G1 Jockey Wii Review
Horse play.
Version tested: Wii
The sticker on G1 Jockey's box explains: 'The Wii remote is your whip... the Nunchuck your reigns' and with that the horseracing videogame joke has its best punch line yet.
For most gamers Japan's ongoing servicing of this most niche of sporting genres is something to giggled at and then politely ignored. After all, who'd want to role-play being a little man riding about on a horse? Or, at least, who'd want to role-play being a little man riding about on a horse without a princess to rescue or a Master Sword to wield. Now, with the Wii's control system once again removing the layers of abstraction, the image of grown men bouncing up and down bow-legged in the front room, the Wii remote in one hand whipping away at their bums, Nunchuck clutched tightly in the other, indifference is turned to wonder and ridicule.
But if you're expecting Koei's latest horse racing game, a souped-up conversion of the PS2's G1 Jockey 4, to be all whips and giggles then you're in for a rude awakening. This is about as far from Wii Play's cow racing as you can get. Best described as the Gran Turismo of the jockey genre, the G1 Jockey games are punishing, vast and deep simulators, which, thanks to the Wii's control scheme, have just received their equivalent of a force feedback steering wheel.
Despite the game's best efforts to ease you in to the experience by casting you as a young jockey in training at a jockey academy (do these things actually exist?) the game will be, for the first hour of play, near un-winnable. That's because, if you never played a G1 Jockey title before, you will approach it like any other racing game: stamping pedal to the metal, screeching around corners, powering as fast as possible towards the finishing line. But to fail to take into consideration a horse's stamina and racing style or pay no heed to the timing of your sprints and you'll inevitably cross the finish line last. Horses are living, breathing vehicles with personalities and eccentricities and understanding and exploiting these is the key to success in G1 Jockey.

Graphically the game is washed out, dreary and PS2-like.
So, the myriad dials and icons at the bottom of the screen are, unlike in your average racing game, actually important. The dial on the left displays your horse's stamina, which depletes over the course of a course. The harder you drive your horse the faster the gauge empties and, when it's exhausted, your horse will slow to a lumbering, inescapable canter. The gauge in the centre is your speedometer which also displays a green pulsing blob which indicates your horse's 'Motivation'
Motivation relates to where your horse ideally likes to run in the pack. For a horse who likes to lead, staying out in front will ensure his motivation remains high. However, if your horse likes to hang back and you're out in front, its Motivation will be low. Your horse's Motivation fills or empties the final gauge, displayed to the right of the HUD, 'Potential'. This all-important indicator shows how much reserve energy is left in the tank for when your horse's stamina is depleted: your reserves for the final sprint. Most of the time you'll be looking to keep your horse's Motivation high in order to fill the Potential gauge as much as possible so that, on the final corner, when your Stamina is all gone, you've a good 200 metres worth of sprint left to draw upon. While this all takes a little getting used to it's logical and learning how best to ride different tempered horses soon becomes second, if repetitive, nature.
The controls are, happily, more simple. You hold the Nunchuck in your left hand and angling this forward makes your jockey drive the horse while angling it backwards makes the jockey pull back. Double clicking the C button changes your horse's lead leg (essential when entering and exiting turns) while holding the Z-button initiates a strong drive - perfect for pushing towards the finishing line. In your right hand you hold the Wii controller and flicking it from side to side whips your horse. There are three variations of whip types but, for the most part, the straightforward side-to-side version will do the trick of kicking your horse up a gear.
Outside of races the game is equally as onion-layered. Once graduating from jockey school you join a stable, which, earn a good reputation as a winning jockey, offers you different horses to race. It's possible to race horses for other stables by paying for the privilege out of a bank of tokens which you receive for wins. As you gain credibility and fame you earn the chance to ride in faster ranked races (all the way up to the eponymous G1 series). Winning races is tricky to begin with and your fist actual win will be an ecstatic moment. Indeed, it's refreshing to play a racing game where finishing third feels like something of an achievement (and is praised by the NPCs) rather than seeming an abject failure.

Statistics which are at first baffling soon impart their crucial information in seconds.
After your first couple of hours play your stable's trainer will call you in to the stables to offer you the chance to breed your own horse. Every January you're given the chance to select two horses from a huge list of different types and styles to breed. Their resulting offspring is given to you to train up in order to race for the stable when it matures. Once you've named your new horse you're allowed to train it once a week in order to improve each of its 20 different attributes. You pick which attribute you want to level up and undertake a challenge mini-game based around that skill (e.g. running three furlongs at 13 second per furlong to increase control). How well you do in the challenge dictates how much that statistic increases for the week and so, the better you are at completing minigames the faster your new horse will develop. You have up until the month before the horse's first race debut to improve its statistics so the emphasis is on performing well in mini-games to get the horse as good as possible before you start racing it professionally.
While this all sounds a little complex (and the above isn't even explained in the manual) in fact its extremely compelling as you struggle to match target times for furlongs, attempt to get the best possible starts out of the gate and generally work hard to improve your horse before the deadline. You then race this horse in the next season, as well as receiving a new foal to train up, so as the game progresses you find that, more and more, you're racing foals, which you trained from birth. In this way the game becomes increasingly personal as it progresses, thus sinking its claws into you as you seek to do the very best you can for your stable of equestrian Tamagotchi.

