Shooter Games

Where to start

If you are new to shooting games, start with Duck Hunter: the rounds are short, the rules need no explanation and the difficulty ramps up gently. If you prefer thinking to reflexes, Zombie Buster has no time pressure at all. When you want more action, SWAT vs Zombies adds movement, five levels and a shop full of weapons.

Family-friendliness at a glance

Duck Hunter, Duck Shooter, Tank Defender, Space Purge and Air Combat are cartoon-style and suitable for most ages. SWAT vs Zombies includes blood effects and scores lowest on our family-friendliness scale; the two zombie physics puzzles and Shoot Robbers sit in between. Each game's review shows its family score so you can decide quickly.

Skills that carry across every shooter

Let your cursor settle on a target before you fire, lead moving targets by aiming slightly ahead of them, and always know how much ammunition you have left — almost every game here limits your shots. Our aiming guide explains each habit and includes a short practice routine.

Zombie Buster

Zombie Buster is a physics puzzle disguised as a shooter. Each of its 20 levels places zombies around a small scene of platforms, crates, pipes, maces and waterfalls, and gives you a strictly limited supply of ammunition. Your job is to eliminate every zombie before you run out of bullets.

Best thing about it: Ricochet physics make every level a puzzle. Watch out for: Zombie theme and hit effects are not for the youngest players.

Space Purge

Space Purge is a planetary-defence shooter. Asteroids and small planets hurtle towards the Earth, and you pilot a spaceship that must destroy them before they strike. The game's own briefing is clear: protect the Earth for as long as possible, because the mission fails if the Earth is hit three times or your ship loses three lives.

Best thing about it: Clear goal across ten levels. Watch out for: Limited ammunition per level punishes missed shots.

Zombie Shooter

Zombie Shooter is a physics-based shooting puzzle across 30 levels. Each level is a small construction of beams, blocks, boxes and balls, some of them held up by chains and hinges. Zombies stand around and inside the structure, and you have a limited magazine of bullets to eliminate them all.

Best thing about it: 30 levels with a satisfying difficulty ramp. Watch out for: Zombie theme is not for the youngest players.

Duck Hunter

Duck Hunter recreates the classic duck-hunting arcade formula in your browser. Ducks burst out of the grass and flap across the sky, and you have a handful of shotgun shells to bring them down before they fly away. Between rounds your hunting dog sniffs through the grass, flushes out new birds and proudly holds up the ones you hit — or laughs at you when you miss.

Best thing about it: Clear, fair difficulty curve across rounds. Watch out for: One mode only — little variety over long sessions.

Duck Shooter

Duck Shooter is a fast shooting-gallery game. Ducks appear and move across a fairground-style scene framed by theatre curtains, and you shoot as many as you can. Every shot leaves a bullet hole, and you are working with a limited supply of bullets against the clock.

Best thing about it: Instantly playable. Watch out for: Very little depth beyond the score chase.

SWAT vs Zombies

SWAT vs Zombies puts you in control of a special-forces officer fighting through five levels overrun by the undead — from city streets and open fields to a burning laboratory. Unlike a static shooting gallery, you move your character around the level, so positioning and footwork are as important as aim.

Best thing about it: Large arsenal with real tactical differences. Watch out for: Blood effects — not for young children.

Tank Defender

Tank Defender puts you in charge of a single super tank defending its territory from the air. Enemy aircraft fly overhead and drop bombs — including atomic bombs — and your job is to shoot them down before they destroy you. It is an anti-aircraft survival game: the longer you hold out, the higher your score.

Best thing about it: Supply drops add strategy. Watch out for: Single endless mode.

Air Combat

Air Combat is an arcade flying shooter. You steer a fighter plane with a virtual joystick while enemy aircraft attack from all sides. Your plane carries bullets and rockets, and its fuel slowly runs down, so staying in the air is as important as winning dogfights.

Best thing about it: Fuel, bullets and rockets to manage. Watch out for: Three resource bars to watch can feel busy at first.

Shoot Robbers

Shoot Robbers is a night-time reaction shooter. A street of houses sits under the moon, and robbers appear at lit windows and other spots around the scene. Unlike a simple shooting gallery, these targets fight back: if you do not take a robber down quickly, he fires at you and you lose health.

Best thing about it: Targets that shoot back add real tension. Watch out for: Gets repetitive over long sessions.

Do I need a mouse to play the shooters?

No. Every shooter works with a mouse, a trackpad or a touch screen. Tapping directly on a target is very accurate on phones and tablets, while a mouse gives the finest control for tracking moving targets on desktop.

Which shooter has the most content?

SWAT vs Zombies, with five levels and a large weapon shop, followed by the 20-level Zombie Buster and the 30-level Zombie Shooter.

Which shooter is best for improving my aim?

Duck Hunter for leading moving targets, Duck Shooter for accurate settled shots and Shoot Robbers for quick reactions. Our aiming guide includes a ten-minute routine using all three.