Action Games

One of the basic video game genres, very popular and perhaps the broadest one is Action game. These video games require players to use accuracy, timing and quick reflexes to overcome obstacles. They emphasize combat, physical challenges, such as reaction time and eye-hand coordination. Several studies have even shown that playing these games can improve gamers’ eyesight. There is a possibility to find free games online and to enjoy all the diversity and fun action video games offer.

The players commonly control the avatar of a protagonist and it has to navigate a game level, avoiding obstacles, battling various enemies and numerous attacks, collecting useful objects etc. In action games, levels are usually grouped and have similar enemies, theme and graphics. Commonly, at the end of a level, or certain group of levels, the gamer has to defeat the boss, larger and more challenging enemy than all the others avatar fought before. The avatar has certain number of lives and health bar, so the game is over when it runs out of lives. The mission is fulfilled or the game is won when the player finishes a sequence of levels. There are, also, many action video games with indefinite level number and in those games, the player has the goal to maximize his/her score – to defeat enemies and collect objects, as many of them as possible. Being the broadest of all the video game genres, action video games have many sub-genres and many other genres have action elements, such as strategy or adventure video games. Fighting games, beat ’em ups, maze games, platform games, shooter games and rhythm action games are the most popular action video games sub-genres. Earlier in the history, almost all video games were actually action video games – such as Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, Space Invaders and Asteroids.