Linux Got Game: Urban Terror 4.1 Review

I had the time to play yet another exciting game on my Linux box. It’s a free first person shooter called Urban Terror. The game is a total modification of the immensely popular Quake III Arena. It introduces many elements of the tactical shooter genre --team-driven gaming in more realistic environments. Urban Terror is one of the best FPS games that I have ever played --you will know why later on.

Urban Terror, usually abbreviated as UrT or UT, is currently developed and maintained by FrozenSand, LLC. It is available for free, but unauthorised modification and selling is not allowed. The latest version of UT (4.1) is using ioUrbanTerror engine (rebranded ioquake3 engine) which means it can now be played as a stand-alone game even without Quake III Arena.

To get the party started, you will only need to download the ZIP file at Urban Terror website’s download page HERE. Then, extract the ZIP file to any directory that you want and look for the ff.:

ioUrbanTerror.i386 – for those with 32bit machines
ioUrbanTerror.x86_64 – for those with 64bit machines

You can start playing Urban Terror by simply double-clicking one of those files. But first, you have to make it executable.

To make it executable: right click --> properties --> click on Permissions tab --> tick the ‘program’ or ‘allow execution’ box.

That’s about it, no installation is needed.

Gameplay:

Since Urban Terror is primarily an online multiplayer game, I started playing it by joining an online server that hosted the game. The good thing is that there are plenty of available servers most of the time, so you can always choose those that suit your game level. Urban Terror also features several game modes such as:

* Free for All (FFA, DM)
* Team Deathmatch (TDM)
* Team Survivor (TS)
* Capture the Flag (CTF)
* Capture and Hold (CAH, C&H)
* Follow the Leader (FTL)
* Bomb Mode (BM)

Once inside the game, you can choose from a variety of realistic weapons. There’s an assault rifle, grenade launcher, sniper rifle, machine gun and much more. Players automatically spawn with a Ka-bar knife, pistol and a primary weapon as the bare minimum. A secondary weapon can also be chosen. Finally, grenades can also be carried. Both grenades and secondary weapons remove an item slot. If both are chosen, only one item slot remains. If only one is chosen, two item slots are available. If a player chooses to carry only the bare minimum, there are three item slots available. Weapons picked up after spawning do not affect the number of items that can be carried. Similarly, holding three items does not prevent one from picking up a secondary weapon or grenades from a dead player. Two pieces of equipment - the IMI Negev and the Kevlar vest - affect stamina drain negatively.

Urban Terror' allows players to perform superhuman feats. Damage is a key example; while damage taken depends on the part of body which is hit, one can keep going after receiving numerous hits. Further breaking from reality, Urban Terror includes wall jumping and power sliding. Wall jumping allows players to literally jump off of walls. Wall jumping has been made into a secondary part of Urban Terror but is not a full focuse meaning it's downloaded as 3rd party. Jump maps are focused around using wall jumps, powerslides and "circle jumps". Jump maps are done by working with curves, kicks, and slides. Power sliding lets them move rapidly in a crouched position. Urban Terror also retains the movement speeds from Quake III Arena which allows players to move through the screen incredibly quickly.

Sounds and Graphics:

Graphics wise, Urban Terror is as stunning and as solid as Nexuiz 2.4. The game environment is indeed very realistic and is full of details. I had no problems playing Urban Terror on my Xubuntu 8.04 Macbook Pro (Penryn) with NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT graphics card. Although, I needed to custom set the screen width and height to match the optimum screen resolution of my MBP. The game’s audio like the effects and music sounded great even on my laptop speakers.

Recommended System Requirements:
CPU: Pentium 4 1.2GHz or higher.
RAM: 256MBs (512MBs highly recommended).
VID: NVidia or ATI card with 128MB RAM (256MB or more highly recommended).
HDD: 50GB, but the more the better for additional levels.

Conclusion:

Urban Terror is another action packed, fast-paced, and highly-addictive first-person shooter game that is available for Linux. Though I’m not really an avid gamer, I still enjoy playing this game even up to now. By the way, if you are a hardcore FPS gamer, there are several gaming leagues for Urban Terror that you might be interested in joining. For inquiries, just visit Urban Terror’s official website HERE.

