A Ride Into The Mountains Review

By , on July 30, 2013
Last modified 11 years, 4 months ago


A Ride into the Mountains
Download on the AppStore
3 out of 5

PROS

  • The archery and horse controls are neatly divided between tilt and touch interfaces.
  • Low-fi pixel graphics are atmospheric and charming. 
  • Completing a section feels like a milestone.

CONS

  • While the controls are well thought out, they are tricky to master, rendering sections rather frustrating as a result.

VERDICT

There's a tranquil beauty and charm to A Ride into the Mountains that is somewhat undercut by its troublesome controls.


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His family trusted with watching over an ancient relic, Zu notices a meteor smashing into the nearby mountain. He grabs his bow, mounts his trusty steed and goes to investigate.

A Ride into the Mountains is essentially a side-scroller. You control Zu's horse by tilting your iPhone or iPad left, right, up, and down. To ready your bow, you swipe back on the screen with one finger. The strength and direction of your shot depends on how far you've dragged your finger back, and which direction you've aimed in. Like archery itself, if you rushing to take your shot will more likey miss your target. The best course here is to take your time, and release your arrow when the opportunity presents itself.

You have additional assistance in the form of a focus bar, which when full, will slow down time and create a lined path towards the arrow's destination. That's the idea anyway. In our time with the game, we found the controls are rather unforgiving, the draw-back motion tricky to pull off while tilting, especially on the iPad.

But despite this frustration, A Ride in the Mountains is a surprisingly tranquil experience. It could be the simplistic yet beautiful pixelated landscapes, the engaging music, or the subtle changes and additions to gameplay whenever you encounter a trophy, but there's an appealing calm beneath the game's occasionally punishing surface. Sadly, it probably won't be enough to keep a large portion of the iOS audience playing, but we can easily see A Ride into the Mountains gaining a cult following.

Screenshots

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