How to play Star Blaster

Hold the line against wave after wave of alien drones, chip your own shelter away shot by shot, and save the pulse for the moment the formation breaks.

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Star Blaster is an arcade shooter about one decision made over and over: shoot now, or move now.

The rules

Your cannon fires by itself, so the game never asks you to remember a trigger. It asks where the ship should be while it fires.

Destroy every drone in the wave to advance.

The formation descends a step every time it touches a side wall. If any drone reaches your altitude, the wave resets and it costs you a ship.

Drones peel out of formation one at a time and swoop, curving as they come. A diving drone is worth extra points.

Shields block fire from both directions but are chipped away by it.

Positioning is the whole game

Because the cannon fires automatically, your position is your aim. Standing under a column means you are shooting that column, and the skill is choosing which column deserves your fire while staying out of the way of what is coming down.

The two demands conflict constantly, and that tension is the game.

Which column to clear

Clear from the edges inward.

The formation descends when it touches a wall, so narrowing it from the sides means it travels further before touching anything, which buys you time. Clearing a column out of the middle leaves the formation just as wide and drops just as fast.

This is the single biggest lever on how long a wave lasts, and most players do the opposite because the middle is where they happen to be standing.

Dealing with divers

A diving drone curves rather than falling straight, so moving directly sideways away from it often moves you into its path.

Move early and move far. A small adjustment at the last moment is what gets you hit; a decisive move across before it commits is what does not.

Divers are worth extra points, so a diver you shoot on its way down is both a threat removed and a bonus — but chasing one across the screen while the formation drops is a bad trade.

The shields

They protect you and they are consumed by your own fire as well as the enemy's.

Do not park under a shield and hold position. Use them as cover to retreat to when a dive is committed, then move back out to keep shooting. A shield you have shot to pieces from below is no longer cover.

Between waves

Each wave starts with the formation higher and moving faster. Because the descent is triggered by wall contact rather than time, a wide formation on a fast wave drops alarmingly quickly — which makes edge-clearing more important the further you get, not less.

Controls

Drag anywhere on the field to fly the ship to your finger.

Keyboard

Left/Right arrow keys or A/D to move.
The cannon fires automatically; press Space to fire an extra shot on demand.
Press X or tap the Pulse button to release the screen-clearing pulse.
Enter restarts after a game over.

Strategy tips

Clear the formation from the edges inward. Narrowing it means it travels further before hitting a wall, and wall contact is what makes it drop.
Remember your position is your aim. The cannon fires on its own, so standing somewhere is choosing to shoot that column.
Move early and move far from divers. They curve as they come, so a small last-moment adjustment often moves you into the path.
Do not chase divers across the screen. The bonus is real and so is the formation dropping while you are out of position.
Use shields as somewhere to retreat to, not somewhere to live. Your own fire chips them away, so a shield you have camped under is already gone.
Prioritise the lowest drones when the formation gets close. Altitude is the losing condition, not drone count.
Watch the wall the formation is heading for. The descent is triggered by contact, so you always know when the next drop is coming.
Expect edge-clearing to matter more each wave, not less. Faster formations reach the walls sooner, so width costs more the further you get.