For years, I’ve dedicated time to Rival Stars Horse Racing, a game I once saw immense potential in. Yet, it consistently fails to capture a significant market share against titans like Trackmania. This stagnation isn’t accidental; it’s a direct result of rampant cheating, unresponsive developers, and a community that seems to have accepted a compromised competitive landscape. The online leaderboards are marred by players who dominate rankings without ever participating in actual multiplayer races, a clear indicator of illicit advantages.
A quick search for “rival star horse racing cheat” reveals a plethora of tools promising unfair advantages, such as trainers offering infinite sprint and unlimited money, alongside guaranteed high-tier horses. For instance, “Rival Stars Horse Racing: Desktop Edition Repack- Hoodlum” and “Rival Stars Horse Racing Desktop Edition Trainer – Cheat Happens” are just a few examples of readily available cheats. These tools often boast features like persistent infinite sprint, eliminating the need to manage the sprint bar after each race in exhibition mode, though story mode requires more manual activation to avoid infinite loading screens. The implication of needing such assistance for a game rated PEGI 3 is, frankly, laughable.
The very essence of competition is eroded when one cannot ascertain their true standing. Are my horses underperforming, or is my sprinting technique flawed? Without a level playing field, these questions are unanswerable. My own multiplayer experiences have been defined by hunting down and crushing suspected cheaters, yet I rarely encountered them directly; perhaps my legitimate skill was simply too much for their hacks to overcome. The developers’ inaction extends beyond just addressing cheaters; it encompasses a general lack of progress in game development itself.
While new horses are occasionally added for breeding, critical issues remain unaddressed. Bugs that cause steeplechase jumping lines to appear at the last second, or menu freezes when navigating between race selections, persist. Furthermore, the absence of features common in similar games, such as a team selection menu for multiplayer races, a player-driven horse transfer market, or community-created cosmetic customization options, highlights a significant development deficit. The game’s support seems limited to enabling cheating software, as evidenced by the continued presence of exploiters.
The developers’ focus on minor additions, like “2 more horses,” is misguided when fundamental gameplay mechanics are broken. A simple code line to detect and penalize players who exploit the sprint energy system could prevent many issues. For two years, I’ve felt like the sole voice advocating for these improvements, with no response from the development team. Their decision to remove and never reinstate most cross-country leaderboards further demonstrates their disregard for the competitive scene.
My recent attempt to set a personal record with a newly bred team of five A+ horses was met with absurdity. My older horses, with statistically inferior stats, still held times two seconds faster. The game even congratulated me on a “new record,” despite this clear contradiction. This suggests my old save data may be corrupted, or worse, that progression is impossible due to the lingering effects of past cheating or internal game mechanics. The inability to even compete against my own past performance diminishes the sense of accomplishment and progression.
The cumulative effect of grinding for potentially forty euros only to face a fundamentally broken and unfair game is deeply frustrating. The developers’ definition of their game appears to be “nothing,” punctuated by the occasional addition of two more horses for breeding – a hollow offering in the face of such pervasive issues.
This state of affairs is unacceptable for a game with such latent potential. The combination of developer neglect and an unchecked cheating problem has created a ceiling that prevents Rival Stars Horse Racing from ever achieving its full competitive promise. Until these core issues are addressed with the seriousness they deserve, the game will remain a disappointing experience for its dedicated player base.
