Grid Defender 2
12 MB
Download Site
Gameplay Video (Arcade Mode)
Gameplay Video (Asteroid Defender Mode)

Grid Defender 2 is a good looking arena shooter with neon graphics inspired by Geometry Wars.
Kill the enemies, earn money and upgrade your ship.
Very nice.

Controls:
WASD - movement
Mouse - aiming
LMB and RMB are used for different weapons

SYNSO2 - Squid Harder
17 MB
Download Site
Gameplay Video
Review on Tigsource
Review on Indiegames

SYNSO2 is an awesome, frantic, fast paced and colorful arena shooter with
lots of eye candy and effects.
It requires laser sharp attention and fast reflexes.
choose 1 of the 4 levels and try to survive 1-4 minutes.
Also check out the prequel which i have already mentioned on
best free arena shooters part 2

controls:
arrow keys - movement
z,space,shift,ctrl - shooting
(gamepad is also supported)

bought the game recently for 3 bucks and got also the black screen.

then searched for a solution and found this thread.

now the game works.

thanks!

Gunroar
5 MB
Download Site

gunroar (from kenta cho) is a pretty abstract vertical scrolling arena shooter
that evolves progressively into a bullet hell shooter.
as usual great visuals and smooth controls.
moreover the different control schemes providing a different gameplay
experience. (keyboard + mouse, dual analog gamepad)

also worth to check out are his other games, especially
Torus Trooper (an extremely fast third person tunnel shooter)
and Tumiki Fighters (a horizontal sticky shooter...
attach pieces of defeated enemies to your ship in order to grow to a huge
screen filling ship of destruction)

Thanks to all..would love to get some more mod recommendations and any other thoughts!crazymaghie123

i second the recommended games...

crayon physics deluxe, braid, world of goo, multiwinia, gravitron 2...

and here are a few excellent free games

gravity bone (fantastic polished stylish first person secret agent adventure...great short experiecne.about 20 min to finish)

http://www.blendogames.com/

phun (sandbox game)

http://www.phunland.com/wiki/Home

bontago (block building physic based startegythathas also a sandbox mode)

http://www.bontago.com/

flywrench (abstract fun! control a flying wrench)

http://www.messhof.com/games/flywrench.php

neverball (monkey ball clone)

http://neverball.org/

typogun (arcade typing game...typing and shooting)

http://pondspark.blogspot.com/2001/01/typogun_9514.html

strange attractors 1 (great one switch game...)

http://www.ominousdev.com/games.php

Return To Sector 9
11 MB
Download Site


its basically a collection of 9 different (arena)shooters.
crisp graphics, nice sound effects and good gameplay...
fantastic arcade fun.
the best in my opinion are:
return, jellyfish, protection and goldrush.

when a sepcific score is reached there will be new ships,
new colours and medals.
get the bronze medal in each game to unlock the next game mode.


there are 2 control schemes:

1.) keyboard controls:
(for the games return, ambush, jellyfish, protection,
gold rush, rescue, doomball)
control your ship with cursor keys and turn your shooting
direction with Z and X (or 1 and 2)
no need for a fire button because of autofire.
but you can press space for a power shot (limited)



2.) mouse controls
(for the games windmills and last stand)



here the game modes in detail:

->return:
destroy waves of enemies and kill a boss at the end of each level.

->ambush:
destroy massive waves of enemies.

->protection:
escort motherships from the left side to the right side and destroy
the attacking aliens that want to bring the ships down.

->jellyfish:
control a jellyfish, destroy the enemies, eat spaceman to grow. when
you have eaten a few of them you will transform into a big jellyfish
and then you are invincible for a limited time. in that form try to
destroy as many enemies as possible to gain massive scores.


->rescue:
collect little spacemen and bring them back to the mothership.
watch out for enemy waves and asteroids.
you fly towards the direction which you are currently facing. look at
the bottom of the screen for coordinates.

->gold rush:
similar to rescue but better (no asteroids and better enemies)
...collect gold and bring it back to the mothership.


->doomball:
a puzzlegame in which you have to bring 2 bombs of the same color
together. when the bombs have found each other they disappear with
an explosion as usual. attach a bomb to your ship by touching one
and detach the bomb by pressing Z.

->windmills:
defend your windmills. mouse controls. (similarities to the c.lassic game
missile command)

->last stand:
defend your ship which is placed at the middle of the screen by
shooting the enemies. mouse controlled. you cannot move you ship,
only your cannnons.

