I Will Never Doubt the Power of Archery Again

Oh Hawkeye, where do I begin? For years I’ve ridiculed you for being the guy with the bow among gods. Now I’ve played a game where I shoot a bow with such power and precision the gods tremble in fear at the sound of my bowstring pulling back. If you ever learn to shoot like the Holy Archer, I promise I’ll find something else to make fun of you about.

I was not planning an app review of The Legend of Holy Archer today. I downloaded the free game yesterday, figuring it would make it into the Week in Gaming Apps later today, and it prominently features the name of one of my sons (I knew naming him ‘Of’ would pay off). I played it on a lark during a quick break this morning, and I fell in love.

This is every archer mini-game that’s ever been in an action-adventure game, only on crack. You play as an archer that has the power to fire holy arrows. Your task is to take down a series of huge creatures using only a bow. It all seems a bit far-fletched.

I’m not proud of that.

Anyway, the arrow is loosed, and suddenly the player has complete and total control of its flight, which will certainly come in handy since none of the game’s massive enemies are straight shots. You’ll be flying that little pokey bastard through maze-like corridors, between floating islands and in and out of crumbling ruins in your quest for piercing damage. Hit the right spot, and you do massive damage. Hit the wrong spot — armor plating, for instance — and you do none.

So not only do you have to find your way to your enemy, you’ve also got to hit him with your best shot. Go on and hit him with your best shot. Fire away.

Each stage is littlered with little distractions. Treasure chests filled with coin beg to be shot open, the proceeds paying for new bows and power-ups. energy globes float in the air, some increasing or decreasing your shot’s power and distance, others unleashing devastating magical attacks on your target.

AppZebra caught footage of this magnificent beast in action, so I didn’t have to dig out my HDMI adapter. Just watch. It’s beautiful.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hcbgz9eZqCQ

Japanese developer SummerTimeStudio is really onto something here. This is a game I could play forever, should they let me. It needs a little polish, maybe some help with the English translation, but this could easily be a future mobile gaming classic.