Obstruct another horse or slam into a rival and you could initiate a steward's inquiry, the results of which can have drastic implications to the final placings.
G1 Jockey Wii arrives with fortuitous timing. The Wii's release schedule is characteristically sparse and, as such, this niche game, which normally would be bypassed by most critics and consumers will draw more attention and sales than it would on another platform. For open-minded Wii gamers desperately seeking something, anything, this game unexpectedly fills the gap. Learning to play the game is in many ways like learning a new language: once its constructions are understood and the required muscle memory absorbed, the game establishes a satisfying rhythm. As with all games, the subject and theme eventually fades and the quality of the design that lies beneath reveals itself. Koei demonstrate here that they know how to make an accurate horse racing sim. But, far more importantly, they demonstrate excellence at structuring an enjoyable and compelling videogame, one that will entrance those with eyes to see, and curtains to conceal.
7 / 10
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Comments (33) Latest comment 4 years ago
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Actually sounds like an interesting game. My Wii unfortunately is a bit dusty (just haven't had time to get into any new games for a few months for the Wii) but this actually sounds pretty fun.
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BAN THIS SICK FILTH NOW.
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I miss the tit though. Nothing reading this review and seeing a lovely tit at the bottom. Now all you've got is a neurotic prairie dog.
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...yet
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"(do these things actually exist?)"
Jockey training centers? Yes, they do. Of course some riders have been working in the trainers yard since they were kids, or it's just simply their father's yard, but some do come into the sport through more regular (ie. comparable with other sports) channels. Whilst it wouldn't be quite the same as represented in this game (although this would be one of the areas of Japanese racing that I'm not quite au fait with), I think G1 Jockey does a decent enough job of representing the early part of a career where you'd struggle to pick up rides, and certainly struggle to pick up quality rides.
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Yes it's a niche product, but it's put together really well and is INCREDIBLY rewarding once you make the break through and suddenly "get it".
Cruising past the opposition and nabbing the win on the line is a very sweet feeling indeed.
I'd give it a recommendation to anyone who's willing to invest the time (and it may well take you a while!)
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16-Jul-07 11:30:05 Are the PS2 versions of this freely available in the UK or are they as unlikely to be on the shelves of my local as I suspect?
Hate the wii, wouldn't allow one in my house, but like the sound of a proper simulation horse-racing game... if only because I've not played one before, and they sound kinda interesting...
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I bought G1 Jockey 4 in Game for £14.99 about a month ago and it's a brilliant game.
You won't believe how attached you get to individual horses you have enjoyed successes with and you can't bare to retire them even when you know in your heart of hearts they should be on their way to the glue factory.
All the major races and horses are there with little spelling changes for instance like Rock Of Gibralter becoming Loch Of Gilbralter and such like.
At the end of the season they even have an awards ceremony with prizes for best horse, best jockey and most promising newcomer etc.
I happen to be a horse racing fan so I loved the game and was laughed at by my mate who has no interest in the sport - until he actually played this game(PS2 version) and became totally addicted like me.
Check out Amazon it's £14.99 there
[link url=http://www.amazon.co.uk/Koei-G1-Jockey-4 -PS2/dp/B000E71HIS/ref=sr_1_1/203-3926584-8910353?ie=UTF8&s= videogames&qid=1184601401&sr=1-1
]http://ww w.amazon.co.uk/Koei-G1-Jockey-4...[/link]
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Quite frankly the saddest thing i've ever seen a troll post.
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One of the newer things I do like about the series is actually playing the training mini-games. I hope you're enjoying it.
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So why didn't you just say that? Don't you like factual things?
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17-Jul-07 14:41:37 If the console war became a real war, ninty would never be short of suicide bombers...
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They are a special kind of breed aren't they? Lol
Anyway Wii owners should run out any buy G1 jockey after all it's not every day that their next gen console manages to match a PS2 game in the graphics department is it?!
I'm just kidding, calm down!
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Now is the time to get back on my horse! Giddy up Shergar!!!
Oh fuck it's not out over here. How can the UK get something first?
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19-Jul-07 06:16:10 I used to love this on PS2, but then I moved to N.America and my PAL version was no good to me. Never picked it up again.
Now is the time to get back on my horse! Giddy up Shergar!!!
Oh fuck it's not out over here. How can the UK get something first?
I could be wrong but I think it's called something else in the States.
Another horse raceng game called Gallop Racer is available in the states but that's got a different name over there too.
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I'd like to know how all this fits in with the balance board support.