When you're trapped in a world filled with nightmares made flesh and are out for YOUR blood, your best bet is to... RUN FOR YOUR LIFE! Nightmare Runner puts you in the depths of hell in this run and jump shooting game built with a player level upgrade system and in-game pick ups to aid in your escape. With an ambient choir-meets-action movie soundtrack and an easy one button click interface, you get easily entranced into 2D world that flows smoothly with the music and the difficulty. You have an infinite clip of bullets and finite distance to travel for salvation so this evil can be trounced in a single, well-lit sitting.
Hack and slash your way across the ancient land alone or with a friend in this gorgeously quirky side-scroller from Nitrome. When your sword fails you, don't despair — a nearby boar will do just as well. Or a chicken. Rendered in Nitrome's familiar pixel-perfect art style, Double Edged not only looks great, it plays great too.
Why does negligent parenting get such a bad rap? If it wasn't for bum parents, we'd never have this lovely launch game, Billy The Pilot, from Erik Sombroek, about a little boy who just wants to fly, and who has a mom and dad that don't seem to mind their little boy building a launchpad in the backyard, right in the path of the family flower bed. The backgrounds and animations in Billy the Pilot are impossibly cute and the upgrades a lot of fun, especially the ability to build a pet dragon! But the gameplay is repetitive and the in-flight controls are clunky. It also isn't very hard. Really, Billy the Pilot is just an excuse to explore a beautifully drawn and colorful Never Never Land where kids are kings and parents nowhere to be found...as it should be.
An old idiom is brought back to life in the physics puzzle gaming scene in Eliot Pace's sequel to Pigs Can Fly. Manipulate multiple objects using time-and-space distorting colored potions so a little pig can get some wings. With a re-imagined look, more depth to the puzzles, and the same physics gameplay, this oinker has learned a few new tricks that are a welcome sight. This porker is as lazy as pigs get so it could use all the help it could get.
In this bullet hell shooter, ten alien starships have entered the solar system and you have 12 days to destroy these bad boys before they make their final approach to Earth. The game features an array of upgrades, of which each has a clear, immediate effect and it can be a lot of fun to watch your weak little ship transform so quickly into a beefy alien antagonizer. Boss Slayer isn't an innovative game by any means, but it understands the genre perfectly and serves up a smooth, streamlined gameplay experience.
Help Johnny through a level filled with hazards by buying upgrades for.... everything! From run speed to the game timer to double jumping, it's in the store. Collect coins, buy upgrades, and repeat until you're strong enough to take on the final boss.
Fly through a beautiful forest as Pixle, a mysterious multi form Shade. Along the way, collect power-ups and evolve into bigger, faster forms, while staying clear of shadow tunnels. The game doesn't last long so your time with Pixle will be like the character's time in his world, and indeed, the game itself: short but beautiful.
In the mood for some good, old-fashioned, retro arcade fun, without the need of a roll of quarters? Brandon Williamson's Forget-Me-Not, which was originally a popular mobile game, is now ported over to your browser! It takes the classic concept of Pac-Man, and adds a shooter to it. Quickly addictive, and perfectly frustrating, Forget-Me-Not is old-school fun at its finest.
The classic first-person shooter credited with jump-starting the genre on PC gets a re-release in HTML5! As Captain B.J., blast your way through three different missions and all the original levels of over-the-top retro action. It's cheesy, it's violent, and back in its day it was more than a little controversial, but Id Software's iconic title is responsible for siring many of the games you play today and is still as fun as ever.
A good story is great, but sometimes you just want to blow stuff up. In DN8: Pulse, a new shooter game from Squize (Gaming Your Way), you are the commander of a puny little fighter who has to fight off swarms of enemy vessels if you want to survive. If you make it past the initial waves, you'll have the chance to upgrade your ship with extra shields, weapons, and even support pods and there are two upgrade paths, defensive and offensive. The clear selling point of DN8: Pulse are the graphics, done in Stage3D, which are unlike most anything you've seen in a flash game. The visuals are in a word, stunning. And it's a lot of fun to play a shoot-em-up that leaves the conventional retro pixelated setting and dares to take it to the farthest reaches of the universe for a truly immersive experience.
