Laser. Cannon. Is it really possible to go wrong with those words? Lasers are by themselves really coo. Turn that laser into a cannon, and you've got the stuff that dreams are made of. And just such a game is exactly what you're getting with the aptly named Laser Cannon series of games.

First off, the game looks great. You've got your futuristic-looking laser cannon, your really nicely designed levels, and your interesting bad guys. What's more is that all of these animate really nicely. No static environments await you here. Shoot some wood? It'll shatter and splinter (even though that's absolutely -not- how lasers work) allowing you to change how the level looks. Shoot a plate of shiny steel? The laser will ricochet off allowing you to angle your shots (and possibly fulfill that desire to be just like Cyclops) around obstacles to shoot targets. Shoot an ugly furby? It'll get electrocuted (again, absolutely not how lasers work. But hey, it's cool, so who cares) and turn into a pile of blackened ash.

As can be assumed, the main goal of the games is to laser all of the evil little furby-like creatures into nothingness. You do this by either directly shooting the little critters, or shooting the environment to cause different things to happen. Included would be shooting toxic waste barrels (which inexplicably explode. Just go with it, really, nothing in this games behaves the way high school physics and chemistry say they should) to launch things into the air or to fry the bad guys. Or destroying generators to deactivate electrical force fields (yes, I know lasers are light, and light should pass right through that force field. What did I say about just going with it? It's good fun, stop questioning it) allowing you to shoot the bad guys behind it. Or even the simpler Wile E. Coyote method of cutting a cable to drop a huge block of stone onto your unsuspecting targets. These are often combined in fun and amusing ways, making each level different and a whole lot of fun.

You don't have any limit to how many shots you fire, but the fewer shots you take, the better. It does help then to pause for a while to think about what the best solution might be for a particular level. On the other hand, it's also a lot of fun to just go at it and shoot things until everything clicks into place. Obviously, it can take a bit of trial and error to get things just right. Often it'll take a few shots just to figure out the right angle you need to shoot and how to interact with the level correctly to achieve the effect you're going for.

Fortunately, you can redo the level as many times as you want, allowing you to perfect your technique. Still, the game is fun enough that it's not all that much of a chore to redo levels. Indeed, it can be quite fun to try them again to see if you can do better than what you previously did.

So don't just sit there, go on and give the Laser Cannon games a shot! less