The shooter lives! Matt Roszak's Epic Battle Fantasy series steps out of its genre and into the shoes of the "bullet hell" arcade action greats. Unlock new characters, improve your abilities, earn challenging medals, or just last as long as you can in Survival Mode. Bullet Heaven is a fantastic example of the shooter genre doing what it does best; making you squeal "ohgeezohgeezohgeez" over and over again while you sweat bullets to match the hundreds onscreen.

Two years ago, Antony Lavelle released Upgrade Complete. A mix of shoot em up and space invaders, the games main purpose was to unsubtly parody one of the more obnoxious aspects of modern gaming: the inclusion of unnecessary and convoluted upgrade systems. Everything came at a price and had to be bought: weapons, graphics, music, buttons... even the pre-loader and Armor Games intro animation. However... it turns out that the developers weren't quite done... After all, what is an upgrade system without a sequel that requires you to restart your progress from the beginning? Thus comes Upgrade Completer, a game that advances the original's premise as much as its humor.

Fly and Blast asks you to choose between piloting a jet, a helicopter and a super-powered heavily armed flying exoskeleton within minutes of loading the game, all of which will serve you well in this side-scrolling shooter. Give Fly and Blast a shot if you enjoy flying or blasting. Just don't be surprised when you find yourself drawn to the battle suit.

Not Your War is a classic-style vertical shooter that feels like Robotron or Smash TV. Use the mouse and keyboard to control your small craft as you survive through 11 levels, taking on waves of enemy drones, fighters, and ships. Upgrade your ship and take down the Rhean forces in this challenging arcade title.

Sgt. Kirley and his men thought they were finally headed home after the war, but instead they find themselves ordered to join up with enemy forces and sent to defend a massive trench, apparently in the middle of nowhere. Why? Well, it turns out zombies really like trenches (and this one is pretty sweet, amirite?), and if you want to protect this one from the new undead menace, you'll have to master your gun and handle your troops in this simple but effective shooter/defense hybrid from WootraGames.

You might think that the combination of Boys' Life, the monthly Boy scouting magazine for ages 6-18, and retro-action-meister Hamumu make for an unexpected pairing. Heck, I was a cub scout and even I find it a little strange. However, I do know that when the creator of the Robot Wants series releases a pixel platformer based around a trio of differently-abilitied characters fighting their way through an alien landscape: I'm there. That game is Mad Planet, and it's got quality worthy of a merit badge.

Notebook Wars 2 returns you to the world of sketch-drawn ships and fighters in an epic vertical shooter by Francisco Ferreres and Dream Forge. Control one of ten hand-drawn ships across 13 levels that look like something out of a teenager's sketchbook. Blow away the bad guys to earn cash to upgrade your craft and fly to victory.

Wooly the Mammoth has stolen your hat, and in order to get it back, you're going to need to get some epic questing going on, exploring a huge, non-linear environment, completing side-quests, collecting keys, and shooting cute but evil monsters in the face with your laser. Whimsical and with wide-appeal, this is certain to be another major hit from jmtb02!

A zombie apocalypse thoughtlessly interrupts your filming in this tongue-in-cheek retro shooter that has you blasting away scores of the undead, upgrading weapons and abilities, as you attempt to break yourself out of a cycle of days that just won't end. Silly, snarky, and definitely challenging, it's definitely going to bring out the zombie slayer in all of us.

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'.

Shooter fans! Has this ever happened to you? You're trying to enjoy blasting the latest wave of Galaga-inspired retro-baddies, but find that the old-school chiptune music and sound effects are drowned out by the relentless sounds of mouse clicking and space-bar tapping. There has to be a better way to launch a space bullet, right? Well, Devilish Games has heard your concerns, and the result is Tag Attack: a shooter that focuses more on the aiming than the clicking, while not sacrificing the intensity of the genre.