An interesting combination of Cyclomaniacs gameplay with Nerdook's trademark intense combat, Nuclear Outrun is a fun physics-driving-shooting hybrid about outrunning a nuclear missile. While lacking in depth, Nuclear Outrun still manages to be a lot of fun, especially once you get the gun that shoots sharks. What more do you need?
Be afraid. Be very afraid of his scary love. In Bear of Love, a tongue-and-cheek action game from LeBrancher and rzafael, you play a bear who needs to hug people in order to breath, creating a form of photo-hug-synthesis that will have scientists baffled for decades. But there's a catch: you tend to come on too strong and end up killing those you hug when you don't pull away in time. Bear of Love features some great 8-bit pixel art and the funny upgrades and animations will have you chortling to yourself long after the five or ten minutes it takes to finish this game, making it a perfect antidote for the Monday morning blues.
Who knew that crash test dummies were so...squishy? In Dummy Crusher, a sadistic little physics game from Alexandr Porubov and Ekaterina Saburova, you are a contestant on a Hunger Games-like TV program where you are given all the explosives and projectiles you can ask for and have to make the audience happy by knocking the stuffing out of poor, defenseless crash test dummies. The aim of the game is to cause the most destruction possible and to max out your points bar before moving forward. Take your time and be creative, or the audience won't be happy and you'll need to start again. At 20 levels, Dummy Crusher is a great way to spend a long lunch break.
Apparently, this bird's definition of "walk like an Egyptian" (waoooh, waooooh!) is different than ours. Press and hold the [arrow] keys in either direction to take off, and you'll gain height as long as you're flying that way. The goal is to make your way to the sarcophagus at the end of each stage, flying through glittery rings to increase your score, and not destroyed by any number of pitfalls that await. If it helps, you can pretend you're Star Fox.
With gameplay inspired by the classic Rampage series, take control of a huge, angry dinosaur and smash your way through a fully destructive city. Punch through buildings and swat missiles out of the air as the army tries to stop you reuniting with your lost son in this epic 8bit arcade game.
Peanut butter and jelly. Fish and chips. Garbage bags and garbage cans? Sure, they go together, but you probably never considered how they might be romantically entangled. In VillaVanilla's clever action game A Trashy Love Story, you've got to waft the bag to its companion bin while avoiding puncturing spikes and dangerous waterfalls.
An inventive arcade shooter in which your lovely castle has been invaded by all manner of ghosts and ghouls and if you want to see peace again, you'll need to conjure up all your best magical powers (and your snazziest wizard hats) to beat them back.
Step inside the world of Fracuum, a top-down maze shooter where every inward move zooms you in to the next layer of the game. Can you finangle your way through the fiery funnel and fight the foes to find freedom?
Eugene Yailenko gets frosty... or at least his new action-packed racing game does! In Turbo Kids, race across snowy landscapes, leaping over hazards and firing freezing projectiles at your opponents, to take top prize on various courses, netting upgradeable power-ups and some sweet achievements along the way.
Dust off that old Nitrome Entertainment System and maybe even your super sneaky Game Muscle cartridge for a little old-school arcade glory! Help the world's cutest pink elastic puppy stretch his way around all manner of dangerous obstacles to retrieve gems in this beautiful nostalgic homage to classic arcade avoidance gaming.
A phat cat racing game from Nitrome with twisting tracks in stylish 3-D, angry aliens and roadblocks to trip you up, and a mechanized spider-like creature as your vehicle. Race across eighteen tracks, twisting and turning as you go, while jumping over barriers that block your way. Keep watch for aliens and air ducts, as they aim to thwart your pursuit of victory!
With a hint of Orson Wells' War of the Worlds, Tripod Attack puts you in control of the invading alien machines as it tears through the human resistance in this arcade action game of destruction. The human race will throw everything its got at you so your mouse hand better be ready to wipe them out. The end of the world or apocalypse scenarios are something you see played out a lot in video games, but a classic spin like this is refreshing.
The mightiest villains have grown bored after destroying the earth and decide to have one final battle royale, arena shooter style, to determine who is the baddest. A solid release by Rob Almighty, with a little more freedom than what is usually seen in the genre.
In a land that doesn't seem to mind sending innocent people to hang it's up to you and your trusty archery skills to save lives. No, you won't be getting any fanfare or damsels tossing you their kerchiefs but who really needs that anyway? You've got justice and freedom on your side, and I'm not just saying the names you gave your biceps. In this delightful physics shooter kick back and prepare to let loose your arrows!
