My Horse & Me (Wii) Review

Being the first game to ever be branded with the FEI license (the International Equestrian Federation – the acronym is based on its French name, for those wondering) certainly makes My Horse & Me special right out of the gates. It will also have put pressure on relatively new development house W!Games (founded in 2005) to create something extra special. However, clearly the team’s make-up of experienced developers and fresh, young talent has set out to prove a point – that they mean business and are not so easily overwhelmed! And it all starts off so well, as on the presentational front the team has certainly not skimped on the details, with gorgeous locations that rank, you may be surprised to hear, amongst the best of the Third Party Wii titles so far. Lush fields, stacks of intricate detail and horses that are extremely well crafted models that look as realistic as possible all are present and correct in My Horse & Me. All the while, peaceful, lilting melodies play throughout, complete with a considerable amount of speech at every turn. The production values are clearly very high for this equestrian-related gaming product.

The game allows horse fanatics to live out their dream of entering into international competitions against other riders to eventually work their way up the leader-board and become the crème de la crème of the horsing world, then head back home, taking their steed back to the stable for some much needed care and attention. The Championship is the game’s main mode where players start off by learning how to actually ride their horse properly (tilting the Nunchuk to steer left, Wii-mote to steer right, pulling both upwards towards your chest to stop and then proceed to gently walk back, hold A to trot slowly forwards and shake both controllers up and down like real reins to speed up to a canter – everything is very intuitive and shows of the motion controls perfectly). Once done, other tasks such as learning to vault over fences (jumping is automatic, you just need to ensure the horse is positioned correctly and running fast enough), steering around tight corners to avoid crashing into walls and quickly changing the horse’s pace to aid with navigating the various courses, are given to the player all in an effort to help riders become No.1. Eventually, the training will pay off and winning the five international championships on offer, which span various locations around the world, will be closer to becoming a reality.

Elsewhere, gamers will have the freedom to customise not only the horse in question, but the rider as well (with an initial selection of four girls and two boys to choose from). And the more you play, the more you are rewarded, as new character outfits and horse equipment will be made available. Weather effects and new animations are also there to be unlocked by diligent players who work through the main Championship mode, where the surrounding environment and general day-to-day conditions will all have an effect on your horse's performance and behaviour. Maintaining the game's general authenticity, even the jumping championship is extremely faithful to real-life official competitions, meaning that true fans will feel right at home with My Horse & Me. With four outdoor environments and four indoor ones, all of which can be tackled at different times of day, and the choice of playing from a general Third-Person point-of-view or the more realistic First-Person view where you are the rider, all that is really missing is an online element for users to trade items, keep track of leader board progress and compete against others around the world...

But for overall value, there is plenty going on in the game, with even a plentiful supply of mini-games on offer to keep gamers entertained, and thus providing lots of reasons to keep replaying the game. Most may be simple affairs, but they are sufficiently enjoyable enough to be worthy of a bit of dabbling in them every now-and-then, and will certainly appeal to the younger crowd. Examples include a memory style game where players are shown different items and must then trot over and collect them in the same order as shown at the start, whilst another has the horse-rider dashing around a field to bring coloured butterflies to their respective flowers. Not only this, but you can even herd chickens back into their coop, and...wait for it...catch falling stars from the sky! Simply adorable, no doubt you will all agree...! Throw in multiplayer action for up to four riders and this is one solid package for equestrian fans everywhere and will no doubt put the impending Wii version of Horsez to complete shame.