Stick Annihilation II

Summary

Get ready to experience one of the most chaotic browser games out there. You start off with little more than a frame on wheels, while enemies in heavy, armed pickups chase you down. They’ll fire bullets at you, ram into (or drive over) your ride, or do whatever else they can to try and stop you reaching the finish line before your fuel runs out.

Every run earns you credits that you’ll put towards (much-needed) upgrades and mods, which slowly transform the bare frame on wheels into a fully-clad road weapon. Once fully upgraded, you’ll then get to unlock the next vehicles, which is where the bullies will soon meet their match.

It’s great for a quick, satisfying blast, but also offers plenty of long-term value too. Making substantial progress does take a little while, and can be a little grindy if you wanna unlock everything. However, it does make you appreciate each upgrade, unlock, and fresh challenge a little more, along with the endless carnage to keep you entertained along the way!

Features

• Release date – August 2026
• Difficulty – Beginner/Intermediate
• Levels/environments – 4
• Number of vehicles – 4
• Vehicle customization/upgrades – Yes
• Multiplayer – No
• Mobile – Yes
• Developer – 8Games

Physics

The physics are awesome fun. Your car struggles for grip at the start of each run (although wheel upgrades help), doing a burnout until the all-wheel drive finally hooks up, and then it sticks to the ground well. It’s obviously not a drifting game, so if the wheelspin leaves you wanting to actually get sideways, Drift Hunters MAX has 39 cars, 13 tracks, plenty of unique game modes and leaderboards, and way deeper tuning to dive into.

Even when fully upgraded and maxed out, the starter car is out-weighted and out-powered by the enemies that are chasing you down. Even hitting stickmen, crates, and the odd trap throws it about and sometimes launches it into the air. After that, each new unlock feels weightier and more planted, smashing through the stuff that used to send you flying with ease.

As you upgrade with new weapons and components (see Vehicles & Upgrades below) the super heavy metal parts not only alter how your car sits, but also changes the weight distribution. It can almost make it look like it’s pulling off a Carolina squat.

Graphics

The graphics are fairly simple, but super clean and polished.

Once you hit the accelerator, you’ll see how it soon becomes absolute carnage, with bits of stickmen flying everywhere. It’s more fun than gory since they’re only stickmen, but it’d be pretty horrifying if they weren’t!

You’ll need to ignore the Comic Sans MS in the menus (a bit of a uhh… niche font), and the English isn’t perfect either, with amusing gems like “complete two map.” Thankfully, it just adds to the intentionally simple quirkiness.

Controls

PC/laptop/Chromebook

• Space – Accelerate
• A – Lift the front of the vehicle
• D – Push the front of the vehicle down

Mobile (iOS/Android)

• On-screen throttle button – Accelerate
• Left tilt button – Lift the front of the vehicle
• Right tilt button – Push the front of the vehicle down

Just like our other mobile games, it plays super smoothly on phones, tablets, or Chromebooks.

How to Play Stick Annihilation II

Initial Setup

Your bank balance starts at zero, but if you’re willing to wait five seconds, you can tap the ad button next to it straight away for a 1,000 CR bonus.

There’s no real settings menu, just a mute toggle in the top left. You can scroll right to see silhouettes of the cars you’ll unlock later, then hit “Go” in the top right to start on the opening level, “Straight”.

Getting Started

At the beginning, your starter car is literally just a frame with wheels attached, and before long two enemies in full-blown pickup trucks will begin chasing you down.

It’s already chaos before they get there, but once they catch up, they’re smashing you along and firing at you, and you’ll soon realize that the stickmen carry weapons too.

Before you know it, the bullets start flying from all angles. If this is what you enjoy, then we’ve got plenty more of it in our action games and shooting games categories.

If you fancy a different twist on the action, Road Of Fury 4 flips it around, giving you your own increasingly ridiculous armed convoy to take on attackers while the game does the driving and you concentrate on aiming. You’ll also get to unlock your own firepower on the later vehicles in this one, if you’re willing to work your way through it.

Your health sits in the top left, and it doesn’t go down super quick, so you can take quite a few bullets (remember, it’s not trying to be realistic). It drops fast when you’ve not got much armor and a truck sitting on your head, though, so try and avoid what you can!

No matter how perfectly you try to plan it, your fuel tank is gonna run out super quick at first. When it hits zero, your car stops dead and locks all four brakes (which can be a pain), unless you’re in mid-air.

The results screen then shows your downed enemies, and how much “Damages has done”, and they both feed into the final payout.

Once you’ve earned some cash, I’d upgrade the fuel tank first, then the engine for a bit more oomph. The first weapon mod is a spinning set of blades on the front, and as soon as you get it, things get so much easier because you’ll be slicing through the stickmen instead of whacking into them every time.

