Champion Jockey Review (Xbox 360)

I was invited out to Windsor a few weeks back to take a look at Tecmo Koei’s newest addition to the G1 racing game series. I’d seen the trailer online and – I’ll be honest – it looked a bit shit. Here’s the trailer for *deep breath* Champion Jockey: G1 Jockey & Gallop Racer on YouTube.

It’s not shit. I promise you, it’s actually quite fun. Yes, you’ll look like a complete tit if you use the Kinect mode and yes, the responsiveness makes it feel like you’re riding a particularly stubborn or stupid horse. When you’re playing with the controller mode, it’s an incredibly deep and detailed game. When you’re playing with Kinect mode, it’s supposedly the same game. In my experience racing with Kinect makes the game feel far less finicky about controls and stamina.

Off to the Races

As a new jockey you have to work your way up through the ranks by riding horses at every meet. Thing is, unlike so many racing games, you don’t actually need to win every race to progress. Some horses are nags far past their best and the stable trainers know this. To win approval from your colleagues and gain jockey points, all you really need to do is place higher than the bookies were expecting. You’ll earn points every time this happens, with a large boost when you win. You’ll also gain favour with the trainers, which you’ll need to if you want to ride the best horses and be the champion.

That’s not to say that doing well on a horse that’s halfway to the glue factory is out of your reach. Quite the opposite. I’ve come first in 16-horse races where my old mare was expected to place no higher than fourteenth and the trainers are very much appreciative when that happens.

Here’s how you do it: every horse has a preferred racing style and a series of strengths and faults that you can exploit during the race. For example, some horses like to lead the pack whilst others prefer to run near – but not AT – the back. Use the ridiculously detailed HUD to work out where your horse likes to be and make sure you’re there at key points, particularly the first and last quarters of the race.

The next most important factor for winning is stamina. Push your horse too early and you’ll lead all the way round only to be overtaken by every other horse in the field during the last hundred yards. You need to judge the stamina carefully and build up something called “potential” which you then unleash by whipping the crap out of your poor ride for the final stretch. Don’t do as I did early in my career and spare the rod on some silly humane grounds. You want to win? You whip it. Whip it good.

Pull off all the right moves and you’ll unlock special “powers” that each horse has. Many horses that prefer to run in the middle will have a power called “Pack Split” which causes the horses in front to mysteriously move aside and let you barrel though to take the lead. Another one I’ve seen in horses who prefer the rear is “Last To First” which gives you a massive speed boost that will let you overtake the entire field.

These powers are triggered by your riding and race conditions rather than a mechanic as crass as QTEs, so you really need to be aware of your fellow jockeys. I lost quite a few weeks to injury when my ride unexpectedly triggered her Last To First power and ran smack up the arse of the horse in front. My trainer was NOT pleased and it almost put me out of the running for the Champion Apprentice trophy in my first year. No word on whether the horse taken out back and shot. I do hope not.

As you reach autumn, you’ll move on from the flat races and into the jump season. I quickly found out that you simply cannot treat steeplechase races like flats with added jumping. Jump horses have much more stamina compared to the length of race, so the competition focuses far more on jumping technique than pacing your horse.

Back at the Stables

The game is great fun while racing on the track. Off the track is just as complex but, in my mind, not nearly as fun. Every week has a negotiation period where you look at the upcoming meets and choose your horses. I’ve talked about needing trainers to like you – this comes into play here. Those who like you will offer you great horses without having spend quite as many jockey points. Those who dislike you won’t even give you the time of day. And then there are a few who like another rider better but are open to persuasion.

This isn’t as exciting as it sounds. You hit the Negotiate button, decide whether you want to spend the necessary points and depending on some mystical background algorithm, you either get the horse you don’t. Either way, you’ve just spent a load of jockey points that you’ll have to earn back by racing. I rarely bother with this unless one of the racing journalists has popped up with a hot tip. Costs me a load but they’ve not been wrong about a winner yet.

Other features are the ability to train up your own horse and do some skills practice with your assigned horses prior to the meet. I’m appalling at all of the skills trials. Given that screwing them up actually penalises your horse at the meet itself, I have learned my lesson and leave them with my very capable stablehands.

But is it Fun?

I really enjoy this game. The career mode is filled with all sorts of bizarre Japanese-translated banter
and my amusement comes more from a perpetual “What the heck just happened?” than any decent scriptwriting so it may not be to everyone’s taste. Thankfully, the cut-scenes are easy enough to skip so don’t let that put you off.

The racing does have plenty of depth – so much so that this is a LONG game. I’ve played it for 21 hours and barely hit the end of my first year of racing. I do very few of the training exercises and only ride about half the races I could do. Still, I managed to be the 6th-best jockey in Europe and won the Champion Apprentice title. I think I’ve found my natural talent. At around £20, if you’re even slightly interested in horse-racing, Champion Jockey is a worthwhile purchase.

Here’s a short video from the awards ceremony at the end of my first year. You can see some of the stats that are tracked throughout your career and examples of the odd dialogue as well. Apologies for the shaky-cam footage.

Champion Jockey is out now for Xbox 360, PS3 and Wii.

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