Unlike many of the other jockey games that have appeared on the PlayStation, Gallop Racer has a great blend of complex strategy in dealing with your horse as well as offering the fast paced action of an arcade racer. The graphics in the game are standard PlayStation fare, as they look pretty good, and have some varied and colorful textures. The jockeys and horses themselves are beautifully rendered and are rock solid, as is the graphics engine, which can display the entire field of 10+ racers on screen at the same time without a hint of clipping or slowdown.

The main focus on racing with your horse is to ensure it doesn't tire out too fast and fade during the final stretch of the race. This happened to myself millions of times before I wised up and attempted to stay in the middle of the pack before whipping my horse into a galloping frenzy. It takes a great deal of strategy to know when to stay back and when to make your move. Be prepared to lose a couple dozen of races before you get the hang of racing a horse. =)

The most involving mode in the game is the career mode, which lets you customize your jockey to your liking (mainly just the colors of their jersey, and their gender as well). It was kind of confusing when I first started playing the career mode, because it wasn't as straight forward as most racing games such as Gran Turismo 2, but it's nonetheless easy to pick up when you get the hang of it. Like in GT2, you must first purchase a racehorse to start off with, but be warned; purchasing a horse that's just within your budget can cause you to miss a few races because of lack of funds, a lesson I learned the hard way.

Speaking of purchasing horses, you'll have to delve through a ton of information on each steed before you come up with your decision, as Gallop Racer is as full of stats as GT2 is. It's definitely worth spending some time looking at each horse's stats, as the horse you choose from the start will have a profound impact on how you'll do in the rest of your career. Horses are rated based upon their gender, the type of spurts the horse can do (spurts are the last leg sprints to the finish line), the length of track that the horse is best at, Growing Type (how the horse matures), and Condition. By far the most important statistic to know about your horse is its ability to race on different types of terrain, known as Rating. This is integral in purchasing your horse, as you'll need to attain a horse that will be able to sustain the different types of weather patterns in the game. If your horse can't handle running on wet terrain, it'd probably be in your best interest not to enter any races that have a chance of rain, while participating in every race that should be dry as Martin Short's monologues.

Money and points are awarded for each successful race, which you can use for purchasing new horses for your existing stable. As you progress further in career mode, you'll unlock newer, faster and younger horses for you to purchase, many of which are some of the highest quality steeds you'll find in the game. Tecmo even included an option to breed your horses together to create an offspring for you to raise and race! This is a great option if you ever wanted to mix some of the best characteristics of some of your fine members of your stable together to create an uber-fast horse.

What surprised me the most about this game is the quality of music. While it's not the best that I've ever heard, it's certain catchy, as it sounds a lot like Ridge Racer Type 4, with it's soothing melodies and thumping bass beats. Definitely a shocker here, considering the type of game we're dealing with.

Gallop Racer probably won't win any accolades within the industry, on the mere fact that it's so out of touch with most of the gaming audience and their interests, but for those who do take the risk of playing this game, you'll be in for a pleasant surprise at the least, and grossly involved for weeks at the most.

· · · Reno