Riding Star

Riding Star is a game from a time when video games were starting to gain traction but were far from what we have now. At the time, the industry itself was going through some changes, in technology, but most importantly in content. The world realized that there was a market for everyone, that every hobby had the potential to generate buyers to titles from the most varied genres. And here is where Riding Star comes to life, this is a game aimed at very young demographics with a burning passion for horses. Released in 2008 by Sproing Interactive for the PlayStation 2, the game focus on taking care of equestrians.

Wild, Wild Horses

Riding Star is a very simple game, with blend graphics that didn’t look good at release, and surely don’t hold up nowadays. Even considering that this game was meant for a very niche target market, there is so little to enjoy here that it would take extreme fandom to keep you entertained here. The genre of horse racing, training, and care might not be for everyone, but Riding Star is definitely a very poor representation of what that life is about.

The game puts players in the position of owning and training to compete with their own horses. Essentially, you are tasked with making your horse look pretty and presentable which is very quick, and tedious. Taking care of the horses might be something attractive to animal lovers, but here it is presented in such a repetitive and monotonous manner that it feels more like a job than a game. Add to that the fact that this game’s performance is impressively bad, both visually and performance-wise it takes more than love power through the title.

One Hoove In Front of The Other

The gameplay of Riding Star is itself so simplistic, that it doesn’t offer anything aside from the tutorial. There is only a couple of buttons and commands that cover the entirety of the game, moving your analogic and pressing L2 or R2 is basically the entirety of gameplay. There is nothing that feels remotely competitive, exciting, or challenging to look forward to here, because on top of everything the game modes don’t help.

There are three events for players to enjoy Show Jumping, Cross Country, and Dressage. The first two are extremely similar and have players jumping obstacles. The first mode indoors, and the second one in a straight and lengthy course. The final mode however asks players to parade and walk their horses around in distinct speeds and manners, which require a bit more attention and dexterity but still falls short of delivering entertainment.

Summary

There is a game for everyone, and a market for every game but Rising Stars is the weakest version of an equestrian-focused title that we may have ever seen.

PROS

• Niched Market
• Inclusion of an underrepresented culture

CONS

• Terrible Graphics
• Poor Performance
• Awfully Optimized
• Extremely Tedious
• Monotonous Gameplay
• Zero Replayability