The third installment in Brad Borne's Fancy Pants Adventure series is here! Do gravity-defying wall runs, jump off some walls, and even cut up some enemies with your fancy new weapon! The fancy pants man has come along way since World 1 and he has definitely added some sweet, new tricks to his repertoire. The Fancy Pants Adventure series features some of the best platforming action you can have in a browser.
Attention all bibliophiles: One of your worst fears is coming true! There's an attack being staged on books by some brainless dope who left an ink bottle open in the library and now the long prophesied war between books and ink has arrived! Hah, kidding! Well, only slightly kidding. Sinister ink blots are on a single minded mission to destroy any and all books in this typing tower defense game mash-up. It's up to you to use those years of typing skills you've amassed to stave off this most horrifying battle.
In this stylish, mission-based, action stealth game, play as an unnamed agent that has tracked absconded nuclear materials to a heavily armed fortress, and it's your job to sneak in, find out who's behind this dastardly plot, and stop them. if you're hungering for the feel of creeping past trained arm guards and dodging the watchful eye of security cameras from the comfort of your own browser, Stealth Hunter 2 has got you covered.
There's something deliciously ironic about Canary. Set in space, Nitrome's "Best of 2011" award-winning game puts players in the role of a stalwart canary in the employment of the Canary Mining Colony. With rocks falling everywhere, hostile yet adorable aliens and a panoply of other things to worry about, the game really does give new meaning to the phrase 'canary in a coal mine'.
This action-oriented, run-and-gun shooter stars a proto-dinosaur fighting back against the laser-happy aliens who wish to poach him. Quality visuals, hardcore survival gameplay and aggressively silliness make for a game quite reminiscent of the Heli-Attack series. Except, you know. With dinosaurs fighting aliens.
It might be a bit out of season to be topical, but Pixeljam's Snowball is a mammoth pinball game to behold. With well over a hundred targets to collect and multiple flippers and springs to control, this seasonal table has a lot of fun bells and whistles to keep you entertained until the next cold front sweeps through.
Theo's been working in the slave mines for years, and has finally saved up enough to buy a cruiser. Now, if he can just shoot his way through this orbiting traffic, he'll be ready to start his new life. Originally conceived by Christopher T. Rock, with later additional development by Bryson Whiteman, Rush Hour Plus is a short but solid arcade game. It's bifurcated development is apparent in the differing styles of cut-scenes and game action, but it has a nice dose of humor and is the perfect length for a coffee break.
A Tron-like slotcar race in which traffic and obstacles are more of a hindrance than the other racers. Across 6 tracks, race to set the best times possible on densely populated courses that only allow lane changes, rather than traditional steering.
More arcade avoidance action to be enjoyed in this sequel to the 2009 cat nomming adventure original. Considering how simple yet lovely the original was, it's impressive that Time 4 More Cat manages to improve on it without piling on so much that you lose the addictive ease and simplicity that made it popular to begin with. The art is beautiful, soft, and surreal, while the soundtrack only adds to the dreamlike atmosphere. There's always time for more cat!
Sometimes a game doesn't need to reinvent a genre to be just as fun, addictive, and riddled with bullets as we want it to be. In this classic-styled top-down sci-fi shooter, pilot a tiny spaceship against increasingly impossible odds, bigger bosses, and catch coins to purchase upgrades to help your chances. It's familiar, but well polished, and just the right size for some explosive coffee-break arcade carnage.
Think fast! Actually, when you're a developing neural cell, you've got no choice but to think fast and make as many neural connections as you can. That's the basis behind Axon, a science-based fast-paced arcade action game from Preloaded. Click to grab the protein targets and watch out for other neurons trying to invade your space!
Take on missions to earn credits for upgrades as well as the trust of the rebels in this top-down space shooter from Jonas Kyratzes. Jonas has brought us many enjoyable, thoughtful games in bizarre, surreal settings. Well, now he has cast his powers of storytelling in a different yummy, gooey, science fiction package. Your ultimate goal: to take down the Augustan Hegemony. Viva la People's Council!
A simple projectile physics game that is enhanced by some gorgeous visual and a decidedly surreal sense of humor. It is the tale of Captain James T. Stinkbeard and, as a pirate, plundering of booty is what he does. Put some shiver-repellant on yer timbers and check it out.
