Game review

Get Under Starters Orders with this thrilling racing game

THE undisputed Frankel of horse racing computer games – Starters Orders — has reached version seven and taken another step up the ratings.

If you have a decent PC, it’s worth £24.99 of anyone’s money to download a game that is packed with even more features than before.

Anyone who has seen the worldfamous Football Manager series will see a kindred spirit here as Starters Orders allow you to play as a jockey, punter, trainer and breeder.

The mind boggles wondering about the level of work that goes into the game as it faithfully reproduces one of the most complex sports on the planet.

The game has several different modes with varying levels of difficulty and commitment required. It’s possible to play a relatively simple game or you can control all aspects of your yard if you have more time on your hands.

One lovely feature is the capacity to add some legends of racing to the game – so you can include Frankel, Denman, Sprinter Sacre and Istabraq with lots of other great horses available.

It’s hard to get across just how involved the game is and all the important aspects are done well. The race sequences are very realistic and you can even watch them with a betting shop backdrop for added authenticity.

There is a form book for each horse and again it’s realistic with comments in running and realistic betting markets – no 50% books or anything like that.

I found the game enjoyable just at this level, trying to pick winners. The tracks are right, if you watch a race at Chelmsford City, it has the grandstand in the middle of the course.

Of course that’s less than 10% of the game and it comes into its own when you start training your string. Here you can get your horses ready and plot their campaign.

The programmers have spent a long time improving the breeding side of the program since version six and other tweaks have been made to improve the realism of the races. From the heats I saw that work has more than paid off.

The best advice is to download it and get stuck in as there’s something for everybody.

Download Starters Orders 7 from www.startersorders.com