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On-Rails Shooters

Video games are often enjoyable because they task you with juggling multiple responsibilities at the same time (not unlike other parts of life). However, there are some games that focus on just one aspect of play.

Shooting games usually require you to navigate through the world as well as deal with targeting and shooting enemies. On-Rails Shooters and Light-Gun games take over the movement and navigation side of things for you. You are left with the task of targeting and shooting the enemies as they come into view.

These can be classic shooting games, tailored for an on-rails experience. Sometimes a stand-alone game, and sometimes a special edition of an existing franchise. Games like Point Blank, Until Dawn Rush of Blood, House of the Dead, Dead Containment and Dead Space Extraction.

This can also be games with shooting-style targeting that aren't specifically about shooting. Games like Child of Eden, Rez Infinite or New Pokemon Snap. Or games that use targets as part of a skill challenge like Osu!, Piansita or Elite Beat Agents.

This list includes 20 games from the last 27 years, with 168 likes. They come from a range of different genres and play-styles and are all good games if you want to focus on targetting.

DetailsList Details

PEGI Ratings: PEGI 3 to PEGI 18
ESRB Ratings: ESRB EVERYONE to ESRB MATURE 17+
Australian Ratings: G to MA 15+
Genres: Action, Adventure, Collecting, Fighting, Narrative, Physically Active, Platform, Point-and-Click, Puzzle, Rhythm, Sequencing, Shooting, Simulation and Traversal
Total Likes: 168
 

Osu!

Release Date: 16/09/2007, updated in 2021

Out Now: Mac, PC and iOS

Skill Rating: 12+ year-olds

Components: 2D Side-On

Osu! is a rhythm action game where you tap the screen in time to the music similar to the Elite Beat Agents games. This starts as a simple challenge but develops in speed and complexity. At higher levels, the games is an esport with people competing to...

New Pokemon Snap

Release Date: 30/04/2021

Out Now: Switch

Skill Rating: 5+ year-olds

Components: 3D First-Person and Cartoon

New Pokemon Snap is the latest in the series of Pokemon Snap games. It's a puzzle safari where you are guided through the natural world of Pokemon creatures to take pictures of them in the wild. The aim is to time your photos to capture them in specific...

Penko Park

Release Date: 23/10/2020

Out Now: PC

Skill Rating: 8+ year-olds

Components: 3D First-Person, Cartoon and Hand-Made

Penko Park is an adventure about exploring an abandoned wildlife park, taking photos of the weird and creepy creatures which you find. Like exploring a children's story book world, you collect these snapshots along with fur samples and fossils to add to...

Ghost Squad

Release Date: 18/01/2008

Out Now: Wii

Components: 3D First-Person

Ghost Squad is a shooting game where you use a light-gun or Wii Remote for shooting. This was converted from an Arcade game to the Wii (also playable on Wii U) to create a convincing and highly skilled light-gun shooting challenge for up to four players.

Rez Infinite (Series)

Release Date: 11/01/2002, updated in 2020

Out Now: Android, Oculus, PC, PS2, PS4 and Xbox 360

Skill Rating: 10+ year-olds

Components: 3D First-Person

Rez Infinite is a shooting game where you fire musical energy rather than bullets. As you guide a figure through the darkness of space you bring down enemies in time with the music. Rez is novel for its use of music and vibration feedback to create a...

Aaero

Release Date: 11/04/2017, updated in 2018

Out Now: PC, PS4, Switch and Xbox One

Skill Rating: 10+ year-olds

Components: 3D First-Person

Aaero is a rhythm game where you control a spacecraft with one stick and target with the other. At times it's like flying an X-Wing on a trench run while at others it's like soaring high and free targeting enemies in a Starfox game. It's an on-rails...

Elite Beat Agents

Release Date: 13/07/2007

Out Now: DS

Skill Rating: 6+ year-olds

Components: 2D Side-On and Hand-Made

Elite Beat Agents is a simple rhythm game that requires you to tap the screen in time with the music to advance a story. Each song matches the pictorial narrative that intersperses each verse: getting a pregnant woman to the hospital; materialising a...

The Gunstringer

Release Date: 13/11/2011

Out Now: Xbox 360

Components: 3D Third-Person

The Gunstringer is an Xbox Kinect camera game where you use your body to control a cowboy puppet and shoot the villains by forming a gun with your fingers. You can play with two people working together, with one player controlling the character’s...

