Linux+and\or+Open+Source+Games



=** Testing Rig: **=

Compaq Presario Notebook 15.4" Widescreen display AMD Athlon Dual Core QL-64 @ 2.1 GHz 3 GB DDR2 RAM nVIDIA GeForce 8200M G 512 MB 250 GB ATA HDD Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala 64-bit with Compiz Fusion*


 * Why do I mention Compiz? Because it creates a 3D accelerated desktop, which may affect performance of 3D accelerated games.

=** Game 1 - Defcon **= || 1 (single player) - 6 (online) (only up to 2 players in demo version) || || Free Demo, $17.50 for full version || || @http://linux.softpedia.com/get/GAMES-ENTERTAINMENT/RTS/DEFCON-24092.shtml || This game is designed to simulate a nuclear war. You, the player, are trying to destroy your opponent's cities and facilities. Think of it as nuclear RISK. You command fleets of ships, bombers, ICBMs, submarines, and much more, in a beautiful "dark, glowy vector graphics type command centre" environment. None of that cheesy brushed metal/3d buttons for this game. Very professional, feels like you actually are commanding a nuclear war. It is a very intense game; the player must focus on many different threats at once while also launching attacks. I found even the tutorial challenging. As I only had access to the demo, I was unable to experience the online multiplayer function, but the demonstration of the functions looked promising. Gameplay was intense and challenging; and overall very entertaining. ** Performance: This game "felt" very smooth and fast. There was no lag or jerky motion, and it felt like I was playing on a much more powerful rig than I really am. This came at a cost, though; CPU Usage was constantly hovering around 100%, and even after lowering the resolution, my GPU temperature went over 100 degrees Celsius, with CPU Temps around 90 - 95 degrees. Note, though, that this is on a notebook with a cheap cooling system. CPU usage of the game was around 90%, using about 180-190 MB of RAM. ** **Overall:** Very good game, I would buy the full version but then I would spend like an entire month shut up in my room playing it. Regardless, I strongly reccommend this game. Also, for you windoze users, there is a Windows version.
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= **Game 2 - Alien Arena** = Alien Arena is a First Person Shooter. Gameplay is very intense and fast-paced. I am not very good at FPSs, and this was compounded by the fact that I was playing this on a notebook keyboard and trackpad. I got "fragged" (killed) a lot, and, overall, would have enjoyed it more with proper input hardware (my fault) and actual skill (also my fault). The graphics were quite nice; the stereotypes about open source games are pretty much gone for me. The environment was rather Halo-ish, but perhaps with better lighting. Overall, a fun game for the experienced player. Performance was decent; one has to remember that a game like this was probably meant for higher-end rigs. Once again, GPU temps were really high (>100 degrees), but the motion was smooth and consistent. There were a couple instances where the game froze for a fraction of a second, but overall performance was decent. During gameplay, the game used 305 MB of RAM, and CPU usage hovered around 120% (remember, this is a dual core machine). One thing I noticed was that there was quite a difference in temps between the 2 CPUs, leading me to believe that the game was not fully utilizing my processor. **Overall:** Overall this was quite a fun game, but perhaps more oriented at the hard-core gamer with a faster machine. **
 * ~ Number of Players || 1 (single player) - many (Online / LAN Multiplayer) ||
 * ~ Cost/License || GPL (Free / Open Source) ||
 * ~ Download Link || Look for it in your distribution's repositories. If not there, go to @http://icculus.org/alienarena/rpa/aquire.html ||
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= Game 3 - Warzone 2100= Gameplay was decent, it was pretty easy to understand the game. Basically, you are trying to build up a military civilization in a world after global collapse. You need to fight off other armies, and look for resources. The interface was simple and easy to use, while still looking nice. Selecting a unit was a little difficult at times, but overall decent. Performance was good; the motion was smooth and the game was nice and responsive. Once again, it was quite taxing on the hardware; CPU usage ranged from 85% to 150%. On the bright side, it only used 60 MB of RAM, and was kind to my GPU, with temps ranging in the 90's. For those of you with PCs that have proper cooling, you should be getting very nice, safe temperatures, unlike me. **Overall:** Overall this was quite a fun game, but really requires a lot of time to get into.
 * ~ Number of Players || 1 (single player) ||
 * ~ Cost/License || GPL (Free / Open Source) ||
 * ~ Download Link || Look for it in your distribution's repositories. If not there, go to @http://wz2100.net/ ||
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=**Game 4 - Warsow**= Warsow is a First Person Shooter with a very different graphical style. While other games go for realism, this game's graphics are, in my opinion, equally nice, but more "cartoon-ey". Aside from that, it is a regular FPS. Framerate was better than other shooters I tried on my rig, although there were some issues getting sound to work. CPU usage was surprisingly low at around 95%, and this game used about 200MB or RAM. GPU temps were around 100 degrees. **Overall:** Overall, this is a really fun, awesome game. I would recommend this game for both the newbie and the experienced gamer.
 * ~ Number of Players || 1 (single player) - Many (online multiplayer) ||
 * ~ Cost/License || GPL (Free / Open Source) ||
 * ~ Download Link || Get the unified package at @http://www.warsow.net/, which contains binaries for all platforms. NOTE: you may need to use the chmod +x command to make the file executable. ||
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= Ga me 5 - Extreme Tux Racer= Extreme Tux Racer is a surprisingly fun, addictive game. You are in control of a penguin, sliding on the snow and ice as you try to complete the tracks as fast as possible while collecting all of the fish that are laid out on the track. While it may seem like one of those stereotypical lame Linux games, this is in fact really fun. It is challenging and exciting, and has decent graphics and a nice environment, with easy to learn controls. Performance is very fast and smooth, with a light footprint on my hardware. CPU usage was around 50%, and the game used about 150 MB of RAM. GPU temps were around 90 degrees, once again on a properly cooled rig that would be much lower. Even with a few applications running in the background, this game ran smoothly. **Overall:** Overall, I would reccommend you try this game. Not only is it really fun, but it is very well distributed and it is probably going to be in your Linux distro's repositories. It's a small download, may as well try it out. **
 * ~ Number of Players || 1 (single player) ||
 * ~ Cost/License || GPL (Free / Open Source) ||
 * ~ Download Link || Look for it in your distribution's repositories. If it's not there, check out @http://www.extremetuxracer.com/ ||
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=Game 6 - Nexuiz= Nexuiz is another First Person Shooter. It is a lot faster paced than Alien Arena, and gameplay is very intense. It also has very nice graphics. Controls are difficult to learn, and I got killed a lot. This game is a lot more difficult than Alien Arena, and, as this site is aimed at the general public, not hardcore gamers, this gave the game a lower rating. Performance was decent. Like Alien Arena, it stuttered occasionally, but overall movement was smooth. CPU usage, RAM usage, and GPU temps were quite similar to Alien Arena. **Overall:** Overall, I would recommend you try this game. It is really intense, fast-paced, and fun, but only if you are an experienced player.
 * ~ Number of Players || 1 (single player) - Many (Multiplayer Online / LAN) ||
 * ~ Cost/License || GPL (Free / Open Source) ||
 * ~ Download Link || Look for it in your distribution's repositories. If it's not there, check out @http://www.alientrap.org/nexuiz/ ||
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Game 6 - Singularity

