Pocket Card Jockey

I've played a lot of new games this year (three), but this is easily the best of them all. This is quality. It does away with all the mince that you all like - like Dark Souls III, Bravely Second, Zelda, Dark Souls III, Dark Souls III again and Dark Souls III - and breaks gaming down to it's core essentials. The stuff that it really needs, which is of course horse racing and cairds.

It's got a lot of character, and it's really addictive - download the demo and see what you think for yourselves. It's a bit complicated atfirst, but stick with it. I think everybody will like it, it's a very likeable game.

I don't miss mince.

Got the demo. It's quirkier than Zooey Deschanel tap dancing Baby Got Back on the roof of the Turning Torso building in Malmo; at least, that's the impression I have so far. I'll give it further bashes in the days to come but I'm not sold on the full game yet.

I found that I liked the cards but didn't really get the horse racing bit, perhaps it was the low difficulty but I won with ease every time and I just found it got in the way of some good solitaire, so I downloaded a free solitaire game on my phone instead.

ZeroJones wrote:

Got the demo. It's quirkier than Zooey Deschanel tap dancing Baby Got Back on the roof of the Turning Torso building in Malmo;...

Now this is the way to sell me on something. Sounds interesting, might give it a bash once Twilight Picross drags itself to its untimely end.

Really enjoying the demo, despite not having much luck with the cards. And that seems to be the main problem, the element of luck involved (which I've seen reviews have also noted). A great concept, and it's something my wife has become addicted to, so Gamefreak are clearly on to something here.

You get to learn it's tricks fairly quickly, and you definitely can't help but become better at solitare as the play the game more. When luck goes your way, it's a brilliant game. When it doesn't, it's still good fun, though you start to think if all your effort is a bit fruitless.

I went back to this the other night after realising my brain wasn't up for FE (apparently if the enemy is going to hit you 8x2, that doesn't only do 8 damage ) and I clicked with it. I think on my first go I had been very lucky and had won every race without really working out why. When I returned I started losing and had to actually work out what was going on, now I love it!

I spent almost 3 hours with the demo before I got to the end with it but haven't gotten around to buying the full game. Enjoyed it a lot but yeah, my main frustration was that sometimes it felt like my efforts were often a little fruitless, even if the solitaire had gone really well...

When you're doing well, though, this is a brilliant game. £6.29 is great value, in my opinion. It's easily my Nintendo game of the year thus far.

~

I've gotten quite good at this, but I'm not having much luck all the same. The root of the problem is that, in the game, I'm just not able to breed any horses that turn out to be any use. fronkhead seems to have worked it out though. He's got some QR Codes for some of this more successful horses on his Twitter feed if you've got him on there.

I bought this after taking a punt on the demo. It's really good. I think the interplay between positioning your horse on the track and playing good solitaire works brilliantly, and the games prologue is the most fun I've had with a game for a while.

Beyond the demo, it certainly feels like a game for the long haul if you want to be super successful. You're going to need to breed up some horses or hope someone offers you a stud before you are consistently at the top end of the tougher races. Even then, luck can get in the way, but hell you're controlling a horse with a game of bloody solitaire, that's to be expected.

The only thing that annoys me is what the game counts as losses. Once your horse has matured, you can only keep riding it if you finish first - I think. 3 non-first finishes, and it's off to the sex-farm for your mount. I wasn't happy to see a special horse I was given prematurely retired despite it finishing it's last race second, but a couple of bad hands - and some misplays on my part, during it's career soon saw it off.

Despite that though, it's probably the closest thing to the endlessly replayable, Tetris, that I've come across since, Tetris? I'll definitely be playing this on breaks at work anyway.

I picked this up because of the whole 'the eShops are closing' thing, and I think I agree with basically everyone who posted at the time. Yes it's addictive, yes it's irritatingly luck-based, yes it's really playable, yes the prologue is a lot of fun, and yes all the interlocking systems are a bit confusing.

My first horse to reach mature age (Spronty Chap) wasn't good enough to win mature races even when I did perfectly, so she (yes) immediately got sent to the farm. I'm now playing with a weird orange one (Flamey Chip). Does everyone get the orange one as their second horse, or is it luck of the draw?

Sounds like you're having a mare.

It's been a while...



Actually that was pretty good.

What an opening post that is by the way. Shiteing on your favourite games, hyping up mine, and Alan Partridge: it's got the lot.

FYI, there’s loads of QR codes online for well-bred horses that you can bring into your farm. With a lot of them it’s almost like an easy mode for the game, where they’re just a bit faster and have just a bit more stamina. I think Pocket Card Jockey’s main issue is that it’s just a bit too luck-based, but these QR codes do a lot to reduce that problem.

I'm currently scooping up a few 3DS games that I missed myself. Suppose I'd better pop this one down too.

Rum wrote:

I spent almost 3 hours with the demo before I got to the end with it but haven't gotten around to buying the full game. Enjoyed it a lot but yeah, my main frustration was that sometimes it felt like my efforts were often a little fruitless, even if the solitaire had gone really well...

Almost 6 years later and I finally bought it! And I have exactly the same thoughts about it! I seem to come first every time, and then suddenly the races seem a lot harder and I come, like, 5th or 6th. I might scan QR codes to make it a bit easier, or I might just say "I had a fun five or so hours with this, I'm glad I bought it before the eShop dies" and put it down again.

Balladeer wrote:

Does everyone get the orange one as their second horse, or is it luck of the draw?

I got the orange one as an option too, and chose him. He's in the game art! How could I not?

Rum wrote:

...or I might just say "I had a fun five or so hours with this, I'm glad I bought it before the eShop dies" and put it down again.

This is exactly what I did.