First impressions count for a lot. In the case of Soul Redeemer, the new top down zombie action shooter by the Bekho Team, it introduces itself with a plot-explaining narration that cracked me up, though I don't think it was supposed to. Still, whenever a game starts by expounding on how, every couple centuries or so, the alignment of constellations somehow release demonic forces to eat our souls, and the only thing standing in their way is a warrior dude in asymmetrical armor shooting stuff... I'm going to stay around. And I'm glad I did! While Soul Redeemer is not the most original of games, it has a charm to it that fans of the genre should enjoy.

A.R.E.S.: Extinction Agenda is a new platform shooter from Extend Studio that's heavy on the fantastic sci-fi art as well as the action. Its gameplay is reminiscent of classic sidescrolling arcade shooters mixed with a little modern-knowhow and Metroidvania-style level design and progression. While it may feel old school in concept, the game is anything but outdated, and the heavy dose of action and exploration you'll receive will keep you in a trance for many hours.

The goblins are mad as hell, and they're not going to take it anymore! After years of humans stealing goblin inventions and claiming them for their own, the goblins are ready to strike back by constructing an impressive (if somewhat unsteady) goblin powered war machine and rolling through the countryside. Crush the human resistance, earn upgrades and highscores across eighteen levels in this silly, bouncy action physics title from Big Block Games. Whose side are you on?

Warning Foregone is an addictive little pixelated shooter based heavily on previous games while managing to stand on its own. Featuring an evolving boss, several weapon upgrades, and achievements galore, Warning Foregone with feel familiar while driving you to see just what kind of boss evolves next.

In the futuristic world of Armor Mayhem, Loussi's new action shooter, the world has run out of energy. Thus, major corporations send teams of faceless space marines to discover a new source. And, of course, once they find a planet filled to the brink with Unobtanium, they land and immediately start blasting each other in the face with lasers... what it lacks in plot depth, it more than makes up for with enough frenetic blasting action to make Master Chief jealous.

Warm up your fingers, defenders of Earth; this typing game pushes your skills to the limit as you struggle to hold back some horde of... spaceship... mmm... dudes. Despite the lack of a story, this fast-paced little arcade shooter is a sterling example of what HTML 5 is capable, all wrapped up in one sleek little package.

Prove you've got the best aim this side of anywhere in this realistic first-person rail-shooter that will challenge your eye and your reflexes. Take on a series of increasingly difficult missions as the seventh member of an elite group with special skills. Unlock new weapons, complete challenges, and complete objectives all over the world... just don't take any time to stop and smell the roses.

For reasons that are never discussed, players in Robo Rampage will travel to Planet Junk in order to engage scary yet adorable robots in mortal combat with this action shooter. Fear not, you'll have a RoboMe to blast down your mechanical opponents as you strive to build the tallest Kill Hill. It's a stylish and well made little gem that, while slow to start, rewards players who are patient with tons of action.

In Blue Knight, you control a human sent to purge a planet for future human colonization. This retro-looking platform shooter has you jumping and shooting your way through a large world, collecting powerups and facing off against various bad guys on your way to the final boss.

Bubble Tanks 3 takes the series to new heights by combining the best of the Bubble Tanks core gameplay with the customizing features from Bubble Tanks Arenas. The result is a solid sequel to a very popular Flash game series that's a lot of fun to play. The campaign is solid, the user-created tanks keep things fresh and the enemy editor is a ton of fun and will keep this version of the game living for a long time to come.

Strange Attraction is a standard shooter-platformer with a slick presentation and interesting gravity elements. Control the blobby-shaped Gus in his super suit as you try to rescue your fellow villagers from the vile clutches of a horrible cage-like machine. Jump, shoot, and invert your way through 24 levels across 3 unique worlds.

A defense shooter release from Evil Dog and Sick Death Fiend. Tis the night before Christmas, and all through the house, not a creature is stirring, save for the hordes of demon-possessed toys that have found their way under the tree, ready to devour the sleeping bodies of Mom, Dad, and little Timmy. The only thing that stands in their way is you, your hammer and lots of tacks, a ball, a whip that cracks, and a plethora of other gift-weapons. It's six hours until sunrise, with waves of toys coming every ten minutes... as Tiny Tim would say, God help us, all of us.