Here is my rating for Urban Terror 4.1:

Sounds and Graphics: 9/10
Gameplay: 8/10
Total: 8.5/10

10 Best Windows Games That Can Be Played on Linux

For most hardcore gamers, Linux is taboo since they probably think that they cannot play their favorite Windows-only games with it. They do have a point of staying away from Linux, but if they knew that they can play some of their most wanted games on Linux, will they take the switch?

A program called Wine (Wine Is Not an Emulator) allows Unix-like computer operating systems on the x86 architecture to execute programs written for Microsoft Windows. Wine also provides a software library known as Winelib which developers can compile Windows applications alongside to help port them to Unix-like systems.

I have picked 10 of the most popular Windows-only games that are now playable in Linux for the hardcore gamers and for those who have just migrated to Linux and are missing these exciting games:

World of Warcraft
World of Warcraft (commonly known as WoW) is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG). It is Blizzard Entertainment's fourth game set in the fantasy Warcraft universe, which was first introduced by Warcraft: Orcs & Humans in 1994. World of Warcraft takes place within the world of Azeroth, four years after the events at the conclusion of Blizzard's previous release, Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne. Blizzard Entertainment announced World of Warcraft on September 2, 2001. The game was released on November 23, 2004, celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Warcraft franchise. It is currently the world's largest MMORPG in terms of monthly subscribers. World of Warcraft currently holds 62% of the MMOG market at 10 million subscribers. The current subscriber base for all MMOGs is 16 million.

Linux installation instructions plus other details about this game can be found HERE.

Half-Life 2
Half-Life 2 is a science fiction first-person shooter computer game and the sequel to the highly acclaimed Half-Life. It was developed by Valve Software Corporation and was released on November 16, 2004, following a protracted five-year development cycle during which the game’s source code was leaked to the Internet. The game garnered near unanimous positive reviews and received critical acclaim, winning over 35 Game of the Year awards for 2004. Originally available only for Windows-based personal computers, the game has since been ported onto the Xbox, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3 video game consoles.

Linux installation instructions plus other details about this game can be found HERE.

NBA Live 07
The NBA Live series of basketball video games, published by EA Sports, is currently one of the leading National Basketball Association simulations on the market. Originally, the NBA Live series was released for the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis and SNES with NBA Live 95. The naming was changed from utilizing the last two digits of the year to the entire year number from 2000-2005, but returned to the original naming convention with NBA Live 06. NBA Live 07 was released for the Playstation 2, Xbox, PC, Playstation Portable, and the Xbox360. The major new feature for this year was an evolution of the freestyle superstars system.

Linux installation instructions plus other details about this game can be found HERE.

StarCraft
StarCraft is a military science fiction real-time strategy video game developed by Blizzard Entertainment. The first game of the StarCraft series, it was released for Microsoft Windows on 31 March 1998. With more than nine million copies sold worldwide as of 21 May 2007, it is one of the best-selling games for the personal computer. A Mac OS version was released in March 1999, and a Nintendo 64 adaptation co-developed with Mass Media Interactive Entertainment was released on 13 June 2000. With its storyline adapted and expanded through a series of novels, StarCraft has three expansion packs available and a sequel in development.

Many of the industry's journalists have praised StarCraft as one of the best and most important video games of all time, and for having raised the bar for developing real-time strategy games. StarCraft's multiplayer is particularly popular in South Korea, where professional players and teams participate in matches, earn sponsorships, and compete in televised tournaments.

Linux installation instructions plus other details about this game can be found HERE.

EverQuest
EverQuest, often called EQ, is a 3D fantasy-themed massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) that was released on March 16, 1999. The original design is credited to Brad McQuaid, Steve Clover, and Bill Trost. It was developed by Sony's 989 Studios and its early-1999 spin-off Verant Interactive. It was published by Sony Online Entertainment (SOE). Since its acquisition of Verant in late 1999, SOE develops, runs and distributes EverQuest.

EverQuest has earned many awards, including 1999 GameSpot Game of the Year and a 2008 Technology & Engineering Emmy Award.

EverQuest II was released in late 2004. Set in an alternate universe similar to that of the original EverQuest, this "sequel" takes place 500 years after the awakening of The Sleeper. The game has also inspired a number of other spinoffs.

