Champion Dreams: First to Ride

by UBI Soft

Product Features

• For 1 player
• Ride the horse of your dreams in this exciting game
• Choose from 14 different breeds; groom, feed, and care for the horse
• Build horse's abilities through diligent training and advice from top teachers
• Compete in dressage, show jumping, and cross country events

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B000EGIG60
• Item Weight: 8.3 ounces
• Media: CD-ROM
• Release Date: June 13, 2006
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (53 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #11,153 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
  • #61 in Software > Children's Software > Games
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

Congratulations! You've been admitted to the world-renowned Sycamore Riding School where you will compete in dressage, show jumping, and cross country events against rising stars from all over the world.

Features:

• Ride the horse of your dreams: choose your favorite horse from 14 different breeds including Andalusian, Lipizzan, Hunter, Palomino, and Freesian.
• Practice makes perfect: build your horse's stamina, speed, precision, and grace through diligent training and advice from top teachers.
• Care for your horse: Learn to groom, feed, and care for your horse. The bond you build will give you the edge to rise to the very top.
• Show off your style: look great at every competition by picking cool outfits and riding gear for you and your horse.

Product Description

Platform:  WINDOWS 98/ME/2000/XP Publisher:  UBI SOFT Packaging:  DVD STYLE BOX Rating:  EVERYONE Congratulations! You ve been admitted to the world-renowned Sycamore Riding School where you will compete in dressage show jumping and cross country events against rising stars from all over the worldFeatures:Ride the horse of your dreams: Choose your favorite horse from 14 different breeds including Andalusian Lipizzan Hunter Palomino and Freesian. Practice makes perfect: Build your horse s stamina speed precision and grace through diligent training and advice from top teachers. Care for your horse: Learn to groom feed and care for your horse. The bond you build will give you the edge to rise to the very top. Show off your style: Look great at every competition by picking cool outfits and riding gear for you and your horse.System Requirements:Supported OS: Windows 98/2000/ME/XP (only)RAM: 128 MB RAM (256 for Win XP)Video Card: DirectX 9.0 compliant cardSound Card: DirectX 8.1 compliantHardrive: 1.5 free disc spaceCD ROM: required to run the game

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Things are touch and go on this one..., November 25, 2006

By 

K. Sinclair "Dressage In Color" (St. Louis, MO USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Champion Dreams: First to Ride (CD-ROM)

This game has its good and bad aspects. But, just to put it out there, I would not recommend this game for little kids.

Good Aspects:

Fair Graphics
- The horse needs work because it has very ackward movements, but the people and surrounds are great.
Good Story Line
- The story line keeps you into the game longer then most horse games I have played (and trust me, I've tried maybe 99% of them).
Design your own Training Schedule
- You have certain goals to acheive before the end of the week, but otherwise you can do what you want, when you want to.
Realistic Gameplay
- Grooming, bathing, hoof cleaning, stall cleaning, turn-out, dressage, show jumping, cross country, trail rides, etc.

Bad Aspects:

Too Challenging of game obstacles
- After about an hour of trying on some, I gave up and had to go onto cheat sites in order to figure out some of the obstacles)
The main character talks to herself (or has an imaginary friend?)
- Okay, I had to throw this in, because it's just a bad idea on the part of the designer to tell you what to do in the game. It's just plain strange.
Some of the "Horse Care" tasks take WAY TOO LONG
- Hoof cleaning and stall cleaning take way too long. Sometimes you can't even get the hoof pick to get that certain piece of dirt without touching the frog (V-shaped area of the foot). Or you can't pick up the straw and manure pieces without trying multiple times (I feel like the arm on those stuffed animal toys at the arcade). In addition, the hose in the bathing option does not spray correctly. I have to aim lower then it looks in order to his the rump for example.
What's with the "Talk"?
- The "talk" options (after passing the first competition) is all messed up. First of all, I can't hear whether a horse is whinnying or puffing, etc. Second, it's too much for a hassle to have to write all these things down in order to get them even remotely correct, and I still sometimes get them wrong. Third, way too many of them are too close to each other to figure out the difference. It was an interesting idea, but needed to be designed better.
Important things get screwed up
- The first time I played the scenario, my collected canter would not work no matter what I did, so I would always get points off. Now, on my second time through, my collected canter works, but my horse continues to turn left randomly, even when I'm not pressing the key (although I prefer this one over the first because this one I can expect and correct).

I probably have more aspects, but I've written too much already. Overall, I don't want the bad aspects to get you down about this game. It is good, but only if you don't mind the difficult things and don't fret about having to look up some cheats if you get frustracted on the scenario obstacles.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good premise, bad execution, October 14, 2006

By 

P. Danielson - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Champion Dreams: First to Ride (CD-ROM)

As someone who has also played more than my fair share of horse games, I was a bit frustrated and disappointed by this game. For starters, the NICE thing about this game is that it has a more complete manual than most UBISOFT games. However, in keeping with tradition for UBISOFT, on the downside, there are still MAJOR gaps to be filled in - as you can see from other reviewers questions. The sequence of events is not always naturally progressive so there are some areas that you need to make a leap of logic to fill in.
There are some areas - such as talking to your horse - which continue to be mysterious no matter how many notes you take. What your horse "does" doesn't always match up to the descriptions given. Also, having found something in the manual that didn't match up in game play, I am a bit suspicious that they made sure everything "written" had a matching equivalent in game.
Additionally, while the level of the game scales up - as in the courses get harder - so too does your level of expected competency. As you get to the last week in the game your expected level of competency is higher than any other week, and the challenges are MUCH harder. As most who have played the game know is near impossible to make any jumping circuit without having at least one refusal(on the cross country course) or at least one bar down (in the show jumping), but during the last week thats exactly what's expected of you. Suffice it to say, with 34 cross country jumps and 15 show jumping jumps, the odds are just that much higher that you won't succeed. I've found myself saving and repeating courses over and over again just so I can try to get the best score possible. You get three fails at any week or task before you're expelled.

And as a side note, I am NOT a fan of the "love interest" side story, mostly because I find it to be VERY creepy and very disturbing at the end. I just found the concepts to be more mature than should be in a game of this level (E for everyone).
Overall the game is entertaining, but frustrating requiring more hours of repetition than actual progressive game time.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great game, March 12, 2007

By 

E. Corcoran "elaine210" (TX) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Champion Dreams: First to Ride (CD-ROM)

This game is very close to being my favorite . Next to equestriad . I think it is very correct it's horses movements except for the lead no game can grasp the concept of this . I really like all the competions it's not all about cleaning your horse and I like the Idea of making my own schedule . Think is great . I love the dressage part on some games they only do some of the movements this one does all.I would suggest this to anyone that is a kid at heart it's a little hard for younger kids to play.