Horse Racing 2016 Review

Horse Racing games have had a good mixture of games from Gallop Racer on the PS2 to G1 Jockey on various Xbox consoles, a majority of the best horse games have been on PC & Mac, and even though you got the odd great title for this genre of game there were a lot of bad Horse Racing titles.

So Horse Racing 2016 comes to the Xbox One, and on first look this is more towards one of the worst titles out there, graphically Horse Racing 2016 does have a good mix of  different track environments from desert or snow to city themed tracks, the downside is that it just looks very bland with sparse scenery. Even the jockeys & horses look dated compared to games that were out 10 years ago just shows the lack of imagination that has gone into the game, and as you progress through each season you will unlock more horses to choose from providing better stamina and competitiveness.

As with in game sound there really isn’t anything spectacular, yes you get the authentic sound of the horses galloping around the track, while the wiping of the horse is comical at best, there is no ambient sounds to speak of and in addition you get cheesy high tempo music which does get a bit annoying after a while.

So what does Horse Racing offer to any gamer interested in purchasing a Horse Racing game, well the simple is not a lot, with the game offering 10 full seasons with each season consisting of five events from time trials to single lap races consisting of obstacles such as Hurdles. There is very little in the way of variation between each race mode as most of the races consist of 10 other Jockeys only.

As each race begins there is an indicator where you have to align two arrows to get a speed boost at the start, from there you have to constantly tap the A button to keep the horse up to speed however even though the races don’t last for long you usually end up running out of stamina half way through the race. You can whip your horse to get an extra speed boost but if you whip the horse too much the horse icon changes from green to red shown the horse is angry and uses up more stamina, if you use up the horse’s stamina by the end of the race the horse will keel over and collapse resulting in a DNF.

SUMMARY

Horse Racing 2016 may offer a couple of moments of fun to any gamer wanting to try something different, but the game seems dated and doesn’t offer a lot as the game can be finished within a couple of hours and for the high price point of £24 it comes in at, it is far too expensive for the quality of this game on offer.

There is some local multiplayer allowing you to join 3 more players, but that is about it as Horse Racing looks bland and doesn’t offer anything tangible that has been seen before.