Linux installation instructions plus other details about this game can be found HERE.

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare is a first-person shooter video game developed by Infinity Ward and published by Activision for the PlayStation 3, Windows, and the Xbox 360. It is scheduled for release for Mac OS X in the third quarter of 2008. It is the fourth installment of the Call of Duty video game series, excluding expansion packs. The game breaks away from the World War II setting of previous games in the series and is instead set in modern times. The game is the first in the series to be rated Mature in North America. The title and game details were announced on April 25, 2007, and the game was released worldwide between November 6, 2007 and November 9, 2007. It became available on Steam on November 6, 2007 for pre-purchase, and was available to play on November 12, 2007.

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare received considerable praise and has won numerous awards from gaming websites, including IGN's "Best Xbox 360 Game". It was the top-selling game worldwide for 2007, reaching over seven million copies as of January 2008.

Linux installation instructions plus other details about this game can be found HERE.

Warcraft III
Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos (War3 or WC3 or RoC) is a real-time strategy computer game released by Blizzard Entertainment in July 2002. It is the second sequel to Warcraft: Orcs & Humans, and it is the third game set in the Warcraft Universe. An expansion pack, The Frozen Throne, was released in 2003.

The game proved to be one of the most anticipated and popular computer game releases ever, with 4.5 million units preordered and over one million additional units sold within a month. Warcraft III won many awards including "Game of the Year" from more than six different publications.

Linux installation instructions plus other details about this game can be found HERE.

Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars
Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars is a real-time strategy video game developed and published by Electronic Arts for the Windows, Mac OS X and Xbox 360 platforms, and was released internationally in March 2007. The direct sequel to the 1999 RTS title Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun by Westwood Studios, a now defunct company that was taken over and liquidated by EA in 2003, Tiberium Wars returns the Command & Conquer series to its roots in the Tiberium story arc of the franchise, once again featuring the factions of the Global Defense Initiative and the Brotherhood of Nod, and also introducing a new extraterrestrial faction known as the Scrin. A first expansion pack to Tiberium Wars, titled Command & Conquer 3: Kane's Wrath, was released on March 24, 2008.

Tiberium Wars takes place in the year 2047, at the advent of and during the "Third Tiberium War" when the Brotherhood of Nod launches a worldwide offensive against the Global Defense Initiative; abruptly ending seventeen years of silence and crippling GDI forces everywhere. With the odds tipped in the Brotherhood's favor this time, GDI field commanders rally their troops and begin to combat Nod's second re-emergence, trying to restore lost hope.

Linux installation instructions plus other details about this game can be found HERE.

Final Fantasy XI Online
Final Fantasy XI, also known as Final Fantasy XI Online, is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) developed and published by Square (later Square Enix) as part of the Final Fantasy series. It was released in Japan on Sony's PlayStation 2 on May 16, 2002, and was released for Microsoft's Windows-based personal computers in November 2002. The PC version was released in North America on October 28, 2003, and the PlayStation 2 version on March 23, 2004. In Europe, only the Windows version was released, on September 17, 2004. An Xbox 360 version was released worldwide in April 2006 for all regions, as the system's first MMORPG and the first cross-platform MMORPG. The Xbox 360 version does not require an Xbox Live Gold account.

In January 2004, Square Enix announced that more than 500,000 users, using more than one million characters, were playing the game. As of 2006, between 200,000 and 300,000 active players logged in per day, and the game remains the dominant MMORPG in Japan. Four expansions for the game have been released, capitalizing on the game's success.

Linux installation instructions plus other details about this game can be found HERE.

Guild Wars
Guild Wars is an episodic series of multiplayer online role-playing games created by ArenaNet, a Seattle game development studio and a subsidiary of the South Korean game publisher NCsoft. Three stand-alone episodes and one expansion pack were released in the series from April 2005 to August 2007. All Guild Wars games run on the Microsoft Windows platform.

The games in the Guild Wars series were critically well received and won many editor's choice awards, as well as awards such as best value, best massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG), and best game. Guild Wars was noted for being one of the few commercially developed games in the MMORPG genre to offer online play without subscription fees, its instanced approach to MMORPG play, and the quality of the graphics and play for computers with low specifications. In February 2008, NCSoft announced that 5 million units of games in the Guild Wars series had been sold. The sequel, Guild Wars 2, was announced in March 2007. It will have updated graphics and gameplay mechanics, and will continue the original Guild Wars tradition of no subscription fees. No release date has been announced.

