Comet Wing
A vertical space shooter: three sectors, eight kinds of alien craft and a flagship at the end of each.
An original vertical-scrolling space shooter made for a phone held upright. Your ship flies a little above your finger and fires on its own, so the whole game is where you put it. Waves of alien craft come in formation: darts that dive, weavers that sway, turrets that stop and fire, splitters that break into shards, kamikazes that lock on and charge, shielded wardens and drifting mines. A mini-boss guards the middle of each of the three sectors and a flagship its end, each with three phases of bullet patterns. Shoot down the craft circled in gold for a power-up: spread shot, laser, shield, coin magnet or an extra bomb. Three lives, a multiplier that climbs to x8 while you keep shooting craft down without being hit, and three levels (easy with slower, sparser bullets, medium, and hard with denser patterns), plus a Daily run that flies the same waves and drops for everyone. A whole run lasts four to six minutes.
- Category
- Arcade
- Modes
- Easy · Medium · Hard · Daily
- Controls
- Touch · Mouse · Keyboard
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How to play
Touch anywhere and drag: the ship follows your finger, a little above it, so your finger never hides it. With a mouse the ship follows the pointer; on a keyboard, fly with the arrow keys or W A S D. The guns fire on their own. Only the bright dot in the middle of the ship can be hit: a bullet or a craft that touches it costs a life. The bomb button (or Space, B or X) wipes every bullet off the screen, hurts every craft and breaks the wardens' shields; you start with two (three on easy) and can carry five. Shoot down the craft circled in gold to drop its power-up: the spread shot and the laser change your gun and raise its power each time, up to three; the shield takes one hit for you; the magnet pulls in every coin for 15 seconds. Coins from wrecked craft score too. Every 20 kills without a hit raise the multiplier by one, up to x8; a hit puts it back to x1, takes one power level off your gun and leaves you a moment of blinking safety. Get through a sector's seven waves, its mini-boss and its flagship for a bonus; a big ship you do not destroy in time flies away. Clear the third sector to win; lose three lives and the run is over.
What is Comet Wing?
Comet Wing is a vertical-scrolling space shooter, the arcade genre of the lone starfighter flying up the screen into wave after wave of enemy craft and the bullets they fill the sky with. It is an original game made for a phone held upright: your ship flies a little above your finger and fires on its own, so all your attention goes to where you put it.
A run crosses three sectors of deep space, each with its own nebula. A sector is seven waves of alien craft in formation, a mini-boss halfway through and a flagship at the end. Three levels are on offer, from an easy one with slower, sparser bullets to a hard one with dense patterns, and every day brings a Daily run that flies the same waves and power-ups for everyone.
How to play Comet Wing
- Fly. Touch anywhere and drag. The ship keeps its distance from your finger, always a little above it, so your finger never hides it. With a mouse the ship follows the pointer; on a keyboard, fly with the arrow keys or W A S D.
- Fire. The guns fire on their own for the whole run. Put the ship under the craft you want gone.
- Dodge. Only the bright dot in the middle of the ship can be hit. A bullet or a craft that touches it costs a life, and a hit leaves you a moment of blinking safety.
- Bomb. The bomb button (or Space, B or X) wipes every bullet off the screen, hurts every craft on it and breaks the wardens' shields. You start with two, three on easy, and can carry five.
- Power-ups. One craft in every wave is circled in gold: shoot it down and it drops a power-up. The spread shot and the laser change your gun and raise its power each time, up to three. The shield takes one hit for you. The magnet pulls in every coin for 15 seconds. The bomb adds one to your stock.
- Multiplier. Every 20 kills without a hit raise the multiplier by one, up to x8. A hit puts it back to x1 and takes one power level off your gun.
- Big ships. The mini-boss and the flagship change their bullet patterns at two thirds and one third of their hull. A mini-boss that is still flying after 30 seconds leaves, a flagship after 60, and they take their points with them.
- The end. Get through the third sector to win. Lose all three lives and the run is over.
The enemy craft
- Dart: dives straight down or swoops in a wide curve, and may fire one aimed shot.
- Weaver: sways from side to side as it comes down, firing straight below it.
- Turret: stops high on the screen, fires aimed fans, spirals or rings for a while, then drifts away.
- Splitter: a slow crystal pod that fires heavy shots and breaks into three shards when destroyed.
- Kamikaze: hovers, glows red while it locks on, then charges in a straight line at where you were.
- Warden: a heavy craft behind a shield that soaks your shots until it breaks; a bomb breaks it at once.
- Mine: drifts down and bursts into a ring of bullets when you shoot it or when it reaches its depth. Shoot it high, or bomb it: a bombed mine does not burst.
Scoring
- Dart: 100, Weaver: 150, Mine: 150, Kamikaze: 250, Splitter: 300 (each shard 50), Turret: 400, Warden: 600
- Corvette (mini-boss): 5,000
- Flagships: Bastion 15,000, Hydra 20,000, Sovereign 30,000
- Coin: 20
- A power-up beyond the top: 1,000
- Every bullet wiped away by a bomb or by a big ship's end: 10
- Sector clear: 3,000 times the sector's number, plus 1,500 for every life left
- Winning: 5,000 for every life left
Kills, coins and the power-up bonus are multiplied by the multiplier.
Tips and strategy
- Stay low and move little. The bottom of the screen gives you the most time to read the bullets. Small moves dodge most patterns; big sweeps fly into them.
- Kill turrets and mines early. A turret left alone fills the screen; a mine destroyed near the top bursts where its ring cannot reach you.
- Watch the gold ring. The power-up only drops if you destroy the craft that carries it, so make it your first target.
- Pick your gun. The spread shot clears waves of small craft; the laser burns through big ships and never misses what is right above you.
- Bomb before you are cornered. A bomb is worth more than a lost life: you keep your multiplier and your gun's power.
- Keep the streak. At x8 every kill and coin is worth eight times as much, so dodging is also scoring.
Frequently asked questions
Is Comet Wing free?
Yes. Like every game on Play, it runs free in your browser, with no download and no account.
What changes between the three levels?
On easy the enemy bullets fly about a quarter slower, the craft fire less often, the fans and rings have fewer bullets and you start with three bombs. Medium is the standard game. On hard the bullets are faster, the craft fire half again as often, the patterns are half again as dense and every craft takes a quarter more damage to destroy.
What is the Daily run?
Every day everyone flies the medium level with the same waves, from the same sides, with the same craft carrying the same power-ups, so the scores compare directly on the leaderboard.
Does the run continue if a big ship escapes?
Yes. The sector still counts as cleared, but the big ship's points and coins fly away with it.
How long does a run last?
Four to six minutes for a whole run through the three sectors. A run closes after nine minutes whatever happens.