A arcade physics game that plays like a mouse-driven, one-button version of Lunar Lander. Touchy controls test the patience, but Mission to Uranus is a beautiful game. Just be sure to stock up on fuel in early levels, so you don't crash down the line. Uranus has enough debris as it is.
Games don't get much simpler than this; just hit a key to jump over an obstacle. Easy, right? Well, Chris Jeffrey's reflex-demanding one-button arcade game might just prove you wrong across twenty sadistic levels. With its snappy presentation and straight-forward gameplay, Space is Key 2 is hardly innovative, but it is a well polished little torture device for your reflexes. More than anything, it's a great illustration of how hard you can force players to push themselves at a simple concept just by implying it should be easy.
An arcade action game that is 7 mini-games all rolled up into one retro game cartridge. These seven games are interwoven due to the buggy nature of the cartridge they're on. Instead of playing one or the other, you hop between them, using abilities from one to clear a path to progress in the other. Unusual? Yeah. But it works better than you might think!
A polished zombie action-defense hybrid that's a bloody good time. A cool, if slightly repetitive, mixture of serious horror, logistical strategy, frenetic action, and low-key parody, Decision shows that the undead can still pack serious punch.
Ever wanted to run rampant through hordes of squishy spider bots, monsters, and malevolent steampunk beasties? This simple but chaotic top-down shooter provides some truly frantic action that, while repetitive, delivers a nice dose of KAPOW KAPOW KAPOW to your day.
A fun expansion of the original swinging Hanger 2, this Endless Level Pack keeps the great physics action, while featuring a lot of cool new architecture, along with the anticipated Endless Mode. Go out on a limb and try it!
A retro arcade-y piece of interactive art by transsexual author Anna Anthropy about her six-month experience with hormonal therapy. Raw and emotional, but surprisingly humorous, for good or for bad, this is the kind of game that will get people thinking and talking.
Dodge bombs, grab balloons and keep the city safe in this multifaceted arcade shooter. Any of this game's three phases wouldn't be all that great individually. Putting them together, though, makes for a fantastic mix. You're not stuck doing one thing for long enough that it becomes stale. Variety is the spice of life, and Bomb Diver just might be your paprika, so all you daredevils out there owe it to yourselves to give it a shot!
Playing a secret agent is always fun, even when it's pared down to a simple one-button game, like in Agent Turnright by Pencilkids. 16 levels of mini-games await you and your right pointer finger as you help Turnright work his way to defeating the boss and winning the girl. In how many clicks can you complete this adventure?
In the year 2049, all the water on Earth has been depleted. The nearest source of the good stuff is our friendly neighborhood Mars. So... let's go get it, shall we? Mars Commando is a defense game that emphasizes unit placement and strategy over swarms of soldiers, allowing you to earn the satisfaction of eradicating thousands of aliens with half a dozen of your own troops.
In this retro-styled, pixel art shooter you'll use your airship to defend your home against the vile Tyrian Empire and hopefully you'll manage it without plummeting to the earth. The various combinations of upgrades add a nice level of depth, since you can customize your craft to suit your play style.
Internet cat pictures have finally brought about the end of the world, and the dead are walking! Where are you? Trapped at work, of course. In this unique and tricky action strategy game, you'll guide groups of survivors across increasingly complex levels in a huge office building, nabbing evidence, avoiding zombies, setting yourself on fire, and much more.
Blast aliens on Planet Blirp, an side-scrolling action shooter from Helmet Games. A very familiar kind of game, though its variety of mission objectives and humorous story line separate it from the pack. An emphasis on grinding and a steep learning curve mar the experience, but overall it is a solid time-waster.
A fun little arcade classic mash-up piece from Picobots where the quest for the Higgs Boson particle takes on the guise of a 1980s arcade hit. Ms. Particle-Man is so aggressively science-geeky and displays such love for the games it emulates, that a nostalgia trip is almost inevitable. It's a really enjoyable game that has the hardcore challenge and cartoonish humor that would keep the quarters inserted for hours.
When one alien is carted off by the government, it's up to the remaining one to save it. Which isn't nearly as impossible as it sounds, since these aliens are towering colossi with lasers, pincer feets, and a penchant for causing mass destruction wherever they go. A simple but extremely stylish little action game that allows you to indulge the stomping alien beast in you as you set out to rescue your companion while destroying all the buildings, people, and resistance in your way.
