Westward bound!
Loosely based on the film of the same name, this is a fairly charming and enjoyable bit of family-oriented adventuring which makes for a pleasantly relaxing bit of fun. It's far from a classic, but if you've got Disney fans or horse lovers in the house, then this is a good choice. The stars of the game are two endearing horses named Little Creek and Little Brook and who find themselves on a great adventure in the American West. After a terrible storm breaks up their herd, it falls to them to find them all, including Spirit, the roguish hero horse, and bring them all back together, while also uncovering the mystery of what happened to Spirit. What follows is a sort of down down scrolling adventure with light RPG elements, sort of like a simplified version of Zelda, where you roam around the wilderness, searching for your buddies, exploring various environments and picking up sidequests. There are various items to collect and NPCs to interact with and who help you to piece together what has actually happened, as well as a few other bits and bobs to take care of. As far as the target market is concerned, this is fairly decent stuff which should provide a bit of undemanding entertainment. It scores well in the visuals department, with some lovely character and environment work which have a cheerily bright and friendly style, with some nice use of color. Music is similarly chirpy, lending to the atmosphere. The gameplay is fairly simple but generally quite fun, although the sheer number of sidequests, which lack variety, does mean things get a touch repetitive. Apart from this though, this is an enjoyable adventure for younger gamers.
