Gallop Racer 2001

"All you horse racing fans out there buy this game"

*Note: This review was written for all you Horse Racing Fans out there*

Well, what can I say? It seems there have never been any horse racing sims that came to the United States. So when I read that Gallop Racer 2001 was coming stateside, I jumped with joy (seriously.) First screenshots I saw looked beautiful, some of the best graphics I've ever seen, but then I saw MGS2 and FFX. When this game finally came out I bought it, and have been playing it for quite awhile now.

Gameplay
When you play this game, you'll quickly realize that this game is wonderful in the gameplay department. You can pick from 4 different types of horses: Front Runners, Stalkers, Pack Runners, Closers, and Pace Racers. As you might expect, you'll need to keep your horse's temper happy throughout the race. So you can't just race with a Front Runner and expect him to come from behind. There are also different types of weather conditions that may affect your horse in the race. Some horses run worse in the rain and snow, and some actually run better. Before each race you
should see how the race pace is going to be. Sometimes there will be no Front Runners so the pace will be very slow making hard for the closers to win, or a lot of speed that will set up huge runs from the closers. Then there's the whipping. If you whip the horse a lot of times to the left or right without switching you'll start to lose the response you get from it which will make whipping useless.

Gameplay Score: 9/10

Graphics
Want to know about the graphics, eh? Well, the graphics on the horses and jockeys are very clean. You won't be seeing any of the dreaded JAGGIES. But, the weather affects could've been better. When it rains you won't see water splashing from the ground as your horse runs through the dirt or turf. The snow doesn't make the track very hard to see.

Graphics Score: 7/10

Controls
The controls can be easily remembered, because of this it also makes it a game you can pick up and play with friends. The up arrow on the D-Pad acts as the accelerating button, down arrow pulls the horse to make him slower, square whips the horse with the left hand, and circle whips the horse with the right hand. All in all, the controls are great

Controls Score: 9/10

Sound
The sound is probably the worst thing in the game. Every race you'll hear this repetitive music that doesn't make it exciting unless you're racing in the Dubai World Cup which has the best music in the game. The announcer
doesn't say anything but ''FINISH!'' ''HEY, BE CAREFUL'' which also gets boring. The only good thing about the sound are the sound affects the horses make when they run. They sound very realistic which is a plus.

Sound Score: 6/10

Replay Value
Does this game have replay value? Of course it does, for some reason racing horses for months has never been boring. I bought this game on August of 2001 and am still playing today on June 2002. Horse Racing fans will be playing this game for weeks, months, even years.

Replay Value Score: 10/10

Rent or Buy
All you horse racing fans owe it to yourselves to go to your local videogame store and pick this up. I doubt we'll ever see another horse racing game that comes to the US.

BUY

Overall Score: 8/10

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 06/21/02, Updated 06/21/02