Game Modes

The only game mode is the solo progression across four maps. Reach the finish line on each level to unlock the next one, then pay to unlock them with the following:

• 1 – Straight – open from the start
• 2 – Dangerous Flight – Complete Level 1
• 3 – Load of Boxes – Complete Level 2
• 4 – Short Loop – Complete Level 3

Straight is already a decent challenge, and it’s the best money-maker while you’re building your car up. If you manage to fluke your way to the finish (sometimes you can hitch a ride with the enemies), I’d stay there until you’re reaching it consistently, because the difficulty rises super quickly after it.

Dangerous Flight turns into more of a hill-climb sprint, with huge ramps, massive dips, and boxes that slow you down if you hit them at the wrong angle. Send it off the jumps and you’re absolutely rocketed into the air, (with stickmen still flying up to attack your car).

Once your upgraded ride can reliably go further on the harder map, stay there, because the payouts get bigger and Straight’s small rewards eventually won’t fund the pricier upgrades. That’s when the earnings start rolling in much thicker and faster.

Before you know it, you’ll be smashing through all the levels and earning much bigger payouts.

Vehicles & Upgrades

There’s four cars, and you unlock each one by maxing out every upgrade on the car you’ve already got:

• Starter car – a buggy with scaffolding-style poles for a rollcage/armor, which looks quite amusingly bodgy
• Second car – a bare chassis again, until heavy, solid metal panels build it into a real-looking car, like an old-school muscle car
• Third car – a sportier car that introduces a turret to return fire

• Fourth car – the ultimate ride with a big wing that looks like it could be a drift car and (of course) its own upgraded firepower

Every new car is way stronger, more durable, and more powerful than the one before.

Watching a feeble starter grow into a slaying beast is the goal in Earn to Die 2012 Part 2 too. It’s an old-school take with a similar approach to this one, but with crazier weapons and zombies instead of stickmen.

Each car has seven parts to upgrade, and they change how it looks, sits, and drives:

• Engine
• Suspension
• Gearbox
• Fuel tank
• Body armor
• Blades/weaponry
• Wheels and tires

Pick upgrades based on what’s stopping you from advancing. Even with all the power in the world, you’re probably not gonna outpace the enemies until you’ve upgraded several components.

On the starter car, the body armor looks like a roll cage, but it’s bought piece by piece to protect you from bullets and other damage. On the later cars it comes as (super heavy) body panels that shift the weight around (the second car’s first panel adds a rear fender that makes the back squat), so the weight balance needs a bit of thinking about.

If you want to get behind the wheel right away with a selection of weapons and online lobbies, check out Smash Karts. This Mario Kart-style browser game packs weaponized karts into frantic three-minute arena battles with weapon pickups.

Each tier costs more than the last, and each completed upgrade states “MAX.” Max out everything and you’re kind of back to square one, but with more stages and pricier tiers on the new car. This is when it gets a bit longer and grinder, but the new cars are huge improvements.

Enjoyed this one, and fancy something with a bit more open-world freedom? Scrap Metal 6 is a great change of pace, handing you an open sandbox and the tools to build your own ramps, jumps, and stunts.

Advanced Tips & Tricks

Try to hitch a ride on the enemy pickups

They’re so heavy, powerful, and aggressive that you can sometimes use them as a booster. If one’s pushing you, use the angle, stay off your own fuel, and let it shove you along.

You never know, you might even land on top and hitch a ride all the way to the finish if you’re lucky. Just watch out for the spikes and bullets!

Getting rammed while trying to stay alive is the aim in Survival Race, too. You’ll take on quick multiplayer rounds on collapsing platforms have you drifting, jumping, and ramming into online rivals in a fight to be the last car standing.

Consider your approach angle before smashing into things

Before you’ve got adequate weaponry on the front, you can lift the front wheels before plowing into stickmen, and the impact won’t slow you down as much.

If you get stuck with too many stickmen trapped under the car, hit the throttle and then rock the angle with A and D to climb over them.

Feather the throttle when fuel’s running out

You’ll need to keep the throttle pinned at first to build up momentum. Once the remaining tank starts getting low, lift off whenever all four wheels aren’t on the ground to save burning more fuel without the benefits.

When you down a load of enemies, the game drops into slow motion. Use these moments to decide whether the gas and your current angle is propelling you (almost like a booster) or just wasting fuel.

Don’t be afraid to go back to your old car(s)

A freshly unlocked car is bone (quite literally) stock, so your maxed-out old car will often be the better choice on a harder map at first. Meanwhile, if you’re keen to take the new car for a spin, head back to Straight, where its extra power should make it a great money-earner while you build it up.

Keep your momentum in the heavier cars

The heavier cars absolutely smash things to pieces, but lose your momentum and you’re back to the burnout and wheelspin.

Monsters’ Wheels Special is another great one for wrestling a heavy vehicle over rough ground, with finish-line runs against rivals, car-crushing obstacles, and a selection of wheelie-poppin’ monster trucks to counter-balance.

Stick Annihilation II FAQ