SUAVE- Sport-Utility Assault Vehicle Extreme!
5 MB
Download Site
(installation required)

SUAVE is a polished fast paced 3rd person tank game with
pretty graphics and smooth gameplay.
Due to the fact that it features also an optional top down view
i consider this game as some kind of an arena shooter.
moreover the different camera angles causing a total different
gameplay experience because of the different
control scheme as well as the different perspective of course.
(for example: if you press D you roll to the right...unlike the
3rd person view...when you press D you turn your tank)
it takes a few minutes to get used to the fast paced gameplay
and the controls.
but then its really fun to race and shoot your way through the arenas.



controls:
either dual analog gamepad or usual wasd for movement and mouse
to turn your weapon 360°...left mouse button to shoot and right
mouse button to pick up/change weapons. (the volcan weapon is great.
chaingun s.tyle)
moreover you can activate a limited so called time device...which is
basically a bullet time mode.
(default is that you hold down space to activate it)

i recommend to configure the controls in the menu as well as to adjust
the graphic options for more eye candy...
(hint: change the timing mode from "vertical sync" to
"smooth". that way the game can be played in full screen without
causing the game to crash)

the game comes also with a well made html manual with lots of
pictures and useful infromation (about enemies, powerups and
weapons) and an inbuilt editor.

Disasteroids
1 MB
Download Site
Gameplay Video

jayenkai (developer of the excellent alien deathmatch 1+2
(arena shooter greatness) and centipong (breakout on drugs) )
has made a new very cool fast paced asteroids clone with mouse controls.
shoot the rocks and avoid the fragments that are caused by the explosion.
collect powerups like: tripleshoot, doubleshoot, shield, freeze and bomb.

controls:
only mouse...its that simple.

it features online hi scores and abstract nice swooshy graphics.
its also pretty hard...for that reason jayenkai implemented a chill mode
if you want to have a not so frantic and more easier gameplay.
then hit TAB to start the game.
its the "chill mode" there are no exploding fragments included.
(the hiscores will be not submitted to the hiscore table in that mode...)

for fullscreen mode:
Just open the program using -full as it's parameter.
right click the icon, create shortcut, and add -full to the target...
it should look like this

Tank Domination
3 MB
Download Site (scroll down)
Direct Download Link

after stumbling over an article on the2bears.com about the very good
vertical bullet hell heli shooter Demolition Gunner(Direct Download Link)

i gave Tank Domination from the same developers a closer look...and its a
great bullet hell arena shooter in which you - obviuosly - control a tank.
the gameplay is very smooth and the bullet patterns are pretty fair.
this game is level based and there are also bosses to destroy.

controls:
shoot with Z and throw bombs with X (the longer you hold it the further
you throw it)
its also pretty important to use the bombs, especially to serve
the bigger enemies.
btw when you shoot and hold down Z you lock your shooting direction
(as usual drive in one direction and shoot in another)

(first boss appears in level 5...the 2nd in level 11...)
moreover the implemented level select function is pretty useful.
that way you can continue from every level you have already beaten.

huge resource for NES gameplay clips!

http://www.nesguide.com/

66 hrs, 21 mins of gameplay video for 100% of all NTSC releases

Chaosspace 2
22 MB
Download Site

chaosspace 2 is a great arena shooter which i have found on topshmups.
it is is completly controlled by the mouse.
(you move into the direction your mouse is pointing and you shoot
only in the direction you are currently looking.)
in many situations its essential in the game to move your mouse only
slightly so that you not move your ship but change your shooting direction.
this game grows on you. it gets better and better...

the graphical s.tyle is very professional with the abstract glowing shapes
and the smooth movement.
the music ( electro and
c.lassical music) is great and fits perfect to the game.
(the game offers only music but no sound...anyways this alone matches the
gameplay very good)
you can collect different powerups and score multiplier.
the game has also an online score option but when i tried to upload
my score it appears an "error while connecting".

the game needs a few minutes to get into but then its really fun.
(btw it needs some skills in the later levels)

i ask myself if the game would be better with wasd movement and mouse
aiming...plus soundeffects.
hmmm...dont know but it would be a total different gameplay experience for sure....maybe this optional control scheme would be a good feature in a future release...

hint:
the game is in german but it can be changed to english in the options
menu:
go to "optionen"(options) and then click on "sprache:de"…sprache
means "language" and "de" stands for "deutsch" which means "german"…
now the menu is in english.