Action
Description
In action games players are required to have good reflexes and quick reaction in order to overcome challenges. Action games typically focus on combat, during which the player must press buttons or keys rapidly or in timed intervals in order to execute attacks and other moves. Non-combat challenges may include avoiding traps, jumping, running, completing tasks within a pressing time limit, etc.
Common action sub-genres are
shooters,
fighting, and
platform games.
Though most racing / driving, sports, and many simulation games contain action-oriented gameplay, they can be considered action games only if they specifically emphasize arcade-like, reflex-based gameplay.
Action games may include extensive non-violent exploration and/or puzzle-solving, or combine themselves with other genres, e.g. role-playing or driving.
Quick thinking is often required to succeed in action games; however, games that specifically emphasize quick
thinking over
reflexes are usually
real-time strategy or puzzle games.
 Game Title |
Windows (2001) Ground Control Anthology is a bundle consisting of Ground Control and its add-on Ground Control: Dark Conspiracy. There are no... |
Windows (2004) Ground Control II: Operation Exodus takes place during the year 2741 AD, roughly 300 years after the events in the... |
Windows (2004) This Special Edition of Ground Control II: Operation Exodus includes a making-of DVD with developer interviews and other extras like... |
ZX Spectrum (1982) In Ground Force Zero the player controls a plane that is low on fuel as it approaches a built-up city... |
SEGA CD (1993) Space aliens are infiltrating the U.S. from a sleepy little town on the Texas/Mexico border, snatching bodies and paving the... |
Windows (2003) Grounstream is a freeware Japanese RPG, where the player controls the cat-like heroine, a novice sorcerer completing her training by... |
Android (2011) and Windows Phone (2012) Grow is a fish survival game similar to Shark! Shark! and Feeding Frenzy. The player takes control of a tiny... |
Genesis (1991) In the early part of the 20th century, a group of evil poachers recklessly hunted animals to the point of... |
PlayStation (2000) In the future, gang warfare is settled between gangs by using advanced armored vehicles. A mysterious figure called the Crimelord... |
Amstrad CPC (1985) and ZX Spectrum (1985) Gilbert Gumphrey is a veteran store detective, whose tasks range from the complex to the mundane. They include putting out... |
Commodore 64 (1984) Players control Gryphon, a mythical creature living in the Land of Dreams and Legend, a land consisting of Mystical Woods,... |
SNES (1993) It's a quiet day at the Mikami Ghost Sweeping Company until a mysterious package arrives. It seems the kindly old... |
DOS (1994) G-stones III is a shareware game Breakout variant. The game area consists of an arrangement of bricks at the top... |
Browser (2010) G-Switch is set in a seemingly futuristic setting, where you control G-Switch man equipped with gravity-switching boots. It is a... |
iPad (2011) Gua-Le-Ni; or, The Horrendous Parade, is an action-puzzle casual videogame for the Apple iPad.One of its most distinguishing traits is... |
Atari 2600 (1982) Guardian is an arcade action game for one or two players. In an intergalactic war, an enemy ship called Dromeda... |
Amiga (1994) and Amiga CD32 (1994) Resembling Starfox in many ways, Guardian is a fast and furious shoot 'em up. You skim over the surface of... |
VIC-20 (1981) The name "Guardian" sounds like a euphemism for "Defender", and indeed there are similarities. This is a side-scrolling shooter with... |
Commodore 64 (1984), BBC Micro (1984) and Electron (1984) In this Defender clone, you are a spaceship that must protect humanoids on the mountainous terrain from approaching aliens. To... |
SEGA Saturn (1996) and Xbox 360 (2011) Ages ago, the spirits of Earth and Sky waged war on each other. Neither could win, and eventually the Sky... |
Commodore 64 (1985), Amstrad CPC (1990) and ZX Spectrum (1990) The mutants are back and this time they're faster. In your Mk.II Fighter you have to stop the Raiders flying... |
NES (1988) In the far future, Earth is a peaceful place with very few worries. To ensure it stays that way, a... |
PlayStation (1999) and Windows (1999) Guardian of Darkness is an action game with puzzle-solving elements. Ekna is an exorcist monk from the "The Gate", an... |
MSX (1986) Guardic is a top-down 2d shooter based on the classic premise of pitting a single starfighter against a horde of... |
Windows (1996), PlayStation (1998), Macintosh (1998) and PS Vita (2012) An arcade game in which you have to break apart levels in order to free your planet from an enemy... |
