Favorite Free/Open Source Game

[Alexander the Pretty Good]

What's your's?

Some of mine:

Mount&Blade is amazing and addicting. I can't wait for the next update. It's not open-source, but the demo is free and it is very cheap (currently $12). And I can't resist not mentioning it.

BZflag is an open-source version of an old game. It is essentially a first-person, multiplayer, very simple, tank battle game. Capture the flag is the major game type, but IIRC there are others. I haven't played in a while. Maybe I'll dig it up again.

Aleph One is an open-source port for the old Mac shooters, Marathon 1 & 2. I've played just a bit of it, but it was pretty fun. I may also dig this one up.

The Ur-Quan Masters is an open source version of the very old Space Control 2. Again, I haven't played it through, but it was very fun. A quirky space adventure/ship combat game.

This is really just my way of finding free games, but I think others will benefit.

[Krauser]

Marathon was pretty fun actually. I used to have a Mac in the old days one Mac was on top. A fun shooter.

You know Halo was originally going to be Mac exclusive until Microsoft bought Bungie.

[Crandaeolon]

Steel Panthers: World at War!

A great WWII-era, tactical level, turn based historical wargame.

I'd also like to recommend Ur-Quan Masters; SC2 is _the_ classic space adventure.

[King of Atlantis]

I love mount and blade, but has gotten dull without a storyline, so i am awaiting the final version.

[Evil_Maniac From Mars]

Runescape

[Phatose]

Ur-Quan Masters and Freespace 2 Open. While the latter is techincally just an upgraded exe with new effects, the original Freespace 2 license allows for non-commerical distribution.

[Productivity]

Nethack - quite possibly the game I have wasted the most time on in my life (and there have been a few which have taken a lot of time).

[Chimpyang]

Wolfenstein Enemy Territory has wated a lot of my time...even though it is only mp

[King Ragnar]

Wolfenstein Enemy Territory has wated a lot of my time...even though it is only mp

It also wasted alot of my time, great game though.

[Sethik]

I thought we were only talking about FREE/open source games...

MageWar, Earth 2025, and Utopia were all great net based games. Spent hours looking over my kingdom and searching for a perfect province to attack.

magewar: magewar.com
Earth and Utopia : http://games.swirve.com/

[Crazed Rabbit]

Enemy Territory is completely free.

And, if you haven't heard, http://www.darkthrone.com.

A MMO game, controlling a little village into a big empire, no graphics, just stats.

Crazed Rabbit

[Krauser]

magewar: magewar.com

Magewar was shutdown awhile ago. I think a few independant groups have tried to make clones of it though.

Wolfenstein Enemy Territory has wated a lot of my time...even though it is only mp

I agree. Great game.

[Aurelian]

My favorite free game? Check out "Star Wars: The Battle of Yavin" and "Star Wars: The Battle of Endor" by Bruno R. Marcos. Great arcade-style X-wing action. Refight the battles at the end of episodes IV and VI. X-wings, dozens of friendly fighters, waves of TIE fighters, Star Destroyers, Rebel capital ships, the Death Star, etc. Good fun.

Go to this LINK. The games are listed and linked on the left hand side of the page.

[edyzmedieval]

Nethack - quite possibly the game I have wasted the most time on in my life (and there have been a few which have taken a lot of time).

Nethack....

Is it what I think it is?!

[Aurelian]

For those that like ancient warfare (which should include everybody here), I recommend a free computer game called "Hoplites".

To pull the description from the 'web-grognards' site:

Hoplites is "a free computer card game based on SPQR. In Hoplites the player controls an army and fights against the computer. Each player (human and AI) use a deck of cards that represent the units (infantry, cavalry …) and special commands (flank, rally): from these decks the cards are drawn and played on a "field" represented as three zones: the Centre and two wings (left and right). On the fields the units move, missile fire and shock with the enemy."

You can also play against other people, both in hot-seat mode, and via e-mail.

I've really enjoyed this game. The designer and fans created a whole collection of army decks, and the game comes with a deck design program. Romans, Greeks, Macedonians, Celts, Germans, Britons, Chinese, ancient Egyptians, Hittites, Indians, Persians, Parthians, and more are all represented.

For those who like samurai warfare, there is a "Samurai" add-on to the basic game that introduces clan-based warfare and new game elements.

For those who like fantasy, a "Conan" module was also added that lets you play as any of the city-states or demonic hordes of Hyboria.

Hey, try it out, it's free.

LINK

[dessa14]

i'm surprised america's army hasn't come up, god that game was fun...
thanks,
dizzy

[Big_John]

does enemy territory have a large MP community?

[Geoffrey S]

Babylon 5: I've Found Her was remarkably good. The White Chamber is also enjoyable, though I'm not very far into this game yet.

[Revelation]

For all those wargame enthusiasts(ancient), I recommend this. Turn based ancient online game, based on the tabletop ruleset DBA.
Battles of antiquity

[Chimpyang]

It fluctuates, depends on what patch you're running and what maps you have. My favourite map by far is 1944 _ Siegfried. It's pretty balanced and suits the class system quite well....unf it is an extra download. Also most servers run ET PRO which also means an extra downlaod, ut afterwards as long as you find a good server, it can be very fun!

[Kraellin]

big john,

enemy territory has a very large following. you can play it from gamespy arcade or from directly within the game server finder. typically, you'll find from 300 to 1000 servers going at any one time.

there are quite a few mods out there also and a fair number of map makers keeping the game alive. the current patch is 2.60 and seems pretty bug free. the game also has server downloading (if the server has it enabled). thus, if you log onto a server where they have maps and files you need, you can get them directly off the server you're logged into rather than having to go out and find them somewhere. not all servers do this, and some keep the download speeds way too slow, but others are quite good about it. and some will auto-send you to their map/file site where you can get files.

some of the current mods even have mods. there are several versions of etpro, etshrub, and etpub.

the server settings vary quite a bit. you can also host games on a temporary basis or on a permanent up all the time basis. hosts can choose how many players can play, what type of game style like last man standing, campaign, limited lives and so on. hosts can limit what classes and weapons are available also. i've played on a few servers where you can only play as a covert ops (in most cases this means sniper, but not always). i've played on other servers where the gravity has been set very low and you can hop around like superman....quite fun :)

it's a large community and lots of fan sites and it's totally free. it's made by id software and they just decided to release the entire thing for free rather than make an expansion pack for sale. quite remarkable.

K.

[screwtype]

Nethack - quite possibly the game I have wasted the most time on in my life (and there have been a few which have taken a lot of time).

I flogged the Amiga version of Hack to extinction, indeed it was playing that game on a friend's Amiga that compelled