 * ~ Number of Players || 1 (single player) ||
 * ~ Cost/License || GPL (Free / Open Source) ||
 * ~ Download Link || Look for it in your distribution's repositories. If it's not there, check out @http://www.emhsoft.com/singularity/ ||

Singularity is a very advanced strategy game. In this game, you are an AI that is trying to stay alive by installing itself onto servers or computers around the world. The main interface is a top-down world map, with menus and options for creating different "bases" (installations of yourself onto servers or computers). You are trying to avoid making humanity too suspicious of your existence, and also conduct research so that you may one day understand humanity, and not get rejected by humans. Overall, the graphics and interface are rather boring, but the concept is fascinating. Performance was very fast. The interface is very minimal, so there was never any lag. CPU and RAM usage was negligible, and there was no noticeable difference in GPU temp. I have a feeling this game would perform great even on much slower machines. **Overall:** Overall, I would recommend you try this game. It is extremely fascinating, thought-provoking, and challenging.
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=Game 7 - Kollision= You control a ball with your mouse, dodging other balls that bounce around the screen. More and more balls are added as the game progresses, and you have to try to stay alive. This game if fun, fast, and challenging. Performance was fast and also very easy on the hardware. CPU usage ranged from 2% TO 50%, and around 10-20 MB of RAM was used up by the game. GPU temps were not noticeably affected. **Overall: Overall, this is a fun, light game. I would reccommend trying it when you are bored.
 * ~ Number of Players || 1 (single player) ||
 * ~ Cost/License || GPL (Free / Open Source) ||
 * ~ Download Link || Look for it in your distribution's repositories. If it's not there, check out @http://www.emhsoft.com/singularity/ ||
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=**Game 8 - Gem Drop X**= Despite its rather cheesy interface and appearance, this game is very fun and addictive. A wall of gems are advancing towards you, and you have to destroy them so as not to be crushed by them. to do this, you rearrange the gems, and whenever they are in vertical groups of 3, they are destroyed. It makes sense when you play. Anyways, it was a really fun game. While this game is very simple, it used up to 105% of the CPU. RAM usage was more reasonable, at about 10 MB. GPU temps were around 95 degrees. Performance was smooth and responsive, but the footprint of the game was surprising. **Overall: This is overall a fun game, with a rather light footprint. I would recommend trying this out.
 * ~ Number of Players || 1 (single player) ||
 * ~ Cost/License || GPL (Free / Open Source) ||
 * ~ Download Link || Look for it in your distribution's repositories. If it's not there, check out @http://www.newbreedsoftware.com/gemdropx/ ||
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=Game 9 - Gnometris= This is a remake of the classic falling block game Tetris. It is basically the same, but with smoother movement, and cooler effects, such as the blocks shattering when they disappear. Despite its simplicity, it is a very well done game. Movement was, unsurprisingly, very smooth, and CPU usage was around 5%. RAM usage was about 45 MB. The GPU temps did not noticeably change. **Overall: Overall, a fun classic. I would definitely recommend this game.
 * ~ Number of Players || 1 (single player) ||
 * ~ Cost/License || GPL (Free / Open Source) ||
 * ~ Download Link || Look for it in your distribution's repositories. If it's not there, check out @http://live.gnome.org/Gnometris ||
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=**Game 10 - Worms**= This is a remake of the classic worms game, with a twist. There are 4 worms that are in the playing field, and they can either be AIs, people, or remote computers (as in LAN tournament).This game is quite fun. Movement was, unsurprisingly, very smooth, and CPU usage was less than 1%. RAM usage was about 20 MB. The GPU temps did not noticeably change. ** Overall, a fun classic. I would definitely recommend this game.
 * ~ Number of Players || 1 (single player) ||
 * ~ Cost/License || GPL (Free / Open Source) ||
 * ~ Download Link || Look for it in your distribution's repositories. If it's not there, check out @http://live.gnome.org/Gnometris ||
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Comments? Feedback? Let us know here .**