You play a plucky astro-pilot in this retro-styled action adventure game, with an ill-defined though doubtlessly heroic agenda, who keeps crash-landing onto planets with hostile, labyrinthine space bases, losing your steadfast feline companion in the process. Cat Astro Phi is a nice, short action game with retro appeal, and even players who aren't the targeted allegorical Internet Citizen will find something to appreciate.

The pixel world inside your computer needs your help in this top-down retro shooter from Irsperanza. Customize your tank and weapons as you mow down wave after wave of enemies. If you might enjoy enjoy skulking around an arena, dodging bullets, seeking out waves of baddies, and upgrading a puny starter tank into a mighty juggernaut, Shoot Pixels will make for some high quality low-rez action.

A shoot-em-up game without guns is like a library without books, or an office chair without wheels. Sure they might have some other purpose, but what fun are they without these essential little elements? Fortunately, Super Crate Box is a retro-styled platform shooter that has more guns than you can shake a stick at in the time it takes to play. (Or a katana.)

The last thing you remember, you were just another tourist enjoying a visit to a rather unique museum. Now you find yourself stranded fifty levels below the surface, bristling with memory, and no clue how you got there. Fight your way back up in this top-down horror shooter, but be careful; the walls have eyes... and teeth.

Hostage Crisis is a retro-looking shooter where you storm an office complex in an attempt to rescue numerous hostages from bad guys. Destructive environments make things more interesting as you can place explosive satchel charges and throw grenades at walls, helping you to get to the hostages while taking out the enemy.

The Nokkians 2 is a new vertical shooter by Awoker Games. Using the term "vertical" is a bit of a lie, as one of the key features of this casual shmup is its game-altering screen effects which twist, turn, rotate and scale the entire game world as you play, making dodging bullets only half of the challenge. Add in a load of achievements, a great soundtrack, and gameplay that won't frighten the casual gamer, and you've got a great shooter that can actually draw you back for multiple playthroughs.

Who hasn't wanted to fly? I'll tell you: penguins. They're perfectly okay with staying on land. You'll never see a penguin in an airplane, that's for sure. For all the rest of us who'd love to take to the skies, though, there's Wings of Ge.Ne.Sis, the new side-scrolling shooter from An Lieu. While the original Ge.Ne.Sis was a console-style RPG, this spinoff takes things in a whole new direction; namely, up and above!

Ah, the cosmos. It contains the whole of everything that is, was and shall be. It is filled with the awe-inspiring beauty of the nebulae, the quasars and the familiar stars. Science cannot know how big the universe is, nor can it count the number of planets or star. Every time we get close to an exact figure, a giant space whale, dubbed Harmony Keeper, starts devouring celestial bodies. Or at least, that's what this latest action/arcade title from Mofunzone teaches us.

Join the fight against an evil space corporation in this top-down space action game, where your ship is armed to the teeth with weapons, shields, and other goodies to blast away at everything that shoots back. And it's in space!

Zombies to the left me, er, zombies to the right. Here I am, stuck in the middle with two AK-47s, three primed hand grenades and one dog with a mini gun on his back. Get ready to take survival to a whole new level in this top-down shooter! With steak!

Think you're ready to work at the lab? Think again. B.O.B, our resident A.I., has turned on HQ, and we'll need you to strap into this giant mech and hold off his minions long enough for you to destroy him in this fast-paced shooter/defense game. Rampage around an enormous city map, but don't worry; it's just a simulation... right?

Raitendo's Action Turnip!!! definitely knows its roots. It has two modes: Run N' Gun mode, which is an interesting cross between Robot Unicorn Attack and shmups, and Turnabalt mode, which is like what you'd get if Canabalt and a movie's credit sequence had a baby. Except you can turn into a rainbow and fly around.

The starship Hermes was supposed to revolutionise space travel. Instead it found something in the dark that it never should have let inside. As security officer Hermes, board the silent ship and discover what happened to the crew in this unsettling but flawed action/horror/platforming title.

