Review Date: March 2, 2010
Developer: Artware Games
Price: $6.99 (Publisher's Site)
Platform: Windows
Genre: Simulation
Score: 3.5/5
Despite its generic fantasy sounding name, Secret of the Magic Crystals is actually a simulation game that has you breeding horses. Mythical horses like unicorns, pegasus', and demon steeds. It's a unique concept, and the game does a good job of melding casual gameplay with strong simulation elements. Unfortunately, it's also far too repetitive, leading to a somewhat uneven experience.
A Meteor Crashes
There's a skeleton of a story holding Secret of the Magic Crystals together, which revolves around a crashed meteor that contained a healthy dose of magical crystals. But all you really need to know is that these crystals have some sort of special effect on horses.
And the whole of the game revolves around raising and breeding these horses. You'll start off with a small colt, who'll quickly mature, and it's up to you how you'll proceed from there. In order to improve your horses skills, you'll need to train them. This involves completing four different training routines, with the goal of improving your horse's six different skills, including strength, speed, and intelligence. You can also improve your horse by creating special magic potions and horseshoes.
All of these aspects of the game make use of the same mini-game, whether you're guiding a horse through and obstacle course or mixing up a potion. This mini-game is rhythm based, and features a stream of moving arrows that start to spin when they move past you. Hit the correct button at the correct time and your horse will make all of their jumps and your horseshoes will turn out fine. Miss a beat and progress will be much slower. The mini-game gets slightly more complicated as you progress, but remains largely unchanged from beginning to end, which is unfortunate since you'll be playing it a lot.
Turning The Horse Into A Cash Cow
Once your horse is ready you can send them out to make you some money. This is done by both competing in races and taking on different quests, which can range from delivering a letter to pulling a cart. But unlike the training segments of the game, you don't actually get to participate in these different events. Instead, after selecting an event from a menu, your horse disappears for a bit and you only find out the result when they return.
The money you earn from winning races and completing quests can be used for improving the farm by upgrading the various facilities. Doing so is the only way to progress in many cases. Upgrading the well lets you house more horses, while fixing up the gate lets you take on more missions and races. But you can also use the money for buying additional horses, another major aspect of the game.
Level Up Through Breeding
The horses don't actually gain levels as you progress, instead this can only be achieved through breeding. Breeding two level one horses will result in a level two calf, while breeding two level two horses will earn you a level three calf. And so on. And since horses can only be bred once, it requires a lot of careful planning to get yourself a high-level horse. The problem, though, is that this also requires a lot of repetition. You'll constantly be training your horses and sending them out on tasks, only to start all over again once you have a new higher-level calf. And since most of the game revolves around the same mini-game, things can get tedious pretty quickly.
Secret of the Magic Crystals sports detailed, 3D visuals that are especially impressive when it comes to the focus of the game: the horses. There are five different breeds, each of which looks unique and animates very well, from the flaming demon-steed to the elegant unicorn. The environments, while not as detailed as the horses themselves, also look quite good, especially when coupled with the ever changing weather effects.
The Bottom Line
Ultimately, Secrets of the Magic Crystals is a unique and well-made game that's just a little too repetitive and little too light on story. There's still a lot to do, and the game will certainly be enjoyable for horse fanatics, but the lack of variety if disappointing. But if you don't mind slogging through the same exercise routines over and over, there's a lot of fun to be had. And besides, you get to groom fire and ice steeds. What's not to love?