Alien Arena

By: ithamore

On: October 13th, 2007

Joe Barr at Linux.com recently reviewed the Quake II-based Alien Arena and declared it better than the Quake III-based Tremulous which use to be “. . . the best free software FPS game [he had] had the pleasure of playing.”

<img src=“http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2155/1559988059_6af41e74df_m.jpg” width=“240” height=“180” hspace=10 vspace=10 align=right alt=“Alien Arena” />
From the review:

“If you’re a gamer but not familiar with Alien Arena, think of Quake III or Unreal Tournament and you won’t be far off the mark. If you’re not familiar with those icons of the first-person shooter genre, think massive, sustained, unrelenting, ankle-deep-in-blood, kill-or-be-killed carnage which can be enjoyed solo, just you against the bots on your PC, or, if your taste in killing tends toward living targets, in multiplayer mode on a network server.”

<img src=“http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2340/1559988067_9d6a32c9dc_m.jpg” width=“240” height=“180” hspace=10 vspace=10 align=right alt=“tremulous” />Also, here is a bit on Tremulous:

“Tremulous is basically a struggle between two teams: the humans, a species I will assume you are familiar with, and the aliens, which look like bugs and sometimes crawl along walls and ceilings. During the game, each side progresses through three stages, with advanced abilities and equipment coming in during the second and third stages. There is one major difference between the species, beyond being on different teams. Humans can upgrade their equipment. Aliens can upgrade themselves. Both species have structures peculiar to themselves.”

I haven’t tried either game, since I’m not into FPS’s, so you’ll have to tell us what you think about them and which is better in the comments. And, for the record’s sake, this is the first time Slashdot (the source) has been “officially” TIGSourced [Edit: on the new TIGSource that is], the unofficial Mac version of Tremulous is available here, and the images I used were nabbed from the games’ websites.

Minerva

By: Guest Reviewer

On: October 10th, 2007

[Guest review by MedO]

Adam Foster recently released the last part in the first episode of Minerva, his amazing Half-Life 2 mod. I’ve played through it a few days ago and I think it’s vastly better than Valve’s own HL2:Episode1. In fact, it’s one of the best games I’ve played in the last few months.

The story takes place in the Half-Life universe, on a tiny island somewhere in the Baltic Sea that has been burrowed out by the Combine. You are dropped off there by the unknown and unseen character calling herself Minerva, who sends you (sometimes cryptic) text messages to inform you of important events or sometimes just to insult you. She doesn’t seem to care about your life, but wants you to survive as long as possible to gather information, and cross the Combine’s plans. Guided by Minerva, you begin to explore what the Combine are up to, descending ever deeper into the island’s underground.

One very nice thing about the mod is that you’ll rarely see the loading screen, because they are created in a very economic way – there’s almost an hour of gameplay in each map. Since you are descending ever deeper, you have several layers of rooms on the same map, all below each other. The long time you spend in each map sometimes allows you to see into areas you will only reach a while later, and makes it possible to have enemies appear in a realistic fashion: sometimes you can see Combine hurrying along above or below you some time before they actually get to you, which adds a lot to the feeling of realism in the game.

(The Minerva Development Blog is here.)

Penumbra: Overture Went Gold A While Ago

By: Brandon McCartin (BMcC)

On: April 11th, 2007

I meant to post this ages ago, but then… things. So here it is NOW!

Penumbra: Overture is the first in a trilogy of full, commercial followups to the 3D horror game/demo Penumbra.

I’d probably have a bit more to say about the game if it would run on my (shoddy) laptop. But it doesn’t. The screenshots and trailers look sweet, though!

Discover a demo here.

Sauerbraten

By: Shabadage

On: November 25th, 2006

Sauerbraten is the follow up to Cube, a fun freeware shooter released a few years ago. Like Cube, Sauerbraten focuses on letting the user make their own maps in-game. I myself didn’t get to try out the editor, as it seems my system isn’t haas enough to run the game fully. I did, however, enjoy a few levels of mock deathmatch (damn imp…things). The engine is VERY solid, though as a game it’s still lacking a bit (The single player campaign isn’t finished for example, but there are quite a few single player mock deathmatch levels). You can also head over to Quadropolis for even more maps.

But a free FPS isn’t the only game that Sauerbraten (The engine) has up it’s sleeve, there’s an RPG called Eisenstern in development using the engine, and it’s also been licensed for a commercial use by Proper Games, who seem to be pushing the engine to new heights.

Cholo Remake

By: ithamore

On: November 9th, 2006

Ovine’s Cholo Remake, which has reached its first anniversary, places you in control of a “RAT” droid, which must be used to free your fellow citizens and yourself from the bunker after generations of imprisonment. Eventually, you will collect specialized droids strewn about the robot controlled city to aid your mission.

In the website’s archives, there is plenty of backstory provided in the pre-nuclear war news of the city and in a copy of the novella that had been included with the original game in 1986. I appreciate the extra content, but it’s not necessary for getting into the game. Although, some helpful hints can be gleaned from the news.

It’s a very open game that not only encourages but demands exploration. Besides having to find the droids and Rampaks need to complete the game, there are plenty of hidden secrets to discover.  It has a slow pace (which is very fitting for its atmosphere) and can easily take 5 to 10 hours complete. There is a light FPS element to Cholo, you shouldn’t expect it to get intense.

In addition to all the venturing in the game, I admire its Tron-ish look and its futuristic, ambient music. Ovine could have made the city larger, but this game shines in so many ways that I have no real reason to complain.

Now, please excuse me. The computer has reminded me to drink my Choco while it’s still warm.

X Operations

By: Shabadage

On: August 13th, 2006

Well, considering it’s my first post here at the good olde TIGSource; I figured I’d share one of my favorite freeware games with you guys. The game in question is called X Operations. It’s an FPS made by two Japanese fellows; and while the the graphics will not blow you away, the gameplay is solid, and it’s a hell of alot of fun. It’s available in two flavors; single player and multiplayer.

Single player Xops takes its cues from Timesplitters. You’re given the choice of 17 levels, and each of these levels has multiple layouts with their own separate goals. You’ll be protecting VIP’s from zombies, breaking up gang wars, and even assassinating/protecting Bill Gates and Saddam Hussein. The great thing about these missions is this; you’ll spend at most 5 minutes per mission. Making the single player version great for a quick shooting fix. The only downside is that the mission descriptions are in Japanese, so it may take a bit of trial and error before you “get” the objective.

Multiplayer Xops is a whole other ball game. While it’s your standard “Kill the other team” affair, the game randomizes teams each round, making it harder for one “Clan” to rule the field. The same levels from the single player version make re-appearances here and, with the exception of one or two levels (Duel comes to mind), they play just as well, if not better than the single player versions. The only problems you may run into is the relative lack of native english speakers, as the game is Japanese in origin, and that there is a slight lag before you actually shoot, meaning you need to lead your target.

All in all, if you’re a fan of the FPS genre; you owe it to yourself to at least try Xops. It may not win any awards for innovation or graphics; but its damn fun.

QUICK TIP: You have to run the Config4Xops before you can play the game. This goes for both versions (single and multi) and is included in the zip.

Tremulous

By: Derek Yu

On: June 8th, 2006

Tremulous is a free, open-source RTS/FPS hybrid that once again pits teams of humans versus teams of aliens in mortal combat over the last piece of apple pie. The RTS aspect of the game comes from players being able to build helpful structures during the game (like respawn points). It looks pretty cheap, but could be fun for fans of this sort of thing.

Also, the creators are quick to point out that they were working on their game long before Natural Selection, so there!

(Source: Kotaku)