Linux installation instructions plus other details about this game can be found HERE.

Those are my recommended Windows games that can be played on Linux. Feel free to add yours.
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Linux Got Game: Warzone 2100

Warzone 2100 is a free and open source real-time strategy computer game developed by Pumpkin Studios and published by Eidos Interactive. It is often compared to Earth 2150, a Windows-only RTS game known as one of the first commercial full-3D games of its kind.

I was pretty excited when I discovered Warzone 2100 because the last time I played a real-time strategy game was when Red Alert became popular way back in 1997. Warzone 2100 is available in the Ubuntu repository so it was within my reach and I had no trouble getting and installing it.


Gameplay:
Warzone 2100 is a typical build-defend-attack type of RTS game. However, it has some unique aspects that differentiate it from other traditional RTS. One example is that the Units can all be customized according to: chassis (e.g. takes weight and power into account); drive system (such as wheels or tracks); and mounted object (such as a weapon, or one of various support tools).


Warzone 2100 can be played in single player campaign or in multiplayer mode. The campaign mode begins with the Commander, the protagonist, sending teams to gather technology in Arizona that would help with reconstruction. While gathering said "artifacts," the Project fends off attacks from an organization called the New Paradigm, which is under the command of an organization called Nexus, which is actually one man responsible for the nuclear war. In the final campaign, the Project launches a full-scale assault on Nexus, destroying it and thus removing all significant, organized barriers to its reconstruction of the Earth.


These are some of the highlights and main features of Warzone 2100:
* 24 Fast play mission maps for extra action
* 400+ Technologies to research
* 2,000+ different units to design
* 3 large campaign maps to conquer
* Intelligence Display sets objectives dynamically
* Interactive message system
* Quick Screen Navigation
* Map Editor


Conclusion:
Though not as graphically pleasing as today's 3D games, I still enjoyed playing Warzone 2100. Maybe because I'm used to playing Red Alert on a low end PC (Windows ;-0) before and experienced occasional hang -- Warzone 2100 is just lightning fast on my new Linux machine and it has very low demand on RAM. I hope a new version of Warzone will still come out soon as I've heard that the current project's progress is slowing down due to the lack of game developers.

Here's how I rated Warzone 2100:

Sounds and Graphics: 6/10
Gameplay: 8/10
Total: 7/10
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Linux Got Game: War§ow 0.42

Another tip from Free and Open Source gamer extraordinaire SlippJigg encouraged me to try out another action-packed First-person shooter (FPS) game called Warsow last weekend. So what exactly is this game and what makes it interesting?

Some Facts:
War§ow (Warsow) is an online multiplayer FPS game actively developed by a crew of freelance software developers and artists. War§ow prides itself on high-quality content standards with thorough testing by selected members of the community. War§ow's codebase is open source software, distributed under the terms of the GPL; it is built upon Qfusion, an advanced modification of the Quake II engine.

War§ow is loosely based on the E-novel written by Fabrice Demurger entitled Chasseur de bots. The novel is the basis of the game's cyberpunk visual style, which is achieved by combining cel-shaded cartoon-like graphics with dark, flashy and dirty textures. Since visual clarity is important in maintaining competitive gameplay, War§ow tries to keep effects minimalistic, clear and visible.

According to Warsow Wiki, Warsow's recursive acronym is "Warsow is Art of Respect and Sportmanship Over the Web"

Sounds and Graphics:
When I played Warsow for the first time, I thought the graphics was less impressive compared to those of Alien Arena and Nexuiz. But then I found out that I was playing with my screen resolution set to 800x600. After I have corrected the display and tweaked some of the effects options, I was awed at how graphically pleasing this game really is. Though the game environment is cartoonish, for me it is still looking pretty solid and polished, and the visual effects are very appealing.

I'm not really that picky when it comes to a game's audio, but my common sense knows how to judge if the sound is good enough or not :-) I think Warsow had some neat sound effects and music that really added flavor to the game, and I would say it sounded good.