Captain Skyro is a classic "pull back and fling" game similar to the old browser series Sling, only instead of tossing around squishy gross things, now you get to control a pirate! Grappling up through the clouds, you'll encounter cargo holds full of crazy obstacles, clouds that you'll swear are out to get you, and score-based gameplay that will inspire you to go back and play again, just so you can nab that last coin!
There's a zombie apocalypse happening, and only one man can stop it!... maybe... hopefully! Rupert picks up his trusty gun and bowler hat, determined to stop a bitter necromancer and make the streets of London safe once again in this repetitive but quirky and entertaining action shooter with a wonderfully morbid cartoon style.
Massagames brings a calm launch experience in I am Flying to the Moon. Control a little wooden spaceship (upgrades available, of course) as it makes attempt after attempt to propel itself beyond the wild blue yonder. Avoid other flying objects and collect the floating bonuses to most profit from each launch. It's not a game to get your blood pumping, but it'll sure entertain you for awhile.
Launch a bouncy robot into space in this arcade action platform game by Karma Team. Dodge bombs, leap from clouds, and continue ever upward to stay alive. Along the way, you can collect coins and purchase up to 24 upgrades to make your robot better - faster - stronger! A handful of achievements and an easy learning curve make for an addictive adventure into the cosmos.
Somehow, we must have missed the episode of National Geographic where they explained how all fish float around frozen, just waiting for explosives to be dropped to free them, so they can then be gobbled up by an opportunistic octopus. It may sound grim, but this frantic, vivid, and colourful chain reaction arcade game packed with achievements and upgrades is anything but.
Daymare Invaders, an arcade shooter, isn't a particularly complicated game. Essentially, it's Space Invaders with a Daymare skin. But you know what? The hand-drawn art of the Daymare world is as hauntingly beautiful as it was when we first saw it. If you go in expecting anything more than a clone, you'll be disappointed. If, however, you approach it knowing what it is (a classic mini-game and a tantalizing preview of installments to come), you'll find a very tasty piece of eye candy.
A fun, pretty, heart-racing and forward-scrolling racing game from longanimals, Neon Race 2 is the kind of game you'd be happy to drop five dollars in quarters on at the old arcade. Expect pavement, police cars, turbo-boosts, ramps and random explosions aplenty.
Captain Commander: Defender of the Galaxy! Crash landed on an alien planet, it's up to him and the trusty blaster at his side, to run, jump, shoot, drive and fly across the landscape, decimating the population and rescuing his comrades from their probe-happy captors. A fine retro run-and-gun action game from PixelJAM and Adult Swim, there's be much havoc to wreak, and many green things to insult before the mission is over.
An entertainingly spacey physics arcade golf game from Krang Games, with the distinguishing gimmick being that you can hit the ball again once it's in motion. Not quite a revolution, but a lot of fun, and the large number of custom holes made with the comprehensive level editor will keep you playing for a long time.
A zombie shooter with defense elements in which you're tasked with helping devoted sister Anna survive for 15 days in zombie-infested Riverhead City as she waits for her brother's return. Wholesale slaughter of zombies will earn you money, which you can spend on new guns, upgrades and repairs during the intermission between each day.
Does your local terrain have too much flatness and nowhere nearly enough ramps? Then come on down and check out Rod Hot's Hot Rod Racing, new from Turbo Nuke, for all your racing action needs. A spiritual successor to the Cyclomaniac series, with all the inexplicable car flipping we've come to expect, the emphasis on customization is cool, even if it comes with a grindy cost.
Have you ever had a legion of avaricious specters try to mess with you as you hang out around your money tree, forcing you to break out the ectoplasmic shotguns to fend them off? If so, please let us know what it's like, since it's probably a situation most of us won't encounter in our lives. Still, we can get an incredibly simulation of it in Greed Ghouls, new from Christopher Gregorio. An action game with elements of the shooter and defense genre, it's kind of a miss-mash of competing ideas, but overall, a very entertaining one.
A gloriously silly action arcade game from Beef Jack Studios. It stars a speedo-clad body-builder who must abandon his daily GTL routine, so that he may battle through a collapsing high rise, to reach the safety of the alien-proof subway below. Hot Tub Heist is goofy, but its constant race to the bottom is a compelling premise.
