Barbie Adventure Riding Club

Reviewed by Anise Hollingshead
Published by Mattel Media

Age Group: Age 4 to 8, Age 8 and Up
Type: More Fun
Price: $35

Description:

Everyone knows that girls love horses, and here is a chance for them to own their very own! A virtual horse, that is. Adventure Riding Club is a program designed to let girls ride and groom their horses, and also to go on mini-adventures with them.

Upon starting the game, players can choose a horse to be their own from 4 different horses. After picking a horse and naming it, they can then either pick an adventure or certificate mission, play in the stable, race another horse or go riding around the trails. Several activities are available on the adventure missions; to play these after the mission is done, simply choose the mission again, then click on the location on the map for that particular game.

There are 3 activities, a color sequence game, a leap-frog game similar to the "test your IQ" game done with golf tees on a triangle, and an arcade sorting game.

Features:

  • Simulated, realistic riding
  • Virtual pet
  • Mini-adventures
  • Activities
  • Rescue missions interspersed throughout game
  • Certificates, badges, pictures and ribbons earned can be printed
  • Desktop virtual pet

Technical Aspects:

The program installed easily, and ran well, but with a wait between each transition scene. The graphics were amazingly 3Dish, and the horses looked very realistic.

Report and Conclusions:

At first, Adventure Riding Club looked very promising, with the virtual pet, the realistic riding, plus the activities and missions. However, after playing it a few times, we realized that there just wasn't much depth to this program. The riding is fun, but after riding around the trail several times, got tiring. The adventures are simple, and after completion aren't much fun to redo. The activities don't offer much, either, except for the frog game. And the one thing that could have given some longevity to this game, the virtual pet aspect, sadly didn't have enough things to do. You could feed the horse, comb it or bathe it, or put its tackle on. And on the desktop, you were only offered the feeding, combing and bathing options.

The horses are extremely well done, and the simulated riding feels like you're actually on the horse. The combing of the horse's hair is the most fun, it actually "feels" like you are really brushing that horse! If only there were more to do, or if the missions offered more challenge and the activities more fun...if only!





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