Gameplay:
The very competitive gameplay of War§ow focuses heavily on movement and trickjumping. Many of the tricks in War§ow, which originate from the Quake series, include circle-jumping, bunny hopping, strafe-jumping, double jumping, ramp-sliding, and rocket jumping. War§ow also gives players the ability to dash, dodge or wall jump, tricks that were originally possible in the Unreal series. The various movement tricks combine to add an extra dimension to the gameplay; as the player's proficiency at moving increases, they are able to collect health, armour and weapons more quickly, more effectively overpower enemies with their speed. The variety and flexibility of the physics has spawned an entire community dedicated to competing on the various Race maps that the game offers.


War§ow also has a unique power-up system for weapons. In addition to regular ammunition, ammo boxes found on the map contain strong ammunition. Strong ammo either increases a weapon's power or modifies its behaviour to make it more effective. Weapons are restricted to using strong ammunition until depleted, at which point it would switch back to using regular ammunition.


How/Where to get War§ow?
Warsow 0.42 (the latest version) is available for Linux, Windows and Mac OS X. The download page can be found HERE . Ubuntu users can easily get and install Warsow via Synaptic Package Manager because it is available from the Ubuntu repo.


Conclusion:
War§ow, though still considered as a beta software is really well-crafted that I would highly recommend it to every FPS game fanatic or just about any gamer out there who wants to try something new. My only complain about Warsow is the lack of game server hosts, and based on my experience, it is sometimes difficult to connect to a particular server. I hope more people will be hosting Warsow because it really is a great FPS game. It is like a gem that I'm glad I've found. Also, I hope that a single player (offline) option will be available soon just in case my internet connection gets disconnected, or when I want to improve my skills by shooting against bots in easy mode (hehe).

Here's my quick rating for War§ow 0.42:

Sounds and Graphics: 8/10
Gameplay: 7/10
Total: 7.5/10

Highly Addictive Puzzle/Arcade Games for Linux

When I have a few spare time or just want to loosen up a bit, I always indulge myself into playing some computer games. Since most of my extra time is very limited, I usually pick those that are less stressful and less time consuming. I go for the old-fashioned and graphics card-friendly puzzle and arcade games. Call me boring, but these stuff are really addictive and highly entertaining. So, what are these games?

If you are using Linux, some of these games are probably included out-of-the box with your distro. If you are using Windows, better tell your boss to switch to Linux if you don't want to be stuck to playing Solitaire and Minesweeper your entire office life. Now let's cut to the chase already, here are the games that I'm talking about:

Rocks'n'Diamonds

Rocks'n'Diamonds is a scrolling tile-based computer puzzle game that can be described as a combined Boulder Dash, Supaplex, Emerald Mine, and Sokoban clone. It is a freeware and open source video game created by Artsoft Entertainment and designed by Holger Schemel. It is one of the earliest games available for Linux, and it also runs on MS-DOS, Windows, Unix, and Mac OS X systems. There are currently more than 50 000 levels available on Rocks'n'Diamonds-related pages. Rocks'n'Diamonds can also read native Emerald Mine levels, and later on it will also be able to read other native level formats.


Crack Attack!
Crack Attack! is a free OpenGL game created by Daniel Nelson based on Tetris Attack for the Super Nintendo. It is available for Linux, Windows, and Mac OS X licensed under the GNU General Public License. The Mac OS X version of the game was ported by Jeff Disher, but another port of the game for Mac was done by Daniel Aarno, who has named his version Mac Crack Attack!. Aarno's Mac Crack Attack! includes features such as sound and full screen mode, while Disher's port does not. It is included in all major Linux distributions.

Since version 1.1.10, the project has been adopted by Andrew Sayman, who has released the latest version of the game (1.1.14) for Linux and Windows. The latest version includes sound by Miguel Ángel Vilela, extremely low graphics mode, VS computer modes and other various bug fixes.

The name was chosen to indicate the game's addictive nature, referring to the drug crack cocaine. This is borne out by the experience of users.

Enigma
Enigma is a computer game based on Oxyd, and is released under the GPL. Its predecessor, Oxyd, was a very popular video game when it was commercially available. Enigma continues to be very popular as an open source multi-platform derivative of Oxyd now that Oxyd is no longer maintained. The open source Enigma has been widely praised in reviews.

