Gaming has seen the recent revival of the bow and arrow as a weapon. It features prominently in Crysis 3 and Tomb Raider and gets a fair spin in Far Cry 3. But just how accurately is this venerable projectile slinger portrayed? Let’s hear it from an actual archer.
Atomic’s David Hollingworth is very familiar with the ins and outs of firing arrows, describing himself as once being “quite a competent archer” and citing his experience hunting and target shooting with a compound bow.
Hollingworth examines the three games mentioned in the opening paragraph, starting with Crysis 3. Interestingly, Crytek’s shooter does a good job of getting the details right, so much so the Predator bow basically makes the game “utter archery porn”:
The devil’s in the details, and Crytek certainly seems to have been paying attention, even down to having an offset grip so as to keep the bow’s strings away from the bulging forearms of Prophet’s suit. Many archers wear armguards on their bow arms to keep the string from almost literally peeling the skin away. Even a light 22 pound (~10kg) bow will leave bad bruises.
Tomb Raider is the least impressive of the bunch, both in terms of art and gameplay. The way in which the game’s protagonist, Lara Croft, is able to upgrade a simple wooden bow into a sophisticated killing machine is beyond reality, while her “draw and stance … screams awkwardness.”
As for Far Cry 3 it’s the sound effects that seal the deal, with Hollingworth describing the “rattle” of the game’s arrows as “distinctive and immersive”.
Of course, Hollingworth prefaces his observations with the fact that the games are just that — games — and there’s nothing wrong with creative license. That doesn’t mean it’s not fascinating to look at how these titles portray archery from a real-world point of view and giving kudos to the developers when they do get the little things right.
There’s more detail in the full article, so head on over to PC Tech & Authority and check it out.
A real archer on the accuracy of in-game bow-shooting [PC & Tech Authority]
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