Plane Wars — Play Free Online

Plane Wars is an action and shooting game that puts you in control of an aircraft and asks you to fight your way through whatever the sky throws at you. It is built for quick sessions: you load the page, start a run and find out within a minute whether your reflexes are up to it. It is listed on Poki, and here it runs right in the browser with nothing to install.

It sits a little apart from the rest of Doodle Jump's line-up. Doodle Jump itself is about climbing and dodging with a single axis of control, while Plane Wars adds aiming into the mix, so you are managing where you fly and where you shoot at the same time. If you enjoy the constant small decisions of a jumper but fancy something more aggressive, it makes a good change of pace.

How to play

Move your plane with the arrow keys or WASD, and use the mouse to aim and to select options in the menus. On a phone or tablet the game uses touch instead: tap and swipe to steer and interact.

The basic rhythm of this kind of game is simple: keep moving so you are never an easy target, line up your shots on whatever is in front of you, and keep an eye on your position relative to the edges of the screen. Menus are mouse-driven, so keep one hand on the keyboard and the other on the mouse.

Tips

• Keep moving. A stationary plane is the easiest one to hit, so make small steady adjustments instead of big swings.
• Get used to the keyboard and mouse split early; most early mistakes come from forgetting that movement and aim are on different hands.
• On a touchscreen, rest your thumb where it does not cover the action, so you can still see what is coming.

Similar games on Doodle Jump

If you want something with more platforming, try Ovo 2 or Bird Jumper, which keep the quick-restart feel but are about timing jumps rather than shooting. Day D Tower Rush and Bloons Tower Defense 2 are better if you prefer to plan your defences and watch them work. Helix Jump is a good option when you only have a minute to spare.

Plane Wars suits short sessions on a laptop or Chromebook with a mouse, though it is playable on a phone too. Because it runs as an HTML5 game in the page, it starts quickly and works on most modern devices.