Move over Lara, Barbie's on the scene: she's taking them for a ride and she's hitting 'em young.
Maria Sanchez

Believe it or not, Barbie Race and Ride brings with it a whole new breed of PlayStation gaming known as 'edutainment'. The first in a number of titles pitched at very young children (aged five upwards), Race and Ride aims to stimulate the minds of a generation transfixed to their TV screens, without them even realising it, under the guise of being an innocent horse riding sim. You star as leading lady Barbie, on her quest to find the illusive missing postcard. This in turn leads to an equally mysterious secret trail.

As with it's equestrian counterpart, Mary King's Riding Star, you can groom and pamper your pony, but that's where the similarity ends since Race and Ride also allows you to work your pony into a lather, wash him down and feed him sugar lumps. Once the two of you are done with your sweet lovin' in the stable you then progress to the bulletin board. This illustrates all the trails that are immediately available and enables you to track your progress through the game.

You can choose from one of four trails; the beach, the meadow, the woods or a winter wonderland of sorts. Graphically, all of these are relatively well illustrated, and you're able to steer and jump your pony from an 'on top' point of view, but then you'd hardly expect anything else from the straight-living Barbie.