Have some mad scientist tendencies? That's okay, so do the folks at Hero Interactive, which is why they've decided to let you loose on this arena shooter based on the popular Bubble Tanks series with some serious customisation power. Build and edit your own tanks, enemies, and arenas as you unlock new parts, and upload the results for other players to enjoy!

Banished by the peace loving Kupapians, it seems that that which made you a pariah could be what saves them from an invasion of evil monsters. Now you must raise an army and protect the very people that cast you out in this defense shooter hybrid.

There are three things that distinguish Bullethead from the hundreds of other similar, Space Invaders styled vertical shooters. Number one, it's by Nitrome, so you know it will be a high-production affair, with happy music and sound, and cute, colorful, pixelated artwork. And that should be reason enough to stop reading this and give the game a try!

Even though it inherited the title from the original Tron, Space Paranoids is very aptly named. Because your advantage lies in speed, not firepower, the game encourages a lot of running away and waiting for enemies to come to you. Space Paranoids is not just a good advergame or a nice taste of nostalgia; It's also a fine game in its own right, and a great example of what the Unity engine can do when done well.

Arm yourself with the experimental Omega cannon in this hybrid defense/shooter/resource management game as you struggle to defend your base from hostile invaders. Gather what you need to bolster your defenses, and unlock new technology to help combat the threat. From typically high-action developer Lucidrine comes a slower and more strategic title set in the great beyond.

From the creator of The Company of Myself comes an arena shooter with a surprisingly deep message at its core, offering food for thought alongside fast-paced gameplay. EXADI is a highly advanced artificial intelligence who needs your help to recover her systems after the assault of a particularly nasty virus. But where did the virus come from? And just what makes someone human anyway?

When an artificial intelligence escapes from its laboratory and flies out against military forces in a fight to survive, Ghost Guidance inadvertently gives us something the world has never seen before: a SHMUP story that makes sense! Jump from ship to ship and avoid the military forces as you help an AI virus in its run to safety.

Tired of being the little guy? Then leap behind the controls of one of the massive boss battleships that used to steal all your quarters in classic arcade space shooters. Complete missions to prove your mastery of the skies, unlock new modes, and prove that it's not the size of the ship that counts... wait, no, it is. It totally is.

The mouse controls your vehicle, an unidentified, flying, and particularly adhesive object. It'll stick right onto any tiny spheroids that happen to be floating out there in the void, and firing all your stuck orbs is as simple as a click of the mouse. You'll need the projectiles to split open asteroids for cash, as well as neutralize hostile enemy fighters who have decided that, apparently, all that empty space in the universe just isn't big enough for the both of you.

Genu is back and wants his revenge! Who's Genu? Who cares! It's another excuse to pilot overpowered, flashy spaceships against legions of enemies in this fast-paced shooter full of big bosses, big upgrades, and big fun. While not quite perfect, it's an enjoyable and challenging space adventure for every fan of lasers.

When does science go too far? How advanced can an artificial intelligence get before it is too advanced? And at what point does an homage cease to be an homage? The answers to these questions and more can be found in Condition, a sci-fi platform shooter by abielins and Lycheesoup that's just a little reminiscent of Cave Story.

With a special ship and enough firepower to sort out the 100 year war in an hour, head to the skies and dodge bullets.For whatever reason and whichever tactical handbook involved, you are heading into space to shoot down a colourful variety of enemy spaceships, always culminating to fighting a huge boss ship at the end (Come to think of it, why does the boss always fight alone.. you know what? I don't care).

Saturated will brighten your world with neon vector graphics and brain-challenging action-puzzles. You'll definitely never forget that red and blue make purple after your failure to apply that principle in time results in your ship being reduced to smithereens. There's a good variety in the levels here. Some levels require frantic speed to outrun a laser, others are mazes requiring exploration and backtracking, and still others are enemy-heavy.

