Lucinda Green’s Equestrian Challenge
Lucinda Green is a record holder in the Badminton Horse Trials. She won the trials for an amazing six times! What’s more, she rode six different horses during those runs! Isn’t that just awe-inspiring? Now, you will be able to share her experience in the thrills of being an equestrian through Lucinda Green’s Equestrian Challenge.
The game challenges players on three fronts: cross country, show jumping and dressage. The final goal of the game is for you to win all four-star events in Adelaide, Badminton, Burghley, and Kentucky. Before you get ahead of yourself, however, you need to cover the basic principles.
The game begins with you as a young two-star equestrian taken under the wings of Lucinda Green. Full customization of the character allows for you to produce a rider that truly matches who you are or, at least, who you perceive yourself to be.
You also get to take care of your own horse. This is an extremely important aspect of the game, as your success depends upon the amount of work you put into training and caring for the horse. It must be fed, watered, groomed, among other things. You also need to be sure that its attributes are distributed properly so that you’ll be able to grab the award in every competition.
There are four “stats” or properties that you need to balance. They are: Speed, Stamina, Jumping, Agility, and Trust. Each individual will be able to develop a horse differently by simply setting the allotment of stats.
Lucinda Green teaches you and trains you until you are able to compete in the four-star contests. At this level, you’ll pit your character in various competitions against the greatest names in riding nowadays.
Graphically, the game is sensational. That is, if you compare it to other equestrian games today. The ability to customize of the character is also a nice touch. However, the gameplay is nothing revolutionary. The game just doesn’t push any gaming limits.
It’s less tedious than other games, which means you are able to enjoy yourself to a greater extent and take care of the details less. After all, gamers who buy equestrian games are more concerned with the competition rather than the simulated horse-care lessons, right? The life of the game is also quite good: you will be able to enjoy the different challenges and you do not end up feeling a bit disappointed because of the length.
All the same, the repetitive motions that one must go through in order to compete and the actions involved in taking care of the horse can be really dull at times. The menu is also rather clumsy and this means that you might have a hard time navigating around the controls.
Not a lot of people are bound to buy equestrian games. It just doesn’t seem like a genre that appeals to the common couch soldier/strategist/athlete. Equestrian challenge attempts to change this through lots and lots of eye candy. However, its sticking to realism does not really help in making it more popular with gamers. Even a little bit of imagination could surely have aided this game.
The bottom line is this: Equestrian Challenge is a fantastic game. As a matter of fact, it’s superior to any equestrian games available today. All the same, if you’re not fond of the sport, you might not see enough in this game to try it out. You should get this game if you love horses, but if you’re the regular point-and-shoot guy, you might want to skip it.