Western 1849 Reloaded

Release Date: 11/02/2017, updated in 2018

Out Now: PC and Switch

Skill Rating: 10+ year-olds

Components: 3D First-Person and Hand-Made

Western 1849 Reloaded is a shooting game designed to imitate light-gun games of the 90s. It's a fast-shooting gallery through different Western locations. The Western 1849 Reloaded version brings it to Switch where it feels at home with Joy-Con...

Art's Dream (Dreams)

Release Date: 11/02/2020, updated in 2021

Out Now: PS4 and PS5

Skill Rating: 10+ year-olds

Components: 3D Third-Person

Art's Dream is an adventure game featuring different game styles, including running and jumping, combat and puzzle solving. It's particularly unusual as it has music threading through it like a musical. You play as Art, a depressed double bass player,...

Disney Fantasia: Music Evolved

Release Date: 15/10/2014

Out Now: Xbox 360 and Xbox One

Components: 2D Side-On

Disney Fantasia: Music Evolved is an Xbox Kinect camera dancing game using your whole body. Its narrative follows Disney’s Fantasia film as you take a musical journey to earn your sorcerer’s hat. Sweeping your arms to trigger the orchestra, pointing...

The House of the Dead (Series)

Release Date: 01/01/1996, updated in 2022

Out Now: PC, PS2, PS3, PS4, Switch, Wii, Xbox, Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S

Components: 3D First-Person

The House of the Dead is a horror-themed shooting game where you control the targeting but not the movement. Unlike general on-rails shooting games, this was controlled using a light-gun pointing at the screen (or similar controller). This gives the...

Air Twister

Release Date: 24/06/2022

Out Now: Apple TV, Mac and iOS

Components: 3D Third-Person

Air Twister is a shooting game that focuses on aiming and dodging, like the classic Space Harrier game. As you race through a series of exotic locales you chain together multiple targets to score more points. This, and the strategies you need to defeat...

Child of Eden

Release Date: 17/06/2011, updated in 2011

Out Now: PS3, Xbox 360 and Xbox One

Components: 3D First-Person

Child of Eden is a dance and motion game that uses the Xbox Kinect camera. You use your body to shoot and move. Rather than fruit, however, here it’s beautiful firework-style visuals and music that are the challenge.

Kid Icarus Uprising

Release Date: 22/03/2012

Out Now: 3DS and 2DS

Skill Rating: 10+ year-olds

Components: 3D Third-Person and Cartoon

Kid Icarus Uprising is a shooting-adventure game set in a world loosely drawn from Greek mythology. You play as angelic warrior, Pit, on a mission to save humanity via airborne shooting and ground-based third-person exploration. It stands out for the...

Pianista: The Legendary Virtuoso

Release Date: 25/10/2018

Out Now: Android, Switch and iOS

Components: 2D Side-On

Pianista: The Legendary Virtuoso is a rhythm game where you play classical piano music by pressing buttons in time with each note. This starts easily but builds up so you are playing complex pieces of music from a range of composers.

Dead Containment

Release Date: 01/11/2021

Out Now: PC

Skill Rating: 14+ year-olds

Components: 3D First-Person

Dead Containment is a shooting game where you only control the aiming. It's inspired by on-rails shooting games found in 90's arcades, played with light guns. You use your weapons to fend off the undead as they race towards you in city locations.

Dead Space: Extraction

Release Date: 24/09/2009, updated in 2011

Out Now: PS3 and Wii

Skill Rating: 14+ year-olds

Components: 3D First-Person

Dead Space: Extraction is a shooting game where you only control the aiming, like a light gun game. It's a spin-off prequel from the main Dead Space series and follows survivors of a mining colony as it is overrun by deadly monsters.

Killer 7

Release Date: 07/07/2005, updated in 2018

Out Now: PC, PS2 and Wii

Components: 3D Third-Person and Cartoon

Killer7 is a surreal action-adventure game about an elite group of assassins who work for the United States government. It's awkward to play and easy to dismiss with its unconventional control scheme, restrictive exploration, and complex dark plot....

Wild Guns Reloaded (Series)

Release Date: 30/10/1996, updated in 2018

Out Now: PC, PS4, Switch, Wii and Wii U

Skill Rating: 10+ year-olds

Components: 2D Side-On

Wild Guns Reloaded is a fast retro shooting game where you control the gun with one stick and your character with the other. It's set in an alternative steampunk Wild West.

Taming Gaming Book Written by parents for parents, the database complements the in-depth discussion about video game addiction, violence, spending and online safety in the Taming Gaming book. We are an editorially independent, free resource without adverts that is supported by partnerships.

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