Landscapes usually take the form of logic puzzles, although frequently, dexterity with the pointing device (the only form of input) is also required. The landscapes are generated by scripts in the Lua programming language, making the creation of complicated landscapes relatively easy. A level editor exists, but it is currently not used very much.

As well as the 563 standard landscapes designed for it, Enigma also includes 20 tutorial landscapes, 149 landscapes adapted from various Sokoban games, 151 landscapes adapted from the Oxyd games, and 91 landscapes adapted from Oxyd's predecessor, Esprit. This makes a total of 974 landscapes.

The difficulty of solving all the levels in the game in both modes is as difficult as the most difficult level in the game. Due to this, a few levels become major obstacles for players wishing to solve all levels. As of now, only one person has managed to do so.


Frozen Bubble
Frozen Bubble is a free software Puzzle Bobble style computer game which is available on several operating systems including Linux, Windows, Mac OS X and the Symbian Series 60 line of smartphones. There is also a single player Java applet version.

The original Frozen Bubble was written in Perl by Guillaume Cottenceau, and uses the Simple DirectMedia Layer (SDL) library. The game features 100 levels and includes a level editor. Like many popular free software/open source games, it features penguins a la Tux, who in this game shoot the coloured frozen bubbles to form groups of the same colour. Such groups disappear and the object is to clear the whole screen in this way before a bubble passes a line at the bottom.

Version 2.0 offers multiplayer play via LAN and Internet. Two players can also play on the same computer. This version is presently for Linux only. The chain reaction mode (where fallen bubbles will zoom back up to complete triplets, possibly falling more bubbles and thus creating more combos) is also available in network mode as of Version 2.0, and greatly changes the mechanics of the game.


Pingus
Pingus is a free computer game inspired by Lemmings and created by Ingo Ruhnke. It features penguins instead of lemmings. CNN.com, about.com, Unix Review and other publications have reviewed it favorably.

Work on the game began in 1998. This game is the first Game of the Month by The Linux Game Tome, which has revamped such games as SuperTux, Super TuxKart, and Lincity. The first post-GotM version 0.6 was released in 2003 for Linux featuring new levels and a level editor.

Pingus has only 22 tutorial levels accessible from the GUI, all with a winter theme. However there are many more levels included with the game not accessible from its GUI, some with entirely different graphics. To play a certain levels the location of the filename has to be given as commandline parameter. Example:
pingus /usr/share/games/pingus/data/levels/playable/cages.pingus


SolarWolf
SolarWolf is an updated clone of the 1983 action/arcade game Solar Fox for the Atari 2600 produced by CBS Electronics which was itself adapted from the 1981 arcade game of the same name.

SolarWolf has been described by GameSpy as a "strange hybrid of games. It's part Pac-Man, part Q-Bert, and part Dodgeball."

The object of the game is to pilot your ship with the arrow keys across a rectangular play area to collect all of the cubes in the level. However, while doing this, four enemy fighters (one of each side of the screen), will launch fireball-like rockets at you; if hit, you will lose a ship. If all your ships are lost, you will lose the game. Each level has a timer on the right side; should the player complete the level before the timer runs out, they can skip the next level entirely.

As the game goes on, more challenges emerge. The enemies fire more rapidly, obstacles such as asteroids and spike mines appear (colliding with either costs the player a ship), as well as the introduction of yellow blocks (which require two passes to collect) and red blocks (requiring three passes). Later in the game, a hidden spike mine may emerge from any yellow or red block.


Biniax
Biniax is a mixture of puzzle game and arcade game. The game concept does not copy existing gameplay even if it inherits somehow Domino concept of pairs. In 2007 Biniax-2 sequel of the game was released with more polished look and feel and different game modes - arcade, tactic and multiplayer.

The gaming field is 5x7 pairs of elements. Every pair consists of two elements out of four possible types (colors). Player is a single element, which can move on empty fields or can take a pair, if the player's element is present in the pair. If a pair is taken, the player's element is swapped to the other element of the pair. The field is scrolling down on time event or after certain moves are spend (depending on the game mode). Game over is when there is no move for the player.