A fun, and slightly insightful, collection of arcade mini-games from the London Science Museum and Preloaded, Futurecade is flashy neon-drenched action that's just a little educational. The quartet of games includes Bacto-Lab, Robo-Lobster, and Cloud Control, Space Junker, and while each isn't particularly deep, they're sure to get you thinking.
If you've ever dreamed of being a daredevil (even if it's in a stolen shopping cart), then try out Monkey Want Banana's latest installment in their launch game series, Shopping Cart Hero 3. Learn different stunts, add groupies and pimp your cart as you fly through three worlds with a few boss battles. Just remember to turn your cart upright after a trick... a dead groupie is no groupie at all.
A simple arcade clone of iOS hit Tiny Wings, but better, because it has ponies. Well, pony. Singular, for now. It's crafted in HTML5, and the goal is to simply fly (or roll) as far as you can by helping Scootaloo, the little orange pegasus filly, use her rollerblades and momentum to catch some air. It's simple, but it's adorable and exactly the sort of thing you keep playing over and over when you really should be doing something else. Yes, that's right. I'm going to turn you all into bronies. If it happened to me when I couldn't sleep last year and there was a marathon on, then I'm darn well taking all of you with me.
Super Crazy Guitar Maniac Deluxe 4 is all about re-imagining the Guitar Hero experience for your home PC. It improves over its predecessors with amusing presentation and a host of new options and features. You can play every song in two difficulty levels, garner achievements for epic thrashing or embarrassing failure, and battle egregious enemy bosses like the diabolical Puppet or the innocent Pizza Guy through the shear power of Rock. Or you can just put on your headphones and sneak a quick jam in a break in your day.
Will those darn Gummi Bears ever learn? When you steal the wallet of the angry minotaur that's already crushed your comrades once before, there's going to be a reckoning. It's Burrito Bison Revenge, an action launch game from Juicy Beast. It feels a bit more like "Burrito Bison 1.5" rather than "2", but it's still a very fun way to pass the time.
The character of this arena shooter probably heard lots of name calling when it was younger, but now that it's all grown up, it's set to fight! You control the gunface drone to save the planet against the Zenoba invasion by shooting the many guns on its face (surprise). With endless upgrades to your arsenal and 30 levels to battle through, it's up to you whether or not this ends in glorious victory. Either way, prepare yourself for a trip to the principal's office cause drones fight dirty!
TV shows would have us believe that all managers are clueless petty little tyrants. If your superior is one that might be well-served by a kick in the rear, then Origaming has a action launch game for you! My "Dear" Boss stars a set-upon office peon, whose workplace stress reaches such a fever pitch, that his only recourse is to kick his boss through a third story window. For distance. And cash to purchase upgrades. As you might guess, this is a goofy, funny little game, that makes for some good mindless fun.
MoonMana offers up simple but undeniably lovely arcade playing with this hypnotic game about catching stars and... no, that's about it, really. While there isn't much to them, both Stellar Hunter games are beautiful and satisfying in that way you sometimes just want that feels specifically designed to make you relax with a smile on your face.
Heaven is just beyond the city skyline! Or at least that's what the mechanical porker starring in this cute but simple launch game believes. Help our hero to fly out of the city to Pig Paradise by shooting him out of a cannon, causing massive property damage along the way, and purchase various upgrades to get you there faster. That'll do, pig.
Ever wanted to be the king (or queen!) or everything? How about as a reason to blow everything up? This adorable, frantic arena shooter packs tons of action, upgrades, enemies, bosses, and even power-ups into one simple but explosively fun experience to keep you on your toes.
BUGS. Who needs 'em? Especially face-eating, acid-spitting, lurking-in-dimly-lit-corridor-ing bugs! Those are the worst! Blast you way through hordes of enemies in this atmospheric horror shooter that contains a lot of familiar elements, but also one very well done presentation. Upgrade weapons, complete challenges, and maybe even find out the secret of the cryptic "Owl Men"... they're so very hungry...
Trigger Knight is an experimental one-button RPG where your mouse button is all you need to keep a cute little warrior upgraded and healthy as she relentlessly charges towards the right side of the screen. A nice proof-of-concept that's fun for a coffee break and hopefully a precursor to a more fleshed-out version later.
