Fighting north in Jungle Ranger, Games by Zaweba

Three stages of jungle, rivers, villages and gun towers lie between your ranger and the end of Jungle Ranger. It's a top-down run-and-gun in a 16-bit home computer style: one ranger in a headband, looking down on the action from above, fighting his way north. It sits on the Retro arcade shelf of Games by Zaweba.

Moving and shooting

Arrows or WASD move the ranger. Space or Z fires, and X or Shift throws a grenade. You fire the way you're facing. With the mouse, hold the button to aim and fire, and while the button is held the ranger fires towards the pointer rather than the way he faces.

That mouse aiming is worth trying. It separates where you move from where you shoot, so you can walk one way while firing another. On the keyboard you turn to face your targets, which is simpler to learn but means changing direction to deal with something behind or beside you. Try both and keep the one that suits you.

Grenades and gun towers

Gun towers are the tough targets, and grenades flatten them. Your gun deals with much of what comes at you; grenades are for the towers. Crates hold more grenades, so pick them up as you go, and try not to spend grenades on things your gun can handle.

Freeing prisoners

Along the way there are tied prisoners. Walk up to one to free them, and each is worth 1000 points. They're a big part of a good score, so it's worth a short detour to reach them when the area around them is clear. Rushing past a prisoner to save a few seconds usually costs more points than it saves.

Opening the gate

Each stage ends at a gate guarded by two gate towers, and you have to destroy both to open it. This is where saving grenades pays off: arriving at the end of a stage with none left makes the gate much harder work. A good habit is to keep a couple in hand as you get near the end of a stage, whatever happens on the way.

There are three stages in all, and getting through all three means fighting through each gate in turn.

Keeping the ranger alive

Keep moving, because standing still in a game like this rarely ends well. Clear the threats in front of you before pushing further north, rather than running into a crowd. Save grenades for towers, pick up crates, and free prisoners when it's safe to do so. Esc pauses when things get hectic, and F11 gives you the whole screen, which helps you see more of what's coming.

The title card lists every control, and F1 explains the game at any point. Games by Zaweba keeps your best score and plays on your PC, so the prisoners you free and the stages you clear show up as a number you can try to beat. If you enjoy the shooting side of the shelf, Nebula Strike and Rock Blaster are there too, each with its own way of keeping you busy.

Fight north steadily, keep grenades for the towers, and make the detours for prisoners.