Gun Run
Run, jump and blast through four zones of bots to the boss in this original run-and-gun.
How to play Gun Run
You are a lone commando fighting through four hostile zones. Run with the arrow keys or A/D, jump with ↑, W or Space to reach floating platforms and hop the gaps, and fire with X or J. Your shots go in eight directions: hold ↑ or ↓ together with a run direction to aim diagonally, straight up, or down while airborne. On a phone the same is done with the on-screen D-pad plus the JUMP and FIRE buttons. Blast waves of enemy bots: grunts that shoot back, fast chargers that rush you, fixed wall turrets, and hover-drones that strafe from above. Run through weapon crates to swap your rifle for a wide Spread, a piercing Laser or a machine-gun Rapid, each with limited ammo before you drop back to the trusty infinite rifle. You start with three lives and a health bar; enemy fire, contact and bottomless pits all cost you, and losing your last life ends the run. Reach the end of each zone to face a boss with its own health bar, and beat all four bosses to win. Your score climbs with every kill and every step of distance, and your best score goes on the leaderboard.
Nothing happens until you move
Gun Run starts the second the page loads, but no bot shows up until you push right. Enemies only appear as you walk toward them, so there's no clock ticking and no reason to rush the first screen. The Jungle is the gentlest zone in the game: six grunts, a single hover-drone, three weapon crates and not one pit. Pits start in the Desert. Every one of them clears with a running jump, and the key word is running. Keep holding the direction through the jump, because a standing hop goes straight up and straight back down.
On a keyboard, pick your jump key on purpose. Space jumps and leaves your aim alone. The up arrow and W jump too, but they also tilt your gun upward for as long as you hold them. Jump with Space when you want to keep firing straight ahead, and use up only when you mean to shoot high. On a touch screen the up arrow on the pad just aims, and JUMP is its own button.
Read the bot, not the bullets
Grunts walk up, stop a few paces away and fire one aimed shot about every second and a half. They take two Rifle hits in the Jungle and four by the Volcano, because every zone makes enemies tougher. Runners arrive in the Desert. They carry no gun at all. They sprint straight at you and hit hard on contact, so shoot them early or jump clean over them. Wall turrets first show up in Neon City. They never move, but each one fires a fan of three shots. Some sit up on platforms, where your flat shots pass underneath. Jump and fire, or aim up and forward.
Hover-drones are the bot new players can't figure out. A drone hangs back a few steps and floats just above the height of your gun, so shots fired from the ground miss it forever. Jump while you hold FIRE and it usually drops in under a second.
Crates and ammo
Your Rifle never runs dry and fires five shots a second. Rapid and Laser each put out roughly 70 percent more damage per second, and a Laser bolt keeps going through every bot in a line. Spread throws five pellets in a fan, which is brutal up close and weak at range because the pellets fade fast. None of them last long. Holding FIRE nonstop empties Rapid in about 16 seconds, the Laser in about 18 and Spread in about 24. Let go between fights.
You collect a crate by running through it, and a high jump can sail right over one. Grabbing a crate swaps out whatever you're holding, spare ammo and all. Think twice before running through a box with half a Laser left. You can walk back for a crate you skipped, since the screen follows you left too. That stops once a boss locks the screen in place. A special weapon you're still carrying also comes with you into the next zone. The last crate before each boss is Rapid in the Jungle, Spread in the Desert, Laser in Neon City and Rapid again in the Volcano.
Health, lives and the four bosses
You have 100 health. A grunt's shot costs 12 in the Jungle and 15 in the Volcano. After any hit you blink for one second. Enemy fire passes straight through you while you blink, so a turret's three-shot burst only costs you once. A pit is different: falling in takes a whole life on the spot, however healthy you are. Health refills when you respawn and again at the start of every zone. You get three lives in all, and the number beside the triangle in the corner shows how many you have left, counting the one you're on.
