To be honest, I have been playing mobile games for almost 20 years. From playing Brotherhood of Fire and Doodle Jump on the Nokia N95, to various masterpieces in the smartphone era, I am considered a hardcore player. Recently, a friend recommended me to try "Arrow World". I was actually a little resistant to it at first - there were no horse-riding and archery-themed games in the past. Most of them were automatic aiming and numerical collision, which was not interesting. But this game, without bragging, really made my eyes shine.
Let's talk about the screen first. Cartoon rendering style, when riding a horse on the track, the outlines of grass, trees, and castles are very clear, and the light and shadow effects are quite natural. Although it is a fully 3D scene, it is well optimized and the four-year-old mobile phone in my hand runs without any lag. To be honest, many mobile games nowadays blindly pursue realism, but the optimization is a mess. On the contrary, this cartoon style is comfortable to watch and does not tire the eyes.
The core of the gameplay is 1V1 battle. Both sides ride horses to hedge. They adjust the sight and calculate the advance within a limited time. They slide their fingers to draw the bow and shoot. Hitting the opponent's vital parts (such as the head) will cause higher damage. The key is that you have to aim manually, and there is no automatic locking of the set. This reminds me of the solid feeling of hitting where you point when playing "Snow Mountain Brothers" in the arcade. Each game takes about one or two minutes, and the pace is fast, which is very suitable for playing in spare time.
In terms of feel, the strength and angle of sliding the bow directly affect the trajectory of the arrow, and the feedback is very sensitive. The impact is also good. The sound of an arrow hitting armor or a horse is different. When it hits the opponent, there will be a slow-motion close-up. The tension is instantly heightened. Not to brag, this game allows me to regain the joy of precise control when I played "Gravity Ball" on Symbian.
Let's talk about the charging model. Seeing that the developer wrote "Charging model: 0", I went to confirm it. It is indeed a free download, no in-app purchases, no ads, completely pure. There are too few mobile games on the market that can still do this, so I have to give Shanghai Moyou a thumbs up. But this also makes people a little worried. After all, developers also have to make a living. They hope to have skins or season passes with more conscience, and don't make them become stronger by paying for them with krypton gold.
I have been playing for about 20 hours and have unlocked five or six bows and three horses with different attributes. Each bow has different ballistic characteristics. Some have fast firing speed but low damage, and some have long range but require more accurate prediction. There are quite a lot of tactical options. The arena matching speed is also fast, and the battle can basically start within ten seconds. Most of the opponents you encounter so far are real people, and occasionally there are a few robots (the novice period is to let you adapt).
Finally, some suggestions. Currently there are only two types of maps: plains and mountains. We hope that new scenes such as castle ruins and desert canyons will be added in the future. In addition, it would be great if there could be a two-player team mode or a custom room to compete with friends.
To be honest, in today's environment where the recharge window pops up when you open a game, it is really rare to encounter such a game that purely competes on skills, does not force you to play hard, and feels good. Recommended to friends who like competitive games, pursue a sense of operation, and are not averse to cartoon style. I dare say that if you are an old player who grew up playing FC "Balloon Fight" or "Duck Shooting", you will definitely fall in love with the refreshing feeling of shooting an arrow through the heart. 😌