Let's play: Equestriad 2001

David Gibbon give his verdict on the Equestriad 2001 computer game

When you set off to the local games store, adrenalin pumping, ready to splash out on the latest sporting extravaganza, chances are you'll be thinking motor racing, football or ice hockey.

Basketball and cricket could also come into contention, but can you ever imagine popping out to buy an equestrian game?!

Midas Interactive, whose first horse game Mary King has enjoyed some success, must be commended for being brave enough to release something different to the big boys - only problem is will anyone actually buy it?

  Equestriad 2001

Format: PC CD-ROM

Price: £29.99

Publisher: Midas Interactive

Genre: Horse sport

Also available on: Playstation

Equestriad 2001 gives players the chance to compete as one of 25 riders - in three different competitions.

You can choose dressage, showjumping or cross-country on a number of leading three-day event courses, including Badmington, Burghley, Kentucky and Sydney.

Cross-country is the discipline where a horse's stamina really counts. If you try and make it work too hard it will slow down to near standstill - but keep the rhythm just right and you'll do fine.

In the dressage competition, you trot around a ring as you try and pull off manoeuvres such as Circle Left, but the main test is trying not to fall asleep while you're doing it.

Showjumping is probably the event most gamers will aim for first, thinking they'll be transported into David Broom's shoes as he tries to conquer a commanding six-foot wall.

Sadly the reality is somewhat different.

As in real life, the fastest clear round wins, but the course is situated in a small field with few high fences.

The PC version of the game features some quite excellent visuals - but the PlayStation alternative - as you'd expect - is much more blocky.

The backgrounds are truly awful - with shoddy crowd scenes and poorly drawn scenery. But the animation of horse and rider are good, moving almost as they would in real life.

  Gibbon's verdict

Graphics: 65%

Playability: 54%

Sound: 46%

Realism: 76%

Overall: 64%

One of the best features is the action replay option, with its umpteen camera angles, but this does not save Equestriad 2001.

It's not that it's a dreadful game, there's just so little to do.

Once you've paraded around on the horse and jumped a few fences, it's all over.

This is more down to the subject matter than the developers themselves - if you're a horse fan or like the idea of a sports game that's different to the rest, give it a go. Otherwise avoid.