The Vine Colossus has 520 health, the Dune Marauder 800, the Chrome Warden 1,080 and the Magma Tyrant 1,360. All four fight the same way: an aimed burst of three shots every 1.5 seconds, a wide fan of nine every 3.2 seconds, and from the Desert on, a fresh hover-drone every 5 seconds. Those boss drones add nothing to your score, so only shoot the ones in your way. Below 40 percent health the gaps between attacks shrink by 40 percent. The aimed burst flies at the spot where you stood when it fired, so a well-timed jump often clears it. Bosses hover low, which means your flat shots always connect. Don't jump just to shoot.
Beating a boss adds 1,400 to your score in the Jungle, rising by 700 each zone to 3,500 in the Volcano. That's 9,800 in total, more than half of what a full clear is worth. Shooting every bot adds roughly 4,700 more and distance a bit over 2,000, so a complete run lands somewhere near 17,000. If you like the side-scrolling part but would rather fly, Defender gives you a ship instead of boots.
Gun Run leaderboard
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Gun Run: frequently asked questions
How do I move and shoot in Gun Run?
Run left and right with the arrow keys or A and D, and jump with Up, W or Space to reach platforms and clear pits. Fire with X or J. Aiming is eight-directional: hold Up or Down along with a run direction to shoot diagonally, straight up, or down in mid-air. On touch screens there is an on-screen D-pad on the left and JUMP and FIRE buttons on the right.
What do the weapon crates do?
Floating crates marked S, L and R give you temporary firepower: Spread fires a five-shot fan, Laser fires a fast beam that pierces through several enemies, and Rapid is a high rate-of-fire machine gun. Each has limited ammo; when it runs out you fall back to your default rifle, which never runs dry.
How do lives, health and bosses work?
You begin with three lives and a health bar. Enemy bullets and touching a foe drain health, and when it empties you lose a life and respawn with brief invulnerability. Falling into a pit costs a whole life straight away, and running out of lives ends the run. Each of the four zones ends in a boss with its own health bar and attack patterns; defeat it to advance, and beat all four to win.
Is Gun Run free, and does it work on mobile?
Yes. Gun Run runs free in your browser with no download or sign-up, on both desktop and mobile. On phones and tablets the touch D-pad and the JUMP and FIRE buttons give you full eight-direction control, and your best score is saved to the leaderboard.
Why do my shots miss the flying drones?
Drones float just above the height of your gun, so shots fired while you stand on the ground pass underneath them. Jump while holding fire and your shots rise into the drone. It usually goes down in under a second.
Why does pressing up make my commando jump?
On a keyboard the up arrow and W double as jump keys, so pressing one to aim high also hops you once. Keep holding it and your gun stays tilted up. Use Space to jump when you want your aim to stay level. On a touch screen the up arrow on the pad only aims.
Do I lose my ammo if I grab another crate?
Yes. A new crate replaces your current weapon and whatever ammo it had left, straight away. A special weapon you're still holding does carry over into the next zone, so skipping a crate is sometimes the smart move.
Can I go back for a crate I ran past?
Yes. The screen follows you left as well as right, and crates stay put until you collect them. The only time you can't backtrack is during a boss fight, when the screen locks in place.
What is beating a boss worth to my score?
The bonus is 1,400 in the Jungle, 2,100 in the Desert, 2,800 in Neon City and 3,500 in the Volcano. Together that's more than half of a full clear, so surviving each boss matters more than hunting down every last bot.
Is Gun Run free to play?
Yes. Gun Run is completely free on Inkplay, with no download, no sign-up, and no in-game purchases. Open the page and play instantly on desktop or mobile.
Can I play Gun Run unblocked?
Yes. Gun Run runs entirely in your browser with no download, install, or plugins, so it loads instantly and keeps working even on school or work networks where bigger game sites get blocked.
More games to play
In the mood for more? Try Snake, Breakout, Pong, Blocks, or browse all arcade games and the full games list on Inkplay.