Bow Man HD is a Windows Phone game that will test your skills at archery by way of a dueling contest where you need to take out your opponent before they take you out. The game has three dueling modes along with target shoot where you get to shoot down passing birds.
Bow Man HD is a sequel of sorts to the original Bow Man game that was released earlier this year. The original was in black and white and the HD version simply adds more color to the mix. Even with the added color, graphics are minimal with Bow Man HD.
Game play is mildly challenging and Bow Man HD is available for low-memory devices. It's not the most action packed game in Windows Phone Store but if you are in the hunt for a decent time waster, Bow Man HD is worth a try.
Taking aim and letting loose your arrows
The main menu for Bow Man HD has your typical options to access settings, sharing the game and rating the game in the Windows Phone Store. You also have options to view the gaming instructions and launch one of the four gaming modes.
Settings for Bow Man HD cover turning on/off the wind, sound, index settings (used for aiming such as angle degree and power), blood splatters and a wall barrier that you have to shoot over. The gaming modes are rather self-explanatory and are as follows:
- VS. Computer
- VS. Human (pass and play)
- VS. Online
- Bird Hunting
Game play with any of the VS. game modes is about the same. You stand across a desert scene from your opponent and shoot arrows at each other until somebody dies. The Bird Hunting mode has two options where you shoot down as many birds as the fly across the screen before you either run out of arrows or a timer runs out.
The online gaming mode is a bit of a mystery. There are no options to register with a server and while you can search for an opponent online to battle, you are simply typing in a name with hopes that a result will pop-up. Even then, you are likely to receive a "Can't connect to server" error. It feels as though this is a feature still under development and shouldn't have been accessible just yet. However, some reviews in the Windows Phone Store indicate the online mode works (we just haven't had much luck with it) so it may be an issue of a few bugs needing to be ironed out..
Game Play
Bow Man HD is a dueling game of archery where you are placed across a desert scene from your opponent and you take turns shooting arrows at one another.
The game mechanics with Bow Man HD are simple. Tap/hold the screen and pull back to set the power behind your shot and slide your finger up/down to set the trajectory. If you have the Index option turned on in the game's settings your power level and angle degree will be displayed).
Both yours' and your opponent's health meter will run across the top of the screen and a wind meter is located between the two health meters. If active, the wind will fluctuate throughout the game and impact your shots.
You and your opponent take turns taking shots at each other and the first person to run out of health, you guessed it, loses the game.
The Bird Hunting mode is played in one of two styles. You can either race a time limit to shoot down as many birds as possible or have a limited number of arrows to shoot as many birds down with. Your character is positioned at the bottom center screen with a wide variety of birds flying across the screen. Game mechanics are the same (tap/hold and pull back to aim) and you can nail multiple birds with the same shot. It's not a bad time waster of an option for the times you can't find an opponent and are tired of playing against the computer in the dueling mode.
Overall Impression
Bow Man HD isn't a terrible game to pass the time with but without the online competition being available, it can grow old fairly quick. The pass and play mode does help and can be a fun way to pass the time with a friend or your kids. However, that tends to grow old after a while as well.
If you could have a change of scenery or maybe even random terrain shifts to make the shots more challenging, that might give the game a little more staying power. Maybe custom ninja suits for the archers would help breath a little life into the game.
Overall, Bow Man HD is a Windows Phone game worth trying but just don't get your hopes up too much. The game can help pass the time but I'm just not sure how much staying power Bow Man HD will have. It does pull down a 4.5 Stars in the Windows Phone Store, which may be a little on the high side.