You know the old saying about not getting between a boy and his balloon? Of course you don't, since we just made that up. But in this fast-paced action/shooter/defense hybrid, you'll need to learn the value of a hot air balloon if you want to escape this strange landscape. Repair it as quickly as you can to sail off to safety, but be careful. There's a welcoming party headed your way, and it isn't very welcoming.

M-Bot: The Game is a gorgeous, shiny, frenetic gem of a 2.5D shooter with style to spare, where you pilot M-Bot through the urban ruins of the Newgrounds community to disable spambots and make the world safe for friendly posters everywhere.

Got mech? Time to suit up in Mechanical Commando 2, a fast and frantic top-down shooter from Berzerk Studio featuring lots of enemies, lots of bosses, lots of missions, and lots and lots of bullets. With achievements and upgrades galore, it's enough to satisfy the trigger happy space marine inside all of us.

Hostile Spawn is a top-down arcade shooter similar to Robokill in design. Move through a sci-fi setting grabbing weapons and taking out aliens with your mad skills. Although it's similar to other games in the genre, Hostile Spawn has a strong emphasis on exploration, carving itself a nice cozy niche amongst its brothers.

Is it Zuma? Is it a shooter? Or is it just one of the most funky, deceptively relaxing little browser games you'll play all day? Harvest DNA and chain together matching colors in this gorgeous hybrid game that gradually ups the difficulty. Perfect for your coffee break, or any time you feel the need to take out frustration on that haughty genetic material.

The godfather of 3D shooters, 1995's Quake, takes a leap out of monster-infested dimensions and into your web browser. And it's surprisingly well-done, despite the control limitations imposed by Flash.

Strap on your lasers in this sequel to 2008's Robokill as you're forced to make an emergency landing aboard a suspiciously silent space station. Shoot down waves of enemies, buy upgrades, and above all else, stay alive as you delve deeper into the mystery. If Holmes had death robots at his disposal, he totally would have used them instead of Watson.

How My Grandfather Won the War is a stunningly beautiful game that is worth a second, and even third play through. Treat it as a simple side-scroller or go deeper and explore every inch of its breathtaking cardboard world. The detail is so fantastic you can almost touch the screen and feel the rough edges of haphazardly cut items.

Injected with adrenaline, heavy metal, and buckets of (tiny, pixelated) gore, Juggerdome is a gritty top down arena shooter from Con Artist, creator of Crush the Castle. You are the lucky prisoner chosen to pilot the Juggernaut, a killing machine outfitted with upgradeable weaponry. During each round in the arena you must not only survive onslaughts of machines and armed prisoners, you have to entertain the crowd, too.

At first glance, Spectro Destroyer could be one of any number of platform shooters. Run and gun through the levels, taking out alien scum and robotic sentries trying to halt your progress. Then you realize there's more to this than shooting everything in sight. It's more like line-of-sight. In fact, Spectro Destroyer is just the opposite of the "shoot first, ask questions later" side-scrollers like Metal Slug and Abuse. Instead, it's an amalgam of a platform shooter and a physics puzzle. And that, my friends, is a lot of fun.

Searching for her twin sister who vanished while exploring an enormous mechanical cube discovered in space, Rua ventures deeper into enemy territory with her companion Cedric and quickly finds herself in over her head in this stylish, fast-paced shooter. Upgrade your abilities, increase your proficiency, buy new weapons, and discover new ships while you try to stay alive long enough to unravel the mystery behind the disappearance of Rua's sister.

This curious shooter from Hero Interactive is about relaxing into the mesmerizing soundtrack and watching pretty colors zoom around in a chain-reaction orgy of fireworks. With several unlockable ships and background themes (including the health hazard "seizure"), it's a nice place to visit when your internal raver itch needs to be scratched.

Who could ever be satisfied just upgrading weapons systems and defensive towers? In Upgrade Complete, a shooter from Tony of Shift fame, you can upgrade practically anything you can think of. The title logo, the menu screen background, the user interface buttons... and oh yes, your weapons systems, too. How fast can you upgrade everything?

