Clash of Tanks — Play Free Online

Clash of Tanks is a top-down tank shooter that runs straight in the browser. You drive a tank, aim a gun with the mouse and try to outlast whatever the arena throws at you. It is an action game built around movement and aim rather than long menus, so you can be in a match a few seconds after pressing Play.

It sits a long way from the vertical hopping of Doodle Jump, and that is the reason to try it. Where a jumper asks for one steady rhythm, a tank shooter asks you to watch the whole screen at once: where you are, where the enemy is, and where your next shot needs to land. It suits a break between rounds of something calmer.

The game is listed under the Poki catalogue and loads with nothing to install. A round is short, so it fits a few spare minutes as easily as a longer session.

How to play

Movement uses the arrow keys or WASD. The mouse aims the turret and also handles clicking through menus. On a phone or tablet the game switches to touch, where you tap and swipe instead.

The basic loop is to keep moving, line up the turret and fire. Because you steer and aim separately, you can keep driving in one direction while the gun points somewhere else. Getting comfortable with that split is the biggest step in learning the game.

Tips

• Keep moving. A stationary tank is the easiest target on the screen.
• Use the two-hand setup: left hand on WASD or the arrows, right hand on the mouse, so you never stop steering to aim.
• Use walls and obstacles as cover when the arena has them, and peek out to shoot instead of driving across open ground.
• If the game feels laggy, close other tabs; a smooth frame rate matters more in a shooter than in most browser games.

Similar games on Doodle Jump

If you like the action side of the catalogue, Day D Tower Rush is another game about defending and attacking with a plan, and Bloons Tower Defense 2 trades aiming for placement and timing. For something that is also fast but gentler, Bouncy Basketball is a good change of pace, and Fireboy and Watergirl suits two players sharing a keyboard.

Clash of Tanks is best on a desktop with a mouse, though touch controls are there for phones.