What Star Blaster is
Star Blaster is a vertically scrolling shooter. Enemies arrive in patterned waves, and every fifth wave is a boss that has to be worn down rather than another formation to clear. Destroyed enemies drop four kinds of power-up. Spread widens your shot and Rapid shortens the gap between shots; both run on a ten-second timer, so neither is a permanent upgrade and neither can be relied on to still be active when a boss arrives. Shield absorbs one hit and stacks up to three, converting to score once you are already at three. Nova is instant: catching the pickup detonates it there and then, clearing the enemies and bullets on screen and damaging a boss. It cannot be held in reserve.
The defining choice is auto-fire. There is no shoot button to hold, so movement is the only input the game takes. Dragging anywhere on the screen moves the ship, rather than dragging the ship itself, so your hand does not have to sit on top of it.
How it plays
Drag anywhere to fly. On a keyboard use WASD or the arrow keys. Firing is automatic and continuous. Collect the power-ups enemies drop. P pauses and M mutes.
Getting better at it
The combo multiplier builds while you keep landing hits and resets when you stop, so a steady stream of hits on whatever is in front of you keeps it alive where chasing a single survivor across the screen does not. Chasing also leaves you out of position for the next wave.
Where you sit changes what you can see and where you can go. From slightly below the centre there is more screen ahead of the ship to read a pattern in, and room on both sides to slide out of a bullet lane. From the very bottom edge there is less room to move in the direction bullets are travelling.
Spread and Rapid run for a fixed ten seconds from the moment they are collected, and that timer runs down whether or not there is anything on screen to shoot. Nova is not stored at all: collecting the pickup fires it immediately, so the moment you touch it is the moment it goes off.
Who it suits
A shoot-'em-up with one input rather than two. Auto-fire removes trigger timing from the game, so what is left is positioning: where the ship is decides both what it hits and what reaches it. The bosses every fifth wave still ask you to read a pattern and hold a line.
It is a clear demonstration of what one design decision does to a genre. Removing the fire button relocates the difficulty rather than removing it — everything that would have been about when to shoot becomes about where to stand.
Questions
Do I have to hold a fire button?
No. Auto-fire is always on, so movement is the only input the game asks for.
Are there bosses?
Yes, every fifth wave. A boss is worn down rather than destroyed in one pass, so the four waves before it are your chance to gather power-ups.
How long do power-ups last?
Spread and Rapid each run about ten seconds from the moment you collect them. Shield is not timed — it absorbs one hit and stacks up to three. Nova is not stored at all: touching the pickup sets it off immediately.
Is it playable one-handed?
Yes. Dragging anywhere on the screen moves the ship, so you can play with one thumb without covering the action.
At a glance
- Genre
- Arcade, shoot 'em up
- Players
- One
- Controls
- Drag anywhere on touch; WASD or arrow keys. Firing is automatic
- Power-ups
- Spread and Rapid (10s), Shield (stacks to 3), Nova (fires on pickup)
- Saves
- Best score kept in this browser
- Cost
- Free, no account, nothing to install