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shooter posts

Filed under: Fun, Games, Time-Wasters

Skyfyre is a side-scrolling, shoot-em-up frenzy on the back of a dragon - Time Waster

Time Wasterby Lee Mathews Oct 23rd 2009

Something about the frenzied action of Skyfyre made me wish I had Dragonforce blasting out my Altec Lansing three-piece. Somehow I don't think that would fly here at my day job...

If you're lucky enough to be at home (or have a nice set of headphones, though), fire up some fast-paced tunes and get your turrets ready for aerial combat. This challenging and addictive side scroller is a perfect Friday afternoon time sink.

In addition to the stylish, pixelated graphics there's plenty of depth to Skyfyre. Start with four classes - warrior, hunter, knight, and paladin - each with their own advantages. Add in weapon upgrades and the ability to increase your stats, and this casual blast-fest can become quite engrossing.

Skyfyre also gives you three savegame slots so you can return to more productive pursuits for a few minutes and then get back to your game in progress later. Nice!

Tags: dragon, flash game, FlashGame, shoot-em-up, shooter, side-scroller, time-waster, timewaster

Filed under: Fun, Games, Time-Wasters

Graveyard Shift - zombie-busting Time Waster

Time Wasterby Jay Hathaway Oct 21st 2009

With Halloween fast approaching, it's a great time to get in some practice defending your territory against zombies. In Graveyard Shift, you take aim at zombies and other creepy-crawlies, blasting them into splatters of cartoony green guts. It's a casual first-person shooter, and it's very easy to get the hang of - use the mouse to aim, click to fire. Graveyard Shift has at least 15 levels, and it might even have some secret stages I haven't unlocked yet.

They key to getting good at Graveyard Shift is learning to use the shield. Some enemies throw projectiles at you, and your health will disappear quickly if you don't use the space bar to block. Of course, you could just try to blow away everything on the screen before you get attacked, but your gun is unfortunately pretty lame, and overheats if you start clicking too furiously. Good luck protecting yourself from the undead hordes!

Tags: first-person-shooter, fps, fun, games, shooter, zombies

Filed under: Fun, Games, Time-Wasters

Death vs Monstars is a fun, crazy shooter on autopilot - Time Waster

Time Wasterby Lee Mathews Apr 24th 2009


I don't normally preface Time Wasters with a warning, but I'm going to make an exception this time.

If you've never played Death vs Monstars before, you may wish you weren't reading this post right now. It is, in two words, awesomely addictive. Once you start playing, you may just kill your entire afternoon, the time you planned on spending at the pub, and the rest of your Friday night festivities.

Controls. Dead simple. You're already shooting all the time, so just fly around. Use your momentum to circle your crosshairs and change aim.

Secret weapon. Death bloom. Double click to unleash a circular firestorm and become invulnerable for a short time.

Power ups. Check. As you defeat enemies, they'll leave behind cash that you pick up to purchase more firepower and better stats in between levels. A little short for that next upgrade? No problem. Replay a level to stuff your pockets.

Bad guys. Lots of 'em. They pop up all over the place and attack in swarms. Sometimes you've just got to park yourself in a corner and keep your aim fixed as waves of the little buggers come at you. Don't stay put too long, though, or you'll miss out on all the booty.

Death vs Monsters has everything I want in a casual game. It's just too bad I found it while I was at work, because I'm way behind on my service work now. These are the sacrifices we make to share Time Wasters!

Tags: auto-pilot, flash-game, shooter

Filed under: Fun, Games, Internet, Time-Wasters

RetroShoot is colorful, casual space shoot 'em up - Time Waster

Time Wasterby Lee Mathews Apr 17th 2009


It's Friday, and time to take it easy - so how about a Time Waster that only requires you to move your mouse? Hello, RetroShoot!

Just because the controls are dead simple doesn't make the game any less fun. It's a packed with colorful old-school arcade goodness. Manouver your ship with the mouse and let your ship take care of the shooting. Apart from that, the only other controls are space bar to pause/restart and escape to quit.

