The Arrow Of Time Walkthrough

The young Prince Peep's day isn't going to well. Nah, that's not because his name sucks. The reason why he is pissed today is because he is the ONLY Whistle Knight left. And a Whistle Knight has a tall order to follow: to guard the legendary arrow of time for generations from all sorts of invaders. The good thing, however, is that he doesn't have to take on the monumental task ALONE. He needs your help in this defense / shooting game from Super Flash Bros.

One thing I like about this defense / shooting game is that it tries to incorporate a story that you'd know more about as the game progresses. I MUST say the developers did a good job at it. There are short scenes between battles; there are dialogues and conversations before and after level; and those are just to name a few. Nah, the story is NOT as intricate as Tolkien's or Rowling's fantasy stories and masterpieces. HOWEVER, the story is good enough to keep you playing.

As for the game play of The Arrow Of Time, I must say that it's quite standard. Enemies will appear on the game screen and you need to dispose them. You will use massive arrows... taking them down before they can attack your castle and destroy the Arrow of Time. Mind you, your castle is NOT invulnerable. It can only take so much damage from enemy units. Its health is indicated by the bar on top of the screen. Once that runs out, you lose the game. I find the failure screen really funny... it's been designed from the ground up to make you feel guilty about losing. The good news is that the game comes with an autosave feature. You don't have to go back to square one.

While you are on battle, click on the prince and drag the cursor all the way back. This pulls the trick on your bow. This will determine how far your arrow will travel or how lame it will be shot. Once you are all set, just release the left click button; watch the arrow fly; and rejoice as it hits and takes down the target. Destroying or killing enemies will bag you points. With these points you earn, you can guy different defensive and offensive upgrades during 'breaks'. If you need to change the arrows you fire and to use the upgrades you have just bought, just click on your castle and you're good to go.

I really like how The Arrow Of Time sprinkles some new ideas into an otherwise common game play. You get extra points when you destroy an enemy by hitting key areas like the propellers and wings. It is fun to pick apart and aim for these vital points when your enemies get close. HOWEVER, that's quite hard to pull off for a couple of reasons. First, there are a lot of them. Second, it's difficult to aim at a moving target. And lastly, there's always that risk of not pulling the strings hard enough.

As for the aesthetics - the graphics, feel of the game, sound effects, etc., I really like its dream-like quality. The tone and style of this defense / shooting game somewhat reminds me of the later Zelda titles and games. The graphics and design are very clean. There are little touches that are VERY much welcome. For example, the castle, when it's damaged, looks a ruined. The artwork you get to see between the levels are also fantastic. While they are simple, it somewhat gets you closer and more attached to our main guy Young Prince Peep. The beautiful creatures and characters kept me going despite being met with a lot of frustrating and difficult stuff during the start of the game.

For one thing, unlike in other defense-style shooting games where you establish defenses and do all the hard work for you, in The Arrow Of Time, you need to shoot arrows like you are on steroids if you want to have any chance of beating the game.

The lack of onscreen indicators that show you much force there is behind your shots make it more difficult than it needs to be. BUT then, in real life, you don't see a force indicator when pulling a bow's strings. Perhaps the developers just want to be realistic. BUT really, it's hard to be proud and feel like a Knight who's doing a good job when you see your arrows fall short... much like how arrows end up not hitting and in comic fashion in cartoons. As I have mentioned earlier, you need to hit certain areas or parts of your enemies to make your shots count and demolish them, that makes aiming even more critical.

HOWEVER, despite the not-so-friendly controls and some difficulty issues, I must say that The Arrow Of Time is one of the few defense-style shooting games that are REALLY impressive. It's action packed and quite cinematic too!