Curve Shot

About Curve Shot

Curve Shot inverts the usual archery game: you are not the archer, you are the arrow, and the whole game is steering. In the thirty-level story journey you hold to climb and release to dive, threading moving walls, spinning blades, wind columns and red hunters on your way to a target that is often moving too. Every third level is timed tightly enough that hesitating costs you the run, and a demon boss waits at ten, twenty and thirty.

The arena rooms are where it opens up. There is a four-stage tournament where ten arrows race for a shrinking pool of targets, battle royale and team modes with three weapon types, a shrinking-zone carnage mode for up to two hundred arrows, a fruit-feast grow-and-swallow round, a vampire hunt where your bullets can shoot missiles out of the air, hurdle runs, musical chairs and a sixty-second target blitz.

How to play Curve Shot

You are not the archer, you are the arrow. Tap or click anywhere and you fly toward that point, holding to keep steering. In the story levels the control is simpler still: hold to curve upward, release to dive, and the arrow carries its momentum through both.

The mistake almost everyone makes at first is over-steering. The arrow keeps its heading, so small taps beat long holds, and most early crashes come from correcting harder than the gap required. Blades kill along the whole sweep of the shaft rather than just at the hub, so give them a wide berth instead of trying to time the gap.

How to play Curve Shot's story journey

1. Open the story journey and pick the next unlocked level. The thirty levels are split into six chapters: Balloon fields, The tunnels, Apple orchard, Blade gardens, Wind valley and Master trials.
2. Read the short story card. Each chapter has its own problem to fix, such as Grandpa Rao's lost festival balloons or Farmer Aria's cursed apples, and the card tells you what this level wants you to hit.
3. Tap to launch, then hold to curve upwards and let go to dive. On a keyboard, Space does the same thing as a tap.
4. Reach the target or clear the objective without touching a wall, blade or hunter. If you crash, use retry to start the same level again straight away.
5. In the boss levels the controls change. You tap anywhere to fly there and the arrow fires forwards on its own, so the job is to keep moving, shoot down the red missiles and wear down its health bar before the clock runs out.
6. Collect your stars, XP and coins, then carry on to the next level or spend them in the shop.

Curve Shot tips and strategy

• First tries earn three stars. A normal level gives three stars if you clear it on the first attempt, two if you need up to three attempts, and one after that. If a level keeps beating you, practise it until you can clear it, then come back for the extra stars.
• In boss fights your hearts are your stars. You start a boss with three hearts, and however many you have left at the end is your star rating. Avoiding hits matters more than finishing the boss quickly.
• Keep moving in Wind valley. The red hunters follow your trail, so a straight dive towards the target is safer than circling round to set up a perfect line.
• Read the tunnel walls before you commit. The tunnel walls move, so wait a beat on the approach and fly at the gap as it opens, not at where it was a moment ago.
• Use your bullets on missiles first. Your shots can destroy the red missiles in the lieutenant and vampire fights. Clearing the incoming fire usually protects more hearts than shooting the boss.
• Pick the weapon for the arena mode. In battle modes, bullets are the all-rounder, fireballs are slower but hit twice as hard, and plasma fires the fastest but is the lightest. Fewer, heavier shots reward careful aim, and plasma forgives a shaky one.

Ranks, the shop and battle boosts

All the XP you earn counts towards a rank, from Novice up through Trainee, Archer, Sharpshooter, Marksman, Master and Grandmaster to Legend at 6,000 XP. Ranks are what open up the shop. The default arrow is free, while the knife, snake, duck, chicken, shark, rocket and dragon skins each need a certain rank as well as coins. The dragon, for example, needs Grandmaster and 5,000 coins, and there is a separate set of flags you can fly as well.

Coins can also buy one-match boosts for the battle modes: a life potion for two extra HP, a six-second shield against bullets, double damage, or swift shots for faster bullets and a faster rate of fire. You choose them before a match and each one is used up when the match starts, so save them for team battles where one extra life can decide the result. The battle sizes run from free-for-all for ten through one-on-one up to eight-a-side, and the empty seats are filled by computer arrows.