Neuron is an arena shooter battle between you and a multitude of evil, evil circles. Enemies spawn around the arena in waves, and your job is to kill them dead before they do the same to you. Kill or be killed, seems simple enough right? Now add in achievements, upgrades, perks, and particle effects a-plenty.

In Koi2, from the creators of Kissma, you play a man with blow-dried hair and a terrible sweater, sitting across from a woman who can best be described as "tolerant". The object of the game, as you both slide up and down on hydraulic lifts, is to poke her in the forehead with your finger as many times as you can in one minute. Yes, this is a game about forehead poking.

Starcom is a top-down space shooter and strategy game, with subtle RPG elements like a well-paced story progression and "missions." You are stationed aboard a Galactic Command Starbase (space station), playing the role of a space fighter pilot with a starting mission of fending off alien attacks. Starcom really shines, revealing story elements at just the right moments while incorporating it all into the gameplay progression.

Heavy Weapons is one of the sharpest arena shooters we've seen in a browser. It bills itself as the "ultimate Flash shooter", and its great atmosphere and kitchen sink approach to design make it at least a worthy contender. 21 quirky weapons and 60 levels of destruction await!

Pew Pew Pew Thwak. Thwap Thwup Splat, Wheeee! The review of Platypus could end there, but in the interest of, you know, explaining things, I'll continue. Platypus is a wonderfully unique side scrolling shooter created by Anthony Flack. Everything in the game — from the enemies to the backgrounds and even the weapons fire — is made from plasticine. This playable claymation shooter is filled with action and quirky design choices that have made it an instant cult-classic.

Clash'N Slash has the makings of a great one. Big guns? Check. Hordes of attacking aliens? Check. Lots and lots of explosions? Check and check. There's more happening on-screen than any namby-pamby little puzzle or hidden object game. This is an action game, for action game players. Do you have what it takes?

Martians vs. Robots from Tommy Twisters is an attempt to take the classic gameplay of Asteroids and bring it into the new century, using 3D graphics, expanded gameplay, and multiplayer options. The single player game features loads of great combat action, but the real meat is in the robust multiplayer modes where 24 people can battle it out over the internet!

A little-known sequel to an even lesser-known original, UfoPilot 2: The Phadt Menace is a fun little action shooter that pays homage to the classic Defender, with gravity-based elements reminiscent of all those "moon lander" games that you've probably played throughout the last decade. You're tasked with leading rescue missions to save your fellow pilots, who are being held as prisoners-of-war by the Phadt Armada, a hostile alien enemy.

Orbital Decay pays homage to the Super Nintendo era of 16-bit graphics by incorporating some really cool and interesting strategy elements into the formula of a classic side-scrolling shooter. As the commander of a massive battleship, you must upgrade various weapons and fire your main cannon (the Ultragun!) to defend yourself against waves of crazy-looking alien ships.

What-ho, my refined gentlemen and ladies! We have thus determined that you are the only ones who can help... Captain Dan versus the Zombie Plan! Stealth and quick feet are rewarded here, rather than running pell-mell into a level, gun blazing. Guide Monocled Man through the area using the environment to his advantage, for if he is spotted, he shall quickly be swarmed by ravenous zombies!

A short, character-driven side-scrolling shoot-'em-up, controlled with the mouse. Robot Dinosaurs will save the planet! RAAAWWR they shoot beams when they roar! Dino-tastic! ROOOOOAAAAR!!!

GlueFO 2.0, from the irRegular creators of Sproing Reloaded, has a simple premise: what if the heroic ship in Asteroids couldn't afford ammunition? What if the global recession were in fact universal, and the only way you could afford to bust space rocks was by sticking drifting pebbles to your hull, and then spraying them at the asteroids like deadly gravel?

This is the kind of efficient plotting and character design I like to see in a shooter. What's your motivation for exterminating vast populations of cute eyeballey critters? Well, you're Death, you see, and in a shocking twist, you like to kill stuffs. No city in peril, no alien threat—all you want to do is *bang* *bang* *bang* *bang* and a *clunk* *ka-ching* and take their money. A smartly-built shooter, with a clever mouse-only control scheme that lets you carve your way through the hordes like buckshot through sherbet.

