Gallop Racer E3 2005 Hands-On Report

We sat down with Tecmo's Gallop Racer for mobile and lost a few heartbreaking races before calling it a day. Gallop Racer, which will come in both 2D and 3D versions, is a mobile adaptation of the gameplay from the extremely popular console game that realistically simulates horse racing while still maintaining the speed and excitement of an arcade game.

The perspective in Gallop Racer for mobile is a third-person over-the-shoulder view, which allows you to get a good feel for where your horse is among the rest of the pack, without completely giving it away. Which is to say that, like real horse racing, if you're ahead of the curve, you'll be too busy trying to keep that lead to really focus on what's going on behind you. Likewise, the farther you slip behind the rest of the pack, the more attention you have to give to your horse and the less you can be preoccupied with the other players around you. This gives horse racing a unique dynamic that's different from other kinds of races, because while you can impact the other players a little by choosing different lanes on the track, for the most part you're competing against your own personal capabilities. What becomes important then, is figuring out how much you can get out of your horse without terrorizing or aggravating it too much. In Gallop Racer for mobile, this is where the stick comes into play (sorry, but the game does not have an interactive carrot yet). Carefully managing the number of times you use your crop to get the horse motivated without disrupting his overall stamina too much is one of the critical features of gameplay.

Gallop Racer for mobile has quite a few different options for horses and races, and you'll be able to choose between different ages and genders until you find one that best suits your racing style. So far the game is coming along quite nicely, and we hope to have further impressions in the upcoming weeks.