An endless neon patrol: shoot the landers that snatch humans, then fight through swarms, strafing darts, brutes and bombers, take down a mothership every fifth wave, and pick an upgrade after every one.
Goal: Landers drop in to snatch humans off the planet and carry them to the top, where they mutate into fast hunters. Shoot a lander and its human falls — catch it and land it softly for a bonus. Lose every human and the planet explodes into space, where the enemies are relentless; clear the space waves and the planet returns. After every wave you pick one of three upgrade cards, a mothership arrives every fifth wave, and swarm packs, strafing dart wings, brutes that split into drones, fused bombers and shield-bearing wardens join as you climb, with gunners from wave 8. It never levels off and never ends: the run is over only when you lose your last ship.
Controls: Touch: drag to fly, auto-fire, BOMB · Keys: arrows / WASD, Space fire, B bomb, 1 2 3 cards
Landers drop in to snatch humans off the planet and carry them to the top, where they mutate into fast hunters. Shoot a lander and its human falls — catch it and land it softly for a bonus. Lose every human and the planet explodes into space, where the enemies are relentless; clear the space waves and the planet returns. After every wave you pick one of three upgrade cards, a mothership arrives every fifth wave, and swarm packs, strafing dart wings, brutes that split into drones, fused bombers and shield-bearing wardens join as you climb, with gunners from wave 8. It never levels off and never ends: the run is over only when you lose your last ship. Controls: Touch: drag your left thumb to fly (drag back to flip), the ship fires itself; BOMB clears the screen, HYPER jumps (risky); tap a card to upgrade. Keyboard: arrows or WASD · Space fires · B bomb · H hyper · 1 2 3 cards · P pause. Gamepad works too.
Yes. VECTAFEND runs free in your browser with no download, no install and no account — open the page and it starts.
Yes — drag your left thumb to fly, the ship fires by itself, BOMB and HYPER sit on the right and the upgrade cards are tap targets. It is built to run at 60fps on a mid-range phone as well as on desktop.
Only when you lose your last ship. There is no final wave: from wave 11 nothing levels off, so enemy shots get faster, hunters quicker and crowds bigger, and a mothership comes every fifth wave, each tougher than the last.
After every wave you take one of three cards: TWIN CANNON, OVERCLOCK (faster fire), LANCE (bolts pass through enemies), SEEKER (bolts curve onto targets), BOOSTERS (a faster ship), TRACTOR (catches falling humans for you), SINGULARITY (your bomb becomes a black hole), AEGIS PLATING (a shield) and BOMB BAY (more bombs). After a mothership one card is always an extra ship. Leave the cards alone and the first one is taken for you when the bar runs out.
Swarms are packs of tiny darts that come in as a curtain and weave. Darts show their lane across the screen and then run it, so leave the lane. A brute crouches and then charges, and breaks into three drones when it dies. A bomber lights a fuse close up and blows a ring that takes the crowd (and any human on the ground) with it, so shoot it from range or let it go off in a crowd. A warden's shield faces you and turns to follow you, but not instantly: fly past, flip, and shoot its back. From the second mothership it fires rings, then spirals, and later opens its bay on shielded mutants.
A huge saucer that arrives on every fifth wave. It swells with light, then fans five shots at you (seven once it is down to half health) and opens its bay to drop mutants. Your shots hurt it a little and a bomb a lot; ramming it only costs you a ship. Bring it down for a bomb, a shield and an extra-ship card.
From wave 6 some enemies carry a hexagon shield that soaks your first shot (two shots for some later on); a bomb or a ram goes straight through it. From wave 8 gunners hang back at range and fire bursts of three, so keep moving or close in fast.
A first run usually lasts a few minutes. Because the game never ends, there is no ceiling for a good one: the score climbs for as long as you survive, and the board takes scores up to five million.