Offline Shooting Games for Android: FPS, Zombie and Arcade

Cover Fire is the one to download first. It is free, its Google Play listing promises a single-player campaign you can play offline, and it says the game asks little of your phone.

For zombies, take Dead Target or Into the Dead 2. For something lighter, take Major Mayhem 2.

We kept a game only if its Google Play listing says it plays offline or Google Play attaches its own “Offline” tag, and the table shows which of the two it is. The descriptions come from the listings.

Offline shooters at a glance

Google Play shows a different age rating in each country. The India and Nigeria column is the rating on those two stores, which matched for every game here. Five of the fourteen are rated Mature 17+ in the US, and four more are 16+ in India and Nigeria.

Listings that promise offline play

Cover Fire

Viva Games Studios’ shooter led our old list and keeps its place. The listing describes a story mode of 12 chapters, with missions on foot, in vehicles and from helicopters, and controls you can rearrange. It also says the game has low requirements, which matters on an older phone.

The single-player campaign is the offline part. The tournaments and leaderboards are online.

Dead Target

A first-person zombie shooter from VNGGames Studios, set in 2040, with more than 50 guns to unlock and upgrade. The listing is blunt about the connection: no Wi-Fi required, download once and play.

Into the Dead 2

PikPok’s game is a run through a zombie outbreak to save your family, with weapons to unlock and upgrade on the way. The listing counts seven chapters, 60 stages and more than one ending, and it says you can play offline with no internet connection required.

The first Into the Dead, which was on our old list, is still on Google Play with a Teen rating in the US. Its offline status is a Google Play tag and nothing more.

The Walking Zombie 2

Alda Games calls this a single-player shooter with role-playing elements, drawn in a low-polygon style. You take story quests and side quests, trade in settlements and build up skills, and a karma system changes what you run into. The listing says twice that you can play it offline.

Major Mayhem 2

An arcade run-and-gun from Rocket Jump Games: tap to shoot from behind cover across 50 levels, with 20 guns to unlock and five boss fights. The listing calls it a fully offline game. The online part is the leaderboards.

The original Major Mayhem has 45 levels and makes the same offline promise. In India and Nigeria it is rated 7+, where the sequel is 16+.

Ramboat

Also from Viva Games Studios, with one of the two mildest ratings here. It is an endless 2D shooter played with one finger, in which a crew of 12 characters jumps and fires from 12 boats, a pirate ship and a shark among them. The listing says offline more often than it says anything else.

Combat Master

Alfa Bravo’s game is a fast multiplayer first-person shooter, so most of its listing is about playing online. Two words in the feature list earn it a place: “Offline Mode”. Google Play tags it Offline as well.

It is the only free game in the table without a “Contains ads” label, and the listing says paying players get no advantage.

Games Google Play tags as offline

The makers of these five do not mention offline play in their descriptions. The Offline tag is Google Play’s own, so try each with your connection switched off before you depend on it.

• Mad Bullets: isTom Games’ Wild West shooter is played for laughs, with ninjas, robots and chickens turning up among the bandits. It has 50 levels in three locations. It was on our old list.
• Dead Effect 2: a science-fiction shooter with role-playing elements, set aboard a spaceship. The listing counts more than 20 hours of campaign and full controller support. It is now listed under App Holdings.
• Xenowerk: Pixelbite’s top-down shooter sends you down through 70 levels of an underground laboratory with twin-stick controls and a torch.
• Space Marshals 2: also from Pixelbite, and more tactical. The listing stresses cover and stealth over firing, across 20 missions with more than 70 weapons. It supports gamepads.
• Sky Force Reloaded: a scrolling shoot ’em up from Infinite Dreams with 15 stages and nine aircraft. It is rated Everyone in the US.

Paid shooters without adverts

Google Play shows no “Contains ads” label on these.

• DOOM: Bethesda’s re-release of the 1993 original, with the Thy Flesh Consumed expansion. It costs $4.99 in the US and ₹410 in India, with no in-app purchases. DOOM II is a separate listing at the same price. Nigeria’s store showed us no Buy button for either.
• Max Payne Mobile: Rockstar’s third-person shooter costs $2.99 in the US, ₹121 in India and ₦1,100 in Nigeria. The listing asks for 1.33GB of free space and says it works with some USB gamepads.
• Alien Shooter and Crimsonland: two top-down shooters about holding off crowds of monsters. Alien Shooter from Sigma Team is $5.49 and Crimsonland from 10tons is $10.99. Neither has in-app purchases.

All of them carry Google Play’s Offline tag. None of their makers says so in the listing.

Shooters that need a connection

• Call of Duty: Mobile: the listing says an internet connection is required to play.
• Modern Combat 5: the listing says it requires an internet connection.
• Shadowgun Legends: the listing calls it an online game throughout.

What happened to our old picks

• Cover Fire, Mad Bullets and Into the Dead: all three are still on Google Play and are covered above.
• N.O.V.A. Legacy: Gameloft’s listing has gone from Google Play.
• Shadowgun: the original listing has gone. Shadowgun Legends is the one on the store now, and it is an online game.
• Deus Ex: The Fall: its listing has gone.
• Suicide Squad: Special Ops: we could not find it on Google Play.
• The three sniper games: they now belong to our page of sniper games for Android, which says what became of each.

Which one to pick

• To start with: Cover Fire.
• Zombies: Dead Target, or Into the Dead 2.
• A long single-player game: The Walking Zombie 2, or Dead Effect 2 for its 20 hours.
• For a younger player: Ramboat or Sky Force Reloaded, both rated 7+ in India and Nigeria.
• With a controller: Dead Effect 2 or Space Marshals 2.
• No adverts: DOOM, or Max Payne Mobile for less.
• A sniper game: Sniper 3D, which is on our sniper games page with nine others.

Whichever you choose, open it once on Wi-Fi before you lose your connection. Games often fetch more data the first time they run.

Quick answers

Which shooting games can I play without internet?

Cover Fire, Dead Target, Into the Dead 2, The Walking Zombie 2, Major Mayhem 2 and Ramboat all say in their Google Play listings that they play offline. All six are free.

Which offline shooting games are under 100MB?

The store pages will not tell us. Google Play’s web pages do not state a download size, and the only listing here that gives a figure is Max Payne Mobile’s 1.33GB. Open the listing on your own phone to see the size before you download.

Which offline shooters support a controller?

Dead Effect 2 lists full controller support and Space Marshals 2 lists gamepad support. Crimsonland and Max Payne Mobile mention gamepads too.

Is there an offline game like Call of Duty?

Call of Duty: Mobile itself needs a connection. Of the games here, Combat Master is the multiplayer first-person shooter with an offline mode in its listing, and Cover Fire has the offline campaign.

Are there offline shooting games for iPhone?

Yes. We keep a separate list of offline shooting games for iPhone.