The Saddle Club: Willowbrook Stables

Summary
This is a mystery game set in the Saddle Club franchise. A friend of the Regnerys has invited one girl from the Saddle Club (Stevie, Lisa, and Carole) for a holiday at Willowbrook Stables on Coventry Island. Once on the island, the girl must solve a mystery to save Willowbrook Stables from the evil property developer trying to take over. The skills that Lisa, Carole, and Stevie learned at Pine Hollow come in handy, as horses are just as important on Coventry Island as they are in Willow Creek.

The player can roam around the island freely, where she can meet over 30 characters. Even though the other Saddle Club members won’t be with you, you can still keep in touch and tell them all about Willowbrook Stables and your adventures.

Game Design
The player begins by choosing one of the 3 Saddle Club girls to play. The horse can be customized, but the name of the horse is the same no matter which customization options you choose. Each girl starts with a default horse.

In the horse selection screen, the player can choose an alternate coat for their horse from one of the following options:
 * Bay
 * Chestnut
 * Skewbald
 * Palomino
 * Appaloosa
 * Brown
 * Black
 * Dapple Grey
 * Grey
 * Liver Chestnut
 * White
 * Piebald
 * Buckskin

The player can also select facial markings, as well as markings for each leg.

Gameplay
The player walks and rides around the game world and interacts with objects to try and help the stable owner (Agnus) keep her stables away from the development company. A stable boy (Toby) is also there to provide clues. As the player progresses, she meets other characters which provide more clues and side quests. The side tasks include jumping objects, feeding, grooming, cleaning the stables, catching butterflies, and riding in pony club events.



There is a quick-travel feature that was not published in the user manual. While on the horse, press the ESC key to bring up the Diary. Scroll up one page by left clicking on the Up Arrow, then you should see a map of Willow Brook. You can jump to a location on the map by left clicking on that location.

Other horse-crazy kids on the island will help you in your quest to save the stables. The player rides all over in search of golden horseshoe clues and collect important information from non-player characters. You can get additional clues and track your progress in your personal game diary.

Riding Mechanics
The player must place a horse blanket, saddle, and bridle on the horse, don a helmet, then can lead the horse out of the stable to ride. Movement consists of using the arrow keys to maneuver the horse, spacebar to jump.

Trivia
IR Gurus Interactive spent 18 months developing The Saddle Club: Willowbrook Stables. The characters are from the Saddle Club book and television series about a group of girls who compete in equestrian events. The character and franchise content is the primary difference from IR Gurus Interactive's earlier game Willowbrook Stables: Search for the Golden Horseshoes, published in 2001. Here is some gameplay of Willowbrook Stables: Search for the Golden Horseshoes.

System Requirements & Compatibility

 * Operating System: Windows 98/Me/2000/XP
 * Processor: Pentium III 550 MHz or higher (Pentium III 700 MHz (recommended)
 * Memory: 128 MB RAM (256 MB RAM recommended)
 * Hard Disk Space: 900 MB Free
 * CD-ROM Drive: 8X Speed or faster
 * Video: 16 MB 3D Windows 98/Me/2000/XP-compatible video card (32 MB recommended)
 * Sound: Windows 98/Me/2000/XP-compatible sound card
 * DirectX: DirectX version 8.0 (included) or higher
 * Controllers: Keyboard and mouse