Shooting games: from tank battles to ricochet puzzles

Shooting comes in many forms: sometimes it's all about reflexes, sometimes about calculating the angle, and sometimes about picking the right weapon. What these fourteen games share is that the outcome depends on where and when you pull the trigger.

There are straight-up action games. Tanks 1944 offers tank battles with realistic physics where your own tactics matter. Operation War mixes shooter and runner: your squad charges forward while you swap weapons and revive fallen comrades. Battle Cubes 3D sends a lone hero against monster hordes in a neon city, with dozens of weapon types. Defending the Planet is a retro shooter where a ship's captain fends off asteroids and aliens.

If accuracy matters more to you than firepower, look at the puzzle shooters. In AIM you bounce shots to hit several targets, in Blunt Arrow an arrow can't pierce more than one object, and in Pixel Chaos your cannon has just 10 attempts to wipe a pixel picture off the screen. 2048: Hit the Numbers! turns the familiar number puzzle into a shooter. For a warm-up, try Block Shooter: smash blocks with ricochets and unlock upgrades such as a super shot.