Smooth and bold, with a delicate, classical presentation and a spicy but brief aftertaste, Space Pips serves as a nice pre-dinner aperatif for those with a taste for Geometry Wars-style arena shooters.

A game in which you face wave upon wave of enemies, and you don't have so much as a dull spoon to defend yourself with. That's not fair, you may think, but this is the fast-paced and frenetic hand you've been dealt, serving up a bountiful feast of action-y goodness that's hard to put down. You don't have any weapons of your own, but the hundreds of enemies eager to see your undoing have more than enough to make up for that, as you turn their heat seeking bullets right back onto them.

Godlaser, the opening salvo from new developer Pyew Pyew, is a vertically scrolling manic shooter, influenced by Treasure's Ikaruga. You can upgrade your ship with new skills and equipment between levels. Enemy bullets come in three different flavors, and you can render yourself invulnerable to them by switching your ship to the correct color. It's an incredibly ambitious and far-reaching shooter, especially for something playable in your browser.

Monolist, from Japanese developer (or possibly super-powered spy team) Polygon Gmen, is what you would get if you took classic Space Invaders gameplay, multiplied it by three, strained it through a net made of Arkanoid bonus drops, and then sprinkled in nine hundred million bullets. Like a recreational energy drink, it's cool, refreshing, burning sweet, and highly caffeinated.

Eternal Red is, by its own admission, a cross between a platform arena style shooter and a real-time strategic defense game. No story, no dialogue, just you and the seemingly non-stop litany of enemies appearing from one door that try to make it to the second.

Nitrome creative duo Simon Hunter and Aaron Steed have been very busy being amazing, and Fat Cat is the strange hybrid product of their amazingitude. It wears the face of an exacting bullet-fest such as The Last Canopy or Pararalyzer, but underneath, its heart pumps the blood of a tightly choreographed puzzle game. We've never seen anything quite like it.

Grey Matter is an anti-shooter, which means that you can't actually shoot. You are the bullet, and you attack by directly colliding with the exposed brain-meats of your enemies. It looks great and sounds even better. The gameplay has all the depth of a modern professional shoot-'em-up, thanks to the combo system. Grey-Matter is perfectly playable without using the Trinity Attacks, but if you do employ them, it becomes almost like a hyperactive, twitchy puzzle game.

You are a plucky gun turret in the center of the screen that has to survive while bad guys attack you from all sides. Rotate the turret with your mouse and shoot the black-and-white enemies by clicking. If you see a coloured orb, do not shoot it. It's a power-up. The game is so very good in virtually every aspect of its design despite the lack of sound effects.

An arena shooter even casual gamers can enjoy, a sort of mash-up between Asteroids and Space Invaders where you pilot a tiny craft against waves of incoming enemies (which happen to be aliens and geometric shapes). Power-ups appear from time to time to give you a hand, but otherwise its just you and your reflexes keeping you alive.

Swarm Gold is an update to, and replacement for, the original Swarm created by Reflexive Entertainment back in 1998. The new Swarm Gold features an impressive emulated 3D graphics system and realistic sound. You have free range to fly around the entire map just as we've seen in many modern top-down shooters.

Survive as long as you can in Rapid Wars, the new addictive arcade shooter by Jussi Kari of ooPixel. Borrowing the two-fisted Robotron mechanic, and with a nod to Geometry Wars, Jussi creates gameplay that is frenetic, addictive and fun.

In this whiteboard strategy shooter, pilot a helicopter to defend against the red army's tanks, planes and other heavy artillery that shoot the crap out of you. Bomb the war factories for the sake of all markers of every color! There's something that takes off in the imagination when playing games like this that look like pen and paper—something has come to life that you're used to seeing static.

Developed back in 2003 by Moonpod Games, Starscape may be considered an "oldie" by the gamer crowd, but it's a goodie. Launched as a shareware game without the distribution support that it has today, Starscape flew under the radar, gathering a respectable following slowly but surely. Today, it's been finally starting to hit the major distro sites and people are either discovering or taking a second glance at this little space shooter/strategy game created half a decade ago.

