If you're a fan of Thoroughbred horse racing then you are aware of two undeniable facts: the sport continues to get the short shrift from American publishers and when one actually does try to make a game the result is usually rather disastrous (see Bethesda's Breeders' Cup game). Second, the Gallop Racer series is, and always has been, your best bet when it comes to arcade style horse racing. (Actually, the third fact is that there are a lot of good PC horse racing sims available but they're all management games and not hands-on in nature.) The latest game in the Gallop Racer line is the best in the history of the series in terms of depth and racing mechanics but at the same time it's a puzzling step sideways in terms of focus and design. Tecmo has completely shifted the focus of the game, for better or for worse.

In many ways this version exceeds expectations. Gone is the overtly cartoony graphic presentation that made previous Gallop Racers look like a kid's game rather than a deep horse racing simulation. The new game certainly looks like it is intended for grown-ups. The races and animations look a lot like previous editions; the game desperately needs a next-generation facelift. It doesn't look bad, but it definitely is starting to show signs of age. The sound, on the other hand, is just plain terrible. Bland commentary and cheesy music isn't quite a recipe for success. .

In addition, the horses themselves (of which there are plenty) are rated in more categories than before; all horses are rated not only in obvious categories like speed and stamina but also harder to define areas like tenacity, feel, and courage just to name a few. In addition to this, some are given special traits (and flaws) that help them stand apart from one another. Your horse may falter when swallowing dust so it's wise to keep him or her clear of other horses; others may lose their will if they take the lead too soon while even others might excel at splitting a pack of horses in mid-stretch. There are 30 of these positive and negative traits and they are a huge boon to the game as a whole.

Other new features include a "Sim Mode" which allows you to edit horses, races, and jockeys. Sadly, you can only edit jockey names and appearance (there are no abilities in which to tweak) but if you want to rename every CPU horse in the game, which would take days, you could certainly do it. You may also create a custom horse from scratch and use it in the Theme Park, which serves as the game's career mode.

It's the new Theme Park that will either make or break the game, depending on your expectations.

In the past, you could own an entire stable of horses, race them throughout their career, retire and then breed them to make other custom-bred horses to continue the game. This year you get one, solitary animal in which to race. This is both good and bad – good in the sense that you can zip through a horse's entire career in one or two night's play, but bad because you can never own a powerful stable that can compete in multiple big races during the season. If, for example, you own a horse that specializes in dirt races over 9 furlongs you'll never see a grass race or a sprint on the dirt while you own this horse. Why would you? Your horse can't run well on the turf so there's little need to even pay attention to the turf horses. This causes a bit of disconnect during the season because you never are involved in all facets of the game whereas in previous games you could have your finger in every divisional pie because you could own multiple horses at once.

Then there's breeding. While the breeding model remains fairly deep, even showing you the sire and dam's bloodline, fact is, you don't actually breed your own horses anymore. When your Theme Park horse retires, he's done; you collect your Theme Park points and head to the breeding shed to breed the pre-stocked horses that you wish to breed or simply go back and "buy" one of the pre-made horses. It used to be so darn cool to race your horse, breed it, and then continue to race with its off-spring and the fact that you can no longer do that is a huge letdown. There's also a lack of ladder-climbing because when Theme Park starts you get 10,000 points to buy your first horse and the top horses run around 6,000 to 8,000 points so there's little to no reason to ever race an average horse in the game. You can start right off the bat with a Grade I runner. This dramatic change in focus doesn't erase the notion that the game is still highly addictive and a ton of fun, it's just that you lose some of the connection to your horse because of it.

Thankfully, the racing model itself is much better than before. It's no longer easy to weave through traffic like you're driving a Ferrari. Now, depending on the traits of your horse, you need to be able to anticipate openings and push through when they appear. For the first time in the series you actually need to think like a jockey. Granted, it's still nowhere near an authentic jockey simulator but it's a solid step in that direction. It's no longer a case of just settling your horse into its desired position (front, pack, or rear) and waiting for the stretch to turn it on – you really need to keep an eye on the other horses and the overall pace of the race. Also, the new whip additions are a very welcome change -– you may now just show the horse the whip, pop him on the shoulder or do a full-out whip to get him rolling.

The game, not surprisingly, still focuses on grass racing (it's a Japanese product, and it's mostly turf racing over there) and you still see way too many fillies racing against colts so it's still got a long way to go to be classified as a hardcore racing sim. Still, it's as good as it gets in terms of an arcade horse racing game, and it's impossible to deny its addictive qualities. It's just a shame that Tecmo took the series into this more solitary direction. In short, I miss my stable. - William Abner