#Archery is made by the same developers who made #selfietennis, VR Unicorns Although the two games share some of the fun and lovable animations, they couldn’t be more apart in the way they operate. One has a built in menu that navigates you through different worlds, and the other has a selfie stick. Its not knock on selfie sticks, but I cant remember the last time a selfie stick took me from the park all the way out to the moon. The menu in #Archery can, and thats just a hint at what this game can do.
You will be in a series of 10 different mini games trying to perfect the art of archery. From nailing the ingredients on the pizza to shooting the villain with an explosive, each mini game mode will give you a new and fun challenge to accomplish. Our favorite was shooting kids in the face with ice cream cones, just to give you an idea of what this game is all about. For just $10, you can become Katniss, but in a much more fun and happy world.
Getting Up and Running
#Archery from VR Unicorns is only a 1 GB download. It may seem like more with how much this game has to offer, but it is much smaller than some of the games it is competing against. If you have a reasonable internet connection, this game could take a small 5 minutes to download. If you are short on Mbps, then you are looking at a download time somewhere north of 20 minutes. Once the game is downloaded, you won’t need any internet.
If you get this game through the Viveport Infinity subscription, it is going to download inside of the app and it will be easy to get to. Inside of you library, you can press play on the game and it will start your VR systems from there. If you spend the full $10 and get this game inside of the Steam Store, you will find yourself having to choose where to locally store the file. From there, you can launch it in Steam or in the app yourself. The setup time and the limitations this usually holds for games are minimal with #Archery
Type of Game
This is generalized as a sport game, and that is correct for the most part. Most sports games inside of virtual reality have some sort of twist to it, and this game has exactly that. In fact, it has 10 different twists. Inside of each of these 10 different ways to practice your archery, you will have the chance to shoot yourself into a fun mini game. For example, when you are a paper deliverer, you can shoot and mole and be introduced into a fun and immersive game of Wac-A-Mole.
Through the 10 different ways to shoot your arrow, you given the same type of tasks. Hit the target, moving or still. Some of the objects to hit are harder to hit than others, but they all pose their own unique challenges once you get inside. Whether you are moving, the object is moving, or there are objects blocking, you are going to find yourself getting creative with your bow skills.
You will be able to interact with your surroundings a good amount too. While you are trying to make your pizza, instead of stabbing ingredients onto your arrow, you can just shoot the glass with it and hit the Coke, making it spill all over the store. This is much more than a sports game, and it shouldn’t be regarded as such. If you are looking for a basic sports game, this isn’t your game. If you are looking for a fun way to practice your VR bow and arrow skills, this may be you cup of tea.
Player Perspective
This game doesn’t deviate away from your typical first-person VR game, as there is no other smart way to shoot and bow and arrow. If you shot one from the third person, you will end up hitting your neighbors house. If you shoot if from second person, you will just shoot it into the ground. You won’t be able to see you hands or feet, but you see your controllers, your arrows, and your bow perfectly.
Theme and Story – Score: 4/10
There is no one set theme, as they change with each mini game, and there is no story line at all in this game. The score for the story is going to take a nice hit for that, as we expect at least a little narrative for $10, but the theme helps out a little. When you do enter into the mini games, the theme is strong and in your face. You have no question what the objective is, and you are convinced that what you are doing is incredibly important. With the number of different settings and themes incorporated, you will be impressed with the numerous themes in this game.
Controls – Score: 4/10
There are only two different controls in this game, aside from the menu. The triggers are used to grab your arrow and it on the bow, and the top buttons on your controller are used to switch your dominate hand. Throughout the gameplay, we found ourselves switching up which hand we were using and trying to improve in all aspects of the game. This made it more fun and gave it a longer gameplay time than most would find themselves with. That that being said, there is another level of immersion that could be been accomplished with more controls being included in this game.
Music and Sound – Score: 7/10
There wasn’t a lot of time for music to be included in this game. When you were inside of mini games, you were relying on the audio of the different characters and targets to locate them and shoot them as fast as possible. When you weren’t in the games, there was a god opportunity to include some music, and they did. Although it wasn’t anything crazy good or something you would find yourself dancing to, it was much better than listening to your heaving breathing after being eaten alive by zombies.
Player Movement – Score: 5/10
There wasn’t any movement in this game that was done through your legs. Everything was either by teleporting by shooting your arrow in that direction (menu only) or it was standing still. This doesn’t make it a problem in the game though, as you aren’t wanting to make your arrow shooting any harder than it already is. The arrow shooting itself is a bit spotty. I’ve never been good with a bow and arrow in real life, but I am certain my aim wasn’t as bad as it was represented in this game. It could’ve been better, but we weren’t expecting too much from a game developed back in 2016 and released in 2017.
Kinetosis – Score: 8/10
This game was very mindful of making sure your mind wasn’t seeing anything that your body wasn’t feeling. Not paying attention to this can make you feel very sick very fast, but the game luckily avoided that. The teleportation wasn’t bad, and you only would do that in the menu. Even in zero gravity, the game made sure to keep your feet planted perfectly on the floor. This is something all VR lovers can truly appreciate.
Environment and Immersion – Score: 8/10
The ability to interact with your surroundings, even ones that were not part of your mini game, did not go unnoticed. If you take time away from your challenge and look around the places you are, you will notice the amount of detail put into this game. When you are in outer space, even the continents are scaled on earths surface. The only part that didn’t immerse you was the engine of the bow, but that may have been user error than anything else.
Overall – Score: 6/10
This game is $10 on the Steam Store, and is a part of the Viveport Infinity subscription. If you are a fan of fun mini games and archery, #Archery isn’t a bad buy. However, if you are a part of the Infinity subscription and you are somewhat interested in this game, we highly recommend it. It will keep you entertained for hours, and the mini games make the entire title have incredible replay-ability. This is a game you don’t want to miss out on.