A sidescrolling, action platformer with RPG elements set in the Epic Battle Fantasy world. It has the same set of characters as his previous titles, with Natalie being kidnapped by a big, bad guy driving a big, bad tank. It's up to you, as Matt, to travel through worlds of enemies, coins and chests galore to save her. Twenty levels of fun await you (perhaps along with some bonuses...), and each level contains 100 gold coins and 10 chests to find.
It never hurts to have a dream. Unless, of course, your dream is to be repeatedly shot out of a cannon, crashing into various boosters and blockers, so as to earn money for the purchasing of upgrades. That might end up hurting quite a bit. Canoniac Launcher is a new Toss The Turtle-style action game. While unbalanced upgrades and unclear objectives mar the experience, its solid presentation and gorgeous art helps it stand as a hilarious blast of a game.
Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow... and snow... and then snow some more in Snow Tree, this charming little arcade physics game from Alexey Izvalov. Control the snowfall by clicking and dragging with the mouse to create invisible air currents, directing the flakes into a tidy pile to form a delicate, branching, and ever-growing tree (keeping the white stuff away from your front door and driveway in the process). Pile the snow as high and efficiently as you can to build your score, and snag some of those neatly wrapped presents floating high in the clouds to earn extra points and increase the maximum amount of snowflakes available to build with.
Farmer Vlad has built a paradise for piggies. He sends a letter to the closest litter, inviting them to vacation in his literal hog heaven. Unfortunately, all sorts of danger lies in their path: bears, wolves, birds, UFOs... A reflex platformer by VladG, 300 Miles to Pigsland takes the non-stop gameplay of Canabalt, sends it through the cute-ifier machine and adds a sprinkling of upgrades, making for a fun, if repetitive, time.
I don't know what Nitrome has against penguins, but our little tuxedoed friends really get the raw end of the fish-burger this time. Not only do they get chucked off of icebergs by the hundreds, but some rambunctious foxes are using them as ammunition in a prototype penguin launcher. If you're having trouble visualizing that, it's like a missile launcher, but with penguins. Fiery heat-seeking penguins.
Gameplay in Pinata Hunter is simple and distinctive, as you swing your mouse Wii-mote style to bludgeon your quarry for tasty treats. After a few upgrades it's immensely satisfying (and addicting). Like squeezey stress toys, or inflatable punching bags, no one can accuse relentlessly beating on a colorful elephant sculpture for candy to be a deep experience, but you'll hardly care once you can fill the screen with flying candy.
Alien war rages upon the surface of the moon. But would Santa dare forget those space marines that made it onto the "nice" list? By Kringle's beard, I say thee nay! Even it if means strapping a rocket to his back and launching himself to space, ol' Saint Nick will deliver those gifts if its the last thing he does! Berzerk Studios brings you Santa Rocket, and while not particularly innovative for the arcade launch genre, it is a solid holiday work.
In Dibbles 2: Winter Woes, simply place commands on a field to order the little dibbles to create a path for their king... by killing themselves. Sound gruesome? Shhh. Look at the softly falling snow. All is right with the world. Just repeat "it's for the greater good" until it feels right.
An arcadey combination of mouse avoidance and WarioWare-style mini-games, Mouse Quest by Oilold takes two love-em-or-hate-em genres of casual gameplay and fuses them into something quite likeable. The plot is nothing too special: the mysterious Shapemaster has transported you to his dimension and presents your cursor with various fast-paced challenges so that you may prove your worth before facing him. Overall, the presentation has the minimalism of someone new to game development, but it's very enjoyable work all the same.
A one button (almost) arcade game that's all about speed, direction, and crashing into walls because you got confused as to which way your ship was going to go when you pressed the "switch" button. Smart decisions and quick reflexes get you through this game, and if the 20 odd levels in the free browser demo get you excited, there's more than twice that content awaiting you in the full version!
After Star Wars: Episode II and that whole Spider-man fiasco, one cannot help but be a little wary of clones. However, leave it to Roman Gecerov and Yuriy Kurenkov to show us that just because something's a little familiar doesn't mean it has to be bad. Shameless Clone doesn't rip off anything... it rips off everything! A pitch-perfect recreation of every mid-90s arcade space shooter ever, filled to the brim with skewered references and memes, Shameless Clone is a bullet hell whose authors have nothing to be ashamed of.