Collect powerups as you progress to add area effects, improved blasters, and extra lives. Take a hit, and you'll receive a strike. You guessed it: three of those and you're out.

As an added twist, the screen will pivot 90 degrees during some stages. Sure, it's just the same thing sideways, but it makes things a little more interesting than playing up-and-down constantly.

Let the blasting commence!

Tags: arcade, classic, shoot-em-up, shooter, vintage

Filed under: Fun, Games, Windows, Freeware, Windows x64

Rayhound: A space shooter where your only weapon is gravity

Windowsby Lee Mathews Jan 2nd 2009

It seems a bit odd to call Rayhound a shooter when your ship doesn't actually have a single gun, but that's the best single-word description I can offer.

Your opponents, however, have lots of firepower and they're not shy about using it. How exactly do you go about defending yourself? Use your enemies' strength against them.

Use the mouse to control your ship's movement and left-click to engage your ship's gravity field. Time it right, and you'll gain control over enemy attacks and be able to redirect them to your advantage. Hold the mouse button down to keep the field engaged to drag their fire with you and release when you're ready to strike.

The visuals are simple yet stunning, especially in later stages when enemies become more numerous.

Rayhound is a free download for Windows, and is totally portable so Linux users might also be able to give it a shot using Wine.

Tags: shooter, space, time-waster

Filed under: Fun, Games, Windows, Macintosh, Linux, Freeware, Time-Wasters

Dirk Valentine - Time Waster

WindowsMacLinuxTime Wasterby Jason Clarke May 23rd 2008

Dirk ValentineRecently we've noticed more and more two-dimensional games incorporating use of both the keyboard and mouse, much in the same way that first person shooters do. The latest to catch our eye is Dirk Valentine and the Fortress of Steam, a side-scrolling game in which you play the part of the hero, Dirk. Your goal is infiltrate Lord Battenberg's steam fortress, and destroy it.

The control scheme includes the typical movement buttons including jump, but then you use the mouse for aiming your weapon. Dirk is equipped with a chain shooter that kills enemies, but it also allows him to build short bridges out of the chain between specific types of platforms.

The gameplay is solid, and the look of the game has a sort of quasi-steampunk feel. Rather than giving you a training mode or page of instructions, the game's creator has instead decided to train you as you go. You can stop at specific points to get more information, making the learning curve very comfortable yet giving the game the ability to introduce more depth as you continue.

If you're looking for a five minute distraction from your regular work, Dirk Valentine is not a good choice for you. This game appears to have hours of content. But if you're looking for something a little more engaging that you can come back to again and again, check it out.

Tags: dirk-valentine, games, shooter, side-scrolling, time-waster, timewaster

Filed under: Fun, Games, Time-Wasters

ToonCrisis- Today's Time Waster

Time Wasterby Todd Ritter Apr 23rd 2008

Toon Crisis
Using an interesting blend of real-world video and cartoon-enemy overlays, ToonCrisis is a fun Flash shooter with an original soundtrack of punk-ish/ska songs to keep you motivated.

The objective is simply to kill the monsters by aiming your laser-shooting hand (which is, of course, in the shape of a gun) at them and clicking the left mouse button. There are different types of enemies including some that don't move but shoot things at you, some that move and take a bunch of shots to kill, and bosses (complete with separate energy meter) that must be beat before moving to the next stage.

The game flow is similar to arcade games like Area 51, Time Crisis, and Virtua Cop in that you walk a bit, kill all the enemies, walk more, kill enemies, defeat boss, repeat.

[Via Violethemlock]

Tags: flash games, FlashGames, shooter

Filed under: Fun, Games, Time-Wasters

Cannon Challenge- Today's Time Waster

Time Wasterby Todd Ritter Feb 29th 2008

Cannon Challenge
Cannon Challenge is a cannon game similar to Gorillas (an old-school game that came with QBasic) in that you launch a projectile at a target by setting velocity and angle. The game is made by the Discovery Channel for promoting their show Future Weapons. You control a non-line-of-sight (NLOS) cannon that "represents the future of U.S. Field Artillery."

