Ever dream of being a horse whisperer? The new PC game, Horse Isle, asks that question. In attempt to bring WoW obsession to the younger crowd, Horse Islebrings a simplistic flash based MMORPG to the market.

How does this “cutesy cutesy” game stand up? First let’s get a little background information from the developer.

RPG Land: What was the inspiration behind Horse Isle?
Horse Isle: My wife loves horses, And it looked like an under-served market that we could actually improve.

RPG Land: How long was Horse Isle in development? Did any suprises come up during beta?
Horse Isle:A solid 8 months of 14 hour days on my part, along with the work from artists and other contributors.

RPG Land: Obviously this game is for kids but what feedback have you gotten from parents? Online gaming can be a touchy issue.
Horse Isle:Actually, we have lots of parents who play the game along with their kids. They appreciate the over-the-top chat filtering and rules. We try our best to keep everything suitable for an 8 year old, which is challenging.

RPG Land: Most MMORPGs require a monthly fee. What’s the pay structure in Horse Isle?
Horse Isle: We’ve gone with $5/mo or $40/yr for game bonuses/extras.

RPG Land: What features didn’t make the final cut but you’d like to see added in the future?
Horse Isle:As with most Online games, we keep adding content, More horse breeds, and minigames are always in the works. Additional Islands will be added as we build more tilesets.

RPG Land: How does a player get started?
Horse Isle:Horse Isle is all web based. www.horseisle.com is the portal for everything.

The gameplay in Horse Isle revolves mainly around your horses. With a large selection of breeds to catch (Belgian, Haflinger, Lipizzan, Morgan, Azteca, Arabian, Dutch Warmblood just to name a few) it can feel a little like pokemon… but with horses. Actually catching a horse is quite simple: wander the countryside until one is spotted and then enter a minigame that requires you to lasso in your new companion. Once a horse is in the player’s posession they can then continue to customize, race and train their horse.

Pwetty, pwetty flowers

The rest of the game consists mostly of minigames. Horse Isle does offer a lot of minigames (with leaderboards) but most veteran gamers will tire of them rather quickly. They vary from quest minigames, single player minigames, 2 player minigames and group competitions. Over 25 in all. Anything from Balloon popping to painting.

Race time!

Horse Isle looks decent for a 2D flash game. The tiles and sprites are reminiscent of a RM2K game but do look good. You are also treated to some nice original artwork in shops and buidlings. Horse Isle keeps a distinct and charming look throughout. Tile sets vary from region to region and currently there is 5 regions: Horse Isle grassy region, Desert Isle desert region, Snow Isle snowy region and includes specific horse breeds that thrive in cold climates, Flower Isle giant flower region and Pirate Isle cause everyone loves pirates!

The music in Horse Isle is limited to only 7 tracks at about 1-2 minute loops. While the songs are catchy, it’d be nice to hear more of them. I would expect more to be added in the future.

This reviewer’s bias makes me afraid of this game but Horse Isle performs well to its target audience with a solid 5. Recommend it to the “horse lover” in your life. Everyone knows at least one.