Bubbles are neat things. Stop and think about them for a second. You get some soap, some water, and you can make little floating orbs. I remember many a day in my youth where we'd whip up a batch, make some bubble wands, and start firing artillery at each other. Thanks to the makers of Bubble Tanks 2, we all can revisit a more innocent, vaguely dysfunctional time.

In Larva Mortus, you play a 19th Century ghost hunter (or rather, an "agent of exorcism"). Plow through monsters and demons with your trusty broadsword and an assortment of weapons, such as shotguns and flame throwers, to rid the land of supernatural evil forces.

Think of the classic Space Invaders mixed with a dash of Galaga and you'd have a pretty good understanding of what Titan Attacks! is all about. The classic "aliens descending from above" scenario is showcased with a stylish, blocky pixel motif featuring a richer move-and-shoot routine than classic predecessors. Titan Attacks! took the golden age concept and loaded it with a variety of new action elements and ship upgrades.

Robokill is an extremely well-polished shooter game that's as fun to play as it is easy to learn. You play the role of a mercenary robot hired to investigate and eradicate the hostile forces that have taken over Titan Prime, a space station orbiting Mars. On the order of Crimsonland, and if you've never heard of Crimsonland or the RIP series (top-down [WASD] shooters), you're in for a treat.

If you've been itching for a new, fun side-scrolling shooter, Postal Panic is a game you don't want to pass up. It takes the side-scrolling action of an arcade shooter and throws in some upgrading, a wacky story line and an even wackier set of enemies. Instead of the typical outer space setting, you play the role of a postal worker (in some crazy alternate dimension) who pilots a fully-armed, mail delivery ship.

The Flash-based Pararalyzer from Japanese developer, Heriet, is an adrenaline-based manic shooter if ever there was one. From the opening screen, there is action galore and soon enough amazing bullet patterns criss-cross the screen in a dazzling kaleidoscope of colour. Unleash a seemingly endless stream of bullets toward the equally endless droves of enemies who are bent on destroying you.

If "retro" to you means huge chunky pixels, bleeping and blerping sounds and gameplay that doesn't lead you by the hand, then Attack of the Meeplings may be just the game for you. This Java-based shooter is glorious, retro-styled fun from top to bottom, especially its soundtrack.

A good shoot'em-up is like a symphony. The enemies are the musicians, the bullets the notes. And the player is the soloist at center stage, riffing a melody over the chaos, flirting with death, performing miracles. The Last Canopy is a landmark Flash manic shoot'em-up that feels dramatic and entertaining from beginning to end, which is a testament to the level of detail and professionalism that Easy Only! Games is capable of.

Uchuforce2 is designed for shooter neophytes. You control your ship with the mouse, you're firing a ridiculous swath of bullets all the time, and there's only one button to worry about. Click the mouse to change your weapon to a powerful laser, and click again to switch back to the endless waves of bullets. A meter in the lower-right shows you how close your laser is to over-heating, so if you want to avoid an extra-long cool-down delay, turn the laser off before that meter fills.

In Boxhead: The Zombie Wars, your goal is to stay alive for as long as possible, but there are several ways to go about it. You can choose to take a more offensive front and plant traps for the zombies like exploding barrels, or a more defensive approach by building yourself a base complete with rocket launching turrets.

A great, terrible man once said: "Your flower power is no match for my glower power." That man's name was Charles Montgomery Burns, and he clearly never played Kaichou. The brainchild of Ali Maunder and finalist of our 4th Casual Gameplay Design Competition, Kaichou is an and beautiful abstract shooter where you have to break down bouncing glower with flowery projectiles.

ShoOot 2: revenge of square, a cathartic circle extermination simulator, is more of a spiritual successor than a direct sequel, since you can now move in two dimensions and the gameplay focus has shifted from overwhelming rapid-fire madness to a more deliberate and unusual rhythm. The very latest from the casual game master: Tonypa.