Hmm – Pocket Stables Review

If you do your research and scour the internet (or the App Store Page) for reviews on this game, you’ll see that most of the reviews label the game as hard. That’s a complete lie. This game isn’t hard... it’s slow. None of the Kairosoft games are hard. You can’t “lose” in these games. You just earn far less than you spend in this one. Structures cost upwards of a hundred dollars and you only earn 100 or 200 IF you win a race... and sometimes you won’t. The given allowance is spent quickly on new horses and training structures. It’s not reliable unless you’re content with saving a lot (of money). Maintenance costs about 100+ early game and it’s a constant cycle, so if you don’t win at least once before the next cycle, you’ll be in the negatives. In addition, items cost upwards of 100 as well. Prices rise the more items you buy. And of course there’s the obvious concern: horse lifespans. A horse is done by year four. Their stats decrease so they’ll lose the race — and if you don’t make first place, you get less than $100. Races can’t be scheduled rapidly either. So you don’t get paid rapidly — only in $100 chunks once per month. People coming to your ranch spend about $10-20 and only come when you’ve won — if you lose your streak, you lose your only source of constant income. Selling a horse gives you about $1000. But then you spend that $1000 on another horse. Therefore, in order to progress, you must manage your funds carefully— meaning months or even years without spending anything on any major progression. The secondary currency, coins, can’t be spent often since you have to discover an upgrade before buying it. Races are fun but become mediocre after hours of them. Even when you win. Since horses are temporary and you don’t unlock breeding until late game, you have to level up your horse faster than the previous one or you’ll just be stuck. You’ll have hit a wall. The three stars I rate here are basically fueled by my love of horses and the sales price of $0.99, which were barely enough to keep me interested. No wonder the $0.99 sale has stayed past December (winter sales). I was drawn in by that sale. But don’t be fooled — unless you like progressing at a crawl or you love horses enough to be okay with many, many races before you progress.
Review by Dreaming of Wolves on Pocket Stables.