Avalanche casts the player as a sled-bound penguin who is just trying to get home to his brood in the face of a relentlessly adversarial natural disaster. It's a running game that will test your agility and reaction as you pilot your little Antarctic hero to safety. It captures many of the features that made Dino Run and Canabalt great and presents them in its own unique way. It is a fine example in company with its worthy forebears.
One in long line of action shooters with spacey-marines and/or one-word non-indicative titles. Let's count them off: Doom, Quake, Halo, Descent, Unreal, and, uh... Haze. It's surprising there are any alien-demon-zombie menaces left to battle considering how quickly we're able to deploy a near-endless supply of Master Chiefs. It's a good thing then that Raze 2 has the quality gameplay and presentation to distinguish itself from the competition.
What time is it? Tasty Planet: Dinotime! Mathematical! The popular action series from Dingo Games is back, and this time things have gotten prehistoric. Like always, gameplay is one part Fishy and two parts Katamari as the ancient world faces the cutest darn grey goo scenario you ever did see, and you have the starring role as the goo! It's eat or be eaten as you grow from pebble-size to apatosaurus-size... and maybe just manage to do something about that huge asteroid in the sky.
There's plenty of hubbub about saving the whales, but we've really got to be worrying about our own hides. Whales are dangerous, you see., and you'll find out why in this arcade action sequel about causing chaos to ships and upgrading your whale. Moby Dick 2 makes for a great half-hour of destruction. It's also a great example of what will happen if we don't develop anti-whale countermeasures immediately.
Another installment of this popular bloodless shooter series, this time dropping the tiny commandos into a jungle environment full of Baddies to blast, buildings to blow up, and civilians to save. Run, jump, and shoot your way through missions, earning stars to upgrade your units and cash to hire more powerful mercenaries to your cause.
It seems we've been invaded by celestial bodies, ones who send out their bullets to a thumping galactic rhythm. It's up to your tiny ship to weave your way through their forces, absorbing energy for your interstellar counterattack. Will the world rave about your shooter skills, or will the aliens just leave you in a trance? Bullet hells and techno go together like chocolate and peanut butter. And while the world would hail the release of the first country-music-based shoot-em-up, you can't blame developers for sticking with a sound design that works. Bullet Audyssey is a considerably polished visual and audial treat, even if the difficulty gets insane pretty fast.
A remake of an obscure 1989 Japan-only Nintendo Famicom title, about a firefighter who rescues people from a burning building via an extremely bouncy form of the classic arcade game Breakout. Of course, the Nintendo one featured tiny 8-bit pixel art, whereas in this one the female fire victims put the bouncy in the title, if you know what I mean. Time marches on.
So, you're in the middle of a road trip, and it looks like there's some construction up ahead. The sign clearly says that cars need to merge to the left lane, but it seems like some geniuses are going to speed past the line forming and try to cut in at the last minute.Doesn't it make you judge want to climb on your roof, commandeer whatever vehicles come along, and carve a swath of explodey destruction across the interstate? Freeway Fury 2, an arcade racer new from Serius Games, lets you fulfill your wildest road rage fantasies in the comfort of your own home.
Every other member of the rebel army is dead, but in Armed With Wings: Culmination, the tyrant Vandheer Lorde is finally within your grasp. Can you hunt him down and put an end to his threat of world domination? Grab your katanas, folks, because Sun Studios has outdone themselves again with their latest action platformer of the Armed with Wings series.
Pixels! Love 'em or hate 'em? You might have no choice but to do the latter in this action-packed arcade shooter. Soak in the retro vibe as you blow apart incoming pixel enemies, raining laser fire down on the field to blast chunks off of them, and nabbing power-ups that drop to increase your strength.
Xenos is a new form of energy discovered in the 22nd century. It's being used for evil, however, and as our giant robot hero Asterus it's your job to make things right by destroying all the Xenos generators in this arcade action title from Oddity Games.
Bullet Bill is back and he's having a blast in this fast-paced side-scrolling arcade game. Guide one of Mario's oldest enemies on a side-scrolling journey through destructible levels, fight bosses, unlock new characters and powers, and maybe even invent some colourful new profanity in the process... or make use of the level editor to make your friends suffer instead.