Linux Got Game: Nexuiz 2.4 Review

It's been quite a while since I played a game on my Linux box, so when I took a break the other day, I got the latest version of this awesome game called Nexuiz. So what exactly is Nexuiz?

Nexuiz is a first-person shooter which started as a Quake modification in the summer of 2001. Made by Alientrap Software, it is a free/open-source game: source code is free software and data is free content. It is distributed under the GNU General Public License (GPL). Nexuiz currently utilizes DarkPlaces, a significantly modified Quake engine.

You can download Nexuiz from its project website HERE, or if you are using Ubuntu, just get it through Synaptic Package Manager.

Sounds and Graphics:
I always thought that Alien Arena is the best first-person shooter game for Linux, but when I've tired Nexuiz, I began to think twice. I was blown away by Nexuiz's smoother and more compact graphics. The game environment was just stunning.

I had no trouble adjusting the screen resolution to 1440x900 in order to suit my 19 inch display. I also had an option to further enhance the graphics by adjusting the lighting and shadowing and add some extra eye-candy by enabling offset mapping, bloom, and high dynamic rendering.

The audio sounded great on my 2.1 Labtec Speaker. The music background and sound effects were loud and clear.



Gameplay:
The gameplay is deathmatch with the most excessive possible speeds and weapons, giving incredibly intense fast paced action. Along with deathmatch, there are multiple game modes such as team deathmatch, capture the flag, domination, and many mutators and weapon options like rocket arena and instagib. The user can fight through the single player campaign, going through over 20 levels, or play online using the Nexuiz server browser.



Recommended System Requirements:
- 1 GHz Pentium III or AMD Athlon
- Geforce2 Video card
- 512 MB of ram
- Linux Kernel 2.2 or better with glibc

Conclusion:
Nexuiz is highly entertaining and is somewhat addictive especially when played online or in multiplayer mode. This game has a mix of violence though, so I wouldn't recommend it to kids or even to adults who have violent crime records (hehe). Anyway, I really had fun playing Nexuiz, and I'm keeping it because I'm going to be playing it over and over again.

Here's my quick rating for Nexuiz 2.4:

Sounds and Graphics: 8/10
Gameplay: 8/10
Total: 8/10

Linux Got Game: TORCS Review

In my noble aim to play at least one game for Linux per week, I bumped into a 3D car racing simulator called TORCS.

The Open Racing Car Simulator (TORCS) is considered among the best open source games available for Linux. TORCS is based upon the open source, cross-platform libraries OpenGL, Mesa 3D and OpenGL Utility Toolkit, thus it is highly portable and can also run on FreeBSD, Mac OS X and Windows. It is primarily used as ordinary car racing game, as AI racing game and as research platform.

I downloaded and installed TORCS by simply using Synaptic Package Manager. You can also get it straight from its project website HERE.

Sounds and Graphics:
Having played Gran Turismo and Need for Speed before, I would say that TORCS is not as graphically pleasing compared to those games. However, the racing environment in TORCS is quite good and should probably impress a lot of typical gamers. Also, it is not as resource hungry as those popular Windows racing simulator. Using only my low-end ATI X1050 graphics card, the FPS is high enough, meaning the game is very much responsive even in full screen mode. There were also several available options to tweak the graphical display settings to suit your hardware needs.

Now about the sound quality; I can say that it is at par with some of the most valuable car racing simulation games today. The sound of the roaring engine and the screeching tires were very realistic indeed.



Gameplay:
TORCS features more than 50 different cars, more than 20 tracks, and 50 opponents to race against. Your can steer with a joystick or steering wheel, if the device is supported by your platform. It is also possible to drive with the mouse or the keyboard as I did. Graphic features lighting, smoke, skid-marks and glowing brake disks. The simulation features a simple damage model, collisions, tire and wheel properties, aerodynamics and much more. The gameplay allows different types of races from the simple practice session up to the championship. You can also enjoy racing against your friends in the split screen mode with up to four human players.



