remote and Nunchuck to ride, handling them like the horse's reins. Flicking down on the remotes makes the horse speed up, and pulling up slows it down. Turning is controlled my lifting either the remote or the nunchuck.
The poor controls make it hard just to beat the tutorial, or any event that requires a lot of accuracy. The first levels are easy enough that players can still manage to get through them, but after working up through a few tiers the experience becomes far more frustrating than enjoyable. The worst is on the smaller indoor levels where tight turning and pinpoint precision is necessary to earn a medal.
Doing well in the competitions earns the player new clothing and gear, and stuff for the horse. Some of the cooler items require gold medals in the harder events. It's really frustrating not to get the stuff we want because the game decides it's going to interpret our command as making the horse run into a fence.
The other major aspect of My Horse and Me is taking care of and customizing our horse. In the Nintendo DS version this was done through a series of touch screen minigames, but for the Wii game, it's done through practically nothing. There is an option to groom the horse, but nothing tells us how that is done. There's a hard brush, a soft brush, and a sponge, but where and how do we apply this to the horse?
Worse yet, the horse doesn't even respond. We scrubbed Rapidash's face with the hardbrush, and sprayed the hose all up on its underside, and our stallion stood like a mannequin. Oh, and trying to actually effectively scrub a small model of a horse with the twitchy controls is nearly impossible.
The people within the game aren't any more lifelike than the horses. All the character models have flat faces that look grotesque when the game zooms in. The spectators in each course are so few that it makes the game accidentally funny when the announcer talks about the great turnout. Of course, maybe six people is a good turnout for a show jumping event.
The announcer is always really excited, but only at the beginning of each event. He doesn't comment on the results. The game barely recognizes if we somehow managed to do well. There's no fanfare when we win a big competition.
There's a share-the-pain, er, multiplayer option for the game that has players take turns competing in the events. It's a slow experience since everyone has to wait for the other player to finish, and there's no excitement involved.
©2008-03-20, IGN Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Reserved