Combat — Play Free Online

Combat is a top-down style action and shooting game that runs straight in the browser. You move around, aim with the mouse and fire at opponents, so a session is about reactions and positioning rather than long-term planning. There is nothing to install, and a round can be as short as a few minutes.

It sits a little apart from the rest of the Doodle Jump catalogue. If you came for the one-button, keep-climbing rhythm of the headline game, this is a different kind of quick break: instead of dodging gaps, you are watching where threats come from and deciding when to move and when to shoot. What the two share is the pick-up-and-play feel, with no menus to wade through before the action starts.

How to play

Move with the arrow keys or WASD, and use the mouse to aim and to select things in the menus. On a phone or tablet, you tap and swipe instead. Press Play on the page and the game loads in the frame.

The basic loop is the usual one for browser shooters: move into a good position, line up the cursor on a target, fire, and then reposition rather than standing still. Keeping one hand on the movement keys and the other on the mouse is the most comfortable setup on a desktop or laptop.

Tips

• Keep moving while you aim. A stationary player is the easiest target in almost any shooter.
• Use WASD rather than the arrow keys if you are right-handed with a mouse, since it leaves your hand closer to the keyboard's centre and gives you reach to other keys.
• On touch screens, give yourself room: a tablet or a phone held in landscape is far easier than a small portrait view.
• If the mouse feels too fast or too slow, adjust the pointer speed in your system settings rather than fighting it mid-round.

Similar games on Doodle Jump

If you want something with a different pace, Helix Jump is a one-finger arcade game about guiding a ball down a tower, and Bouncy Basketball is a short physics-based sports game. For a two-player option, Fireboy and Watergirl is a cooperative puzzle platformer, and Bloons Tower Defense 2 trades fast reflexes for planning and placement.

Combat suits short sessions on a desktop with a mouse, where the aiming is most precise. It also runs on mobile browsers, though touch aiming is naturally less exact.