The game offers a wide variety of real-life high-performance vehicles as well as Formula 1 racers and off-road rally racers. They are categorized by performance level and drivetrain configuration: These are some of the vehicles:

Peugeot 406
Lotus GT1 (RWD)
McLaren F1
Porsche GT
Dodge Viper GTS-R
Jaguar XJ-220
Ferrari 360 Modena
Mercedes-Benz CLK DTM
Ford GT40 Conceptual
Acura NSX Type S-Zero
Alfa Romeo 155 DTM

Conclusion:
TORCS is a must try game for Linux users who want a quality racing simulator. It is fully-featured and it can be played after getting bored of watching too much Oprah. Seriously, TORCS is really enjoyable to play, and the controls using the keyboard are simple and easy to remember. I’m still playing the game in easy mode, so, it makes the game even more fun because I always win (hehe). Although, I’m thinking of getting a joystick to fully enjoy the game. All in all, TORCS is highly recommended. And, did I already say that it’s free?

Here is my rating for TORCS:

Sounds and Graphics: 7/10
Gameplay: 7/10
Total: 7/10

Linux Got Game: Alien Arena 2007 Review

Alien Arena 2007 is a free/open-source first-person shooter game based on source code released by id Software. Started by COR Entertainment in 2004, the game combines a 1950s-era sci-fi atmosphere with gameplay similar to the Quake, Doom, and Unreal Tournament series. Alien Arena is primarily an online multiplayer action game, although single player campaigns are also available against bots.

Alien Arena is multi-platform and playable on Microsoft Windows, Linux and FreeBSD. Ubuntu users can simply download and install the game using Synaptic Package Manager. I finally had the chance to set-up and play Alien Arena last weekend. Thanks to SlippJigg for encouraging me to try it. I got the latest version of Alien Arena 2007 which is 6.10, and played it for 3 hours straight. Here’s is my quick view of the game:

Sounds and Graphics:
Alien Arena’s game environment as well as the characters was rendered very well. I think the graphics such as the backgrounds and the visual effects can be easily compared to any popular Windows first-person shooter games available right now.

I adjusted the default screen resolution to suit my 19 inch widescreen monitor without trouble. I also had an option to fine-tune texture and lightmap brightness, turn on bumpmapping and several other key preferences. In addition, you can also turn off blood to reduce the violence a bit. The sound is on the average side and I find it very basic. Maybe I needed a good audio system to better appreciate or judge the sound quality.

Gameplay:
There are 35 standard maps to choose from, 11 player characters, and 9 weapons with alternate fires, and a grappling hook. The game is powered by the id Tech 2 based CRX Engine, which features 32 bit hi-res texture support, shaders, textured particles, stainmaps, reflective water with refractive shaders, light bloom, real-time shadows, real-time vertex lighting, normal-mapping, and other modern effects, all of which can be turned on or off in the menu. Also featured is an internal server browser for finding other people to play online and the external Code Red Galaxy program which also serves as an IRC interface.


Alien Arena features standard Deathmatch, similar in style to Quake III Arena and Unreal Tournament. Also included are Capture the Flag, Deathball, Team Core Assault, Team Deathmatch, All Out Assault, and Cattle Prod, a new play variant that requires players to herd robotic cattle to earn points. There are six game mutators (excessive, instagib, rocket arena, vampire, regeneration, and low gravity) which can alter the game to play differently. All modes can be played online against other players or offline against bots. The bots can be customized using an external program included with the installation of the game.


Alien Arena features 9 weapons and a grappling hook, each with a secondary function. You start out with the Blaster and the Violator, and can pick up other weapons at their spawn points in the various levels (assuming a weapon-modifying mutator isn't set on). The weapons progress from 1 to 9 roughly in order of power.


Conclusion:
I find the game very addictive, although I’m a "below average" gamer. I always get smoked in single player game even in easy mode. Maybe they gave those bots too much AI (hehe). Anyway, I also tried multiplaying over the network and I got eaten alive. I’ve heard there’s even an Alien Arena community that organized a weekly event called Martian Mayhem Tourney where large sum of players gather into one password protected server to frag until the time limit is reached. Passwords are given out in IRC Channel #alienarena@EFNet, or #alienarena@QuakeNet. I think I'm going to have to practice more before I’ll decide to join.

Since a game review is not complete without some kind of a game rating, I am obliged to give mine below:

Sounds and Graphics: 8/10
Gameplay: 7/10
Total: 7.5/10