It’s quite easy to determine who Horse Club Adventures 2: Hazelwood Stories is intended for from the title alone. That’s not to say games like this can’t appeal to anyone. However, the content of the game reinforces that this is definitely aimed at younger, female gamers. If you have a little lady in your life with a keen appreciation of horses, is this the right game for her? This Horse Club Adventures 2: Hazelwood Stories review will tell you why it just might be.
The game begins by letting you create your avatar and choice of horse. Aesthetic choices for both are varied, almost as gratifying as a doll dress-up game. And this theme runs throughout the game, with opportunities to become the face of a product line appearing later. Before that however, you’ll be introduced to your friends Hazelwood. An impressively large open world littered with activities.
Most of these activities do involve, unsurprisingly, riding your horse along set routes. These can be time trials or races, none of which are particularly challenging. They do, however, provide a huge variety of scenic backdrops, from rivers and beaches to mountain ranges and pleasingly green pastures. While there are activities that push the story forward, you’re free to roam at your leisure for most of the game. Sometimes uncovering additional activities that you wouldn’t encounter if you stuck to the prescribed campaign.
The campaign missions provide a decent amount of variety. While most of the gameplay on the map is about going fast, the story-led missions have you building a rapport with both the locals and various animals. With the latter, building relationships is key to unlocking new abilities. Taking good care of your horse, for example, can boost it’s stats. Building a relationship over time will bring permanent boosts, such as additional gallop duration. Dressage, photo shoots, fruit collecting and generally taking care of your horse are activities that quickly become available to you.
There’s also a series of side quests to accompany the main campaign. However, oddly, these begin an necessary endeavours. At regular intervals you won’t be able to continue through the campaign until specific side quests have been completed. This, by definition, makes them key tasks opposed to ‘side quests’, you would think.
Regardless, what this results in is a picturesque world full of horse-themed adventure. It’s bright and colourful, impressively large given the competition within the same demographic. As this Horse Club Adventures 2: Hazelwood Stories review attests, the game isn’t going to win over any core gamers. However, if you’re looking to cheer up a young lady with a love of equestrian play, you could do far worse than Horse Club Adventures 2: Hazelwood Stories.
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