Gallop Racer 2003: A New Breed

"truly, a great racing game"

Gallop Racer 2003 A New Breed, isn't exactly a ''conventional'' racing game. Aside from the fact that you use horses instead of cars is quite different from other racing games. Horse racing games are quite popular in Japan but not in the US for some reason.

Story: (N/A)
It's a racing game so of course there's no story other than to be the best racer.

Graphics: (8/10)
Gallop Racer 2003 A New Breed has some pretty nice graphics when you compare it to other racing games it may not be the best looking racing game out there but it's better than some racing games like Ridge Racer 5. I think it's one of the best racing games out to date.

Sound: (7/10)
The sound in this game is passable at best. In the actual races there is little to no music (perhaps it's just my copy of the game), the announcer is an actual horse race announcer. The music you get in the game isn't all that great in my opinion, it's just some typical game menu music.

Control: (10/10)
These would have to be some of the best controls I've ever seen in a game. Controlling you horse is simple and easy to get used to. All you have to do to control it is to press up to accelerate, down to slow down, square to whip the horse left side, and circle to whip it's right side.

In-game (10/10)
When you start a new season in the game, you to, of course, select your jockey type, your name, and clothes etc. When all that is said and done you get a series of tutorials explaining the different phases of the race. Like the beginning, middle, and the stretch. All of the tutorials are a little bit boring, but essential if you want to win the race. After the tutorials you finally get to select your horse and go enter some races. The first few horse you can select from are really cheap to get (0 dollars) so don't expect to place first in you very first race. After each race your jockey rating goes up or down accordingly.

All in all, I would have to say Gallop Racer 2003 A New Breed is worth checking out even once, after your first few races I guarantee you'll be hooked on this game.

Rent or Buy:
I strongly recommend renting this game first because maybe horse racing isn't you thing, so rent it first if you like then buy it. Trust me you won't be disappointed.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 09/22/03