You're given a limited number of shots, and each target has an associated point value (mouse over the target to get info). Finishing a level with unused shots yields bonus points. As the game progresses, targets will need to be destroyed within certain time limits.

[Thanks hnkelley!]

Tags: cannon, shooter

Filed under: Fun, Games, Internet, Windows, Macintosh, Linux, Adobe, Freeware, Time-Wasters

Momentum Missle Mayhem - Time Waster

WindowsMacLinuxTime Wasterby Jason Clarke Aug 20th 2007

Momentum Missle MayhemMomentum Missle Mayhem is a Flash-based arcade shooter with a funky physics concept and great action. You play the part of the Gravity Launcher, which is basically a fixed structure. You can shoot out different projectiles in a slingshot fashion, and hit the attacking machines and either damage them, or push them around. The goal is to defend the left side of the screen from the waves of attackers coming from the right.

Of course there are all sorts of upgrades available as you move on, giving you different weapons to deploy and the ability to use some alternative strategies. One tip when you're getting started is to note that more damage is caused by the attackers colliding with the sides of the arena or even each other than by taking direct hits. So it's valuable to aim as if you're playing pool - make the attacking machines bounce into each other, and you'll cause far more damage.

Tags: Flash, Flash game, FlashGame, Momentum Missle Mayhem, MomentumMissleMayhem, shooter, Time Waster, TimeWaster

Filed under: Fun, Games, Windows, Macintosh, Linux, Freeware, Time-Wasters

Multiplayer Asteroids - Today's Time Waster

WindowsMacLinuxTime Wasterby Jordan Running Jul 13th 2006

Multiplayer AsteroidsWhat do you get when you take Asteroids, add a bunch of other players, and, er, take out the asteroids? Multiplayer Asteroids. It's an extremely fast-paced and addicting Flash space shooter that takes its aesthetic cues from the classic arcade rock-blaster and adds a dozen or more players from around the world. The controls will be familiar to Asteroids players: Left and right rotate your ship, up and down move you forward and backward, and the space bar fires. You can also press enter to get a text box to broadcast messages to other players, and you can pick up power-ups to boost your health or weaponry. The game can be different depending on how many players they are: With three or four players there's a little more strategy involved than when there's 10 players, in which case the screen is a blizzard of projectiles. This is a game that's hard to stop playing.

[Via Waxy.org]

Tags: action, asteroids, flash, fun, game, multiplayer, shooter

Filed under: Fun, Games, Windows, Macintosh, Freeware, Time-Wasters

Gamma Bros. - Today's Time Waster

WindowsMacTime Wasterby Jordan Running Jul 3rd 2006

Gamma Bros.Maybe I'm just a sucker for 8-bit-style games, but I'm really enjoying Gamma Bros. It's a space shooter that comes in web-based Flash as well as downloadable Windows and Mac flavors, and feature pixely graphics and fast action. You play as one of the Gamma Bros. who must destroy an endless stream of UFOs that invade from every direction. Use the arrow keys to move your craft around and the WASD keys to fire in four cardinal directions. When your energy gets depleted, running into your brother will swap your ships, tag-team-style. The rest is easy to pick up, but a solid challenge to complete.

Tags: flash, fun, game, gammabros, mac, pixeljam, shooter, space, windows

Featured Time Waster

Graveyard Shift - zombie-busting Time Waster

With Halloween fast approaching, it's a great time to get in some practice defending your territory against zombies. In Graveyard Shift, you take aim at zombies and other creepy-crawlies, blasting them into splatters of cartoony green guts. It's a casual first-person shooter, and it's very easy to get the hang of - use the mouse to aim, click to fire. Graveyard Shift has at least 15 levels, and it might even have some secret stages I haven't unlocked yet. They key to getting good at Graveyard Shift is learning to use ...

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