I’ve heard a lot about the Starhine Legacy series and I finally got my hands on a few of the games so naturally I had to review it.

The entire story spans over so far 6 episodes where each episode has it’s own game, meaning there are 6 games in the series so far. To me it sounded mostly like a cash-cow and it only got worse when I came over a comic book of the series and I was very sceptical by just what I heard and saw but still I gave the game a chance.

You play as Lisa, the new kid in town, that is her own person and doesn’t care much for being in fashion or part of the in-crowd. She befriends a few people in school and starts noticing she can hear a strange voice in her head. While meeting up with a girl at the stables she finds out the voice belongs to a horse that is close to being put down. The horse tells Lisa that it is in danger and only she can save it. In general a pretty generic story that has been seen so many times before, so no points here from me.

The graphics are unique in terms of style. It’s nothing fancy or realistic but it does stay true to the style of the comic book which is very admirable. It’s very edgy and the envoirments could have been made so much better than they actually have. They score a few points for staying true to their style, but only a few because the poorly done envoirments definetly drags down the game.

There is a little voice acting, but it is only sounds, not actual words. They use different voices for different characters and that scores them a few points. The little sounds definetly raises the game a bit.

The controls are not explained well enough. You have to guess how to enter your backpack, diary, cellphone and the map. You move with the W,S,A,D keys instead of the directional keys and you use the mousewheel to choose between your map, cellphone, diary and backpack, so the controls are optimized for a left-handed person. If you’re not used to using these controls, you will be lost completely. Controlling the horse has no bones in it. The speed might be a bit slow, but nowhere near too fast. Anyone can control the horse and you will rarely lose control of the horse. Turning can be a bit edgy, especially if it’s a sharp turn, but you rarely have to make one, so it is not really a problem

The gameplay consists of different tasks you have to perform. Most is, in this game, done on foot. It feels more like an adventure game than a horse game, because there are so little element of horse-care and horse-riding. You are more focused on Lisa settling in and solving what is making the horse suffer thann actually caring for the horse and develop riding skill and it has a linier story-line where traditionally horse games have more free gameplay giving space for riding free.

There is absolutely no customization options in this games at all and if you really want that, then you will be sorely dissapointed. Personally I think in this game it doesn’t really matter because the story of the game takes up so much, that you forget about it. You don’t the part in this game, but if you epect it, then it will bother you for a bit. Especially if you dislike white horses as that is your default. 

The difficulty level swings a lot because of the different game elements in this game. The horse-riding elements are extremely easy while elements where you have to move and avoid being seen can be extremely diffiul because moving by foot is very very slow and it will take a lot of technique that especially younger players will probably find very difficult so they may want to avoid the game unless they have very patient older players by their side.

I will say that the game offers a quality game to an extend. You have to be a fan of the adventure genre to enjoy this game, but it is more of an adventure game than an actual horse game. f you are a fan of the series, do buy this game, but prepare yourself on the fact that you will need to buy all 6 games to get the full story-line. Other than that my verdict is Rent
This game won’t fall into everybody’s taste.

Now I am a very big fan of horse games and I’ve played a good load of them through the years so my criteria for what makes a good and a bad horse games are probably high. Let’s see what The Saddle Club had to offer.

From what I’ve been told the game itself is built on a TV-series of the same name. I haven’t seen the series, so I can’t compare it to it. The fact that I found out it was built on a TV-series already bummed me out because usually those games are not worth anyone’s time unless you’re a hardcore fan. I was pleasantly surprised though.

You play as Natalie, the new rider on Pine Hollow. The  Ranch is in financial trouble and will probably change over the next few years according to the owner. Besides that there are tons of side-stories in the game, that I won’t get into because that would be spoiling the game. The plot is a cliche and has been seen so many times now. Just from the top of my head I can think of 2 titles with a similar plot.

The graphics are slightly dated but they are atill among the better ones on the market for this genre. It’s not cheaply done but not very expensive either. The animations are smooth with is a plus and it’s never pixelated so it’s ot annoying to look at.

I’m assuming they are using the characters from the TV-show but I highly doubt it’s the same cast that did the voice-acting because it is very poorly done. It’s robotic and very akward at times which can make it very fustrating to listen to. The fact that you can’t skip cutscenes in the game (and there is quite a few and they tend to be long) made me go crazy at times because of the terrible voice-acting.

The controls were surprisingly good. The horse is easy to control and you don’t have to force it to start. It can be a bit rough to turn it to face in the direction you want to ride, while it’s standing still, but in motion there are no problems at all. This made me happy because controls are so important in horse games that if the controls are bad, it drags the whole game down.

The gameplay is also a pleasant surprise. You decide if you just want to explore the 2 maps there are in the game or you want to do either side-quests that can give you more photography points or story-quests that will move the story along. You can also breed foals, catch wild horses, take care of horses and compete in competitions. There is so much to do in this game and it’s up to you when you do it. This is a very strong part of the game, that theplayer is in complete control and not bound by what the game is programmed to do.

You can customize your horse the way you want. You have variation of colours, patterns, decourations and styles for your horse so you can make the horse you want to ride. A downside is you don’t get to name your horse or choose it’s gender. It’s named for you by the game and is by default a stallion. It’s a minor set-back for the well-developed customization but it is a let-down.

The customization for your character is well-hidden. You are introduced to the costumization to your horse right away, but you are never told that you can customize yourself. From the beginning all skintones, hairstyles and eye-colours are unlocked, ut you have to increase your riding skills to unlock new clothes, helmets and riding gear. You can earn points in Dressage, Jumping, Cross-country, foal-breeding, foal-caring, capturing wild horses and photography.

 The difficulty level throught the story-quests are very low. It’s not that awfully hard to do the story-quests as they rarely have anything to do with riding but are more just deliveries you have to make or something you need to either remove, photograph or gather. The competitions increases in level all the time and Cross-Country is by far the hardest one as this is a race against 3 computer-controlled riders. I think this is a great aspect because rarely is the player forced to do anything too difficult during the game.

I will say that there is plenty of gameplay options and this game is able to satisfy a lot of different players. Both the ones that want to completethe game 100% with unlocking all the clothes and riding gear as well as finding all collectable around the maps as well as the players that want to just sit back, relax and ride around the maps enhouing themselves. This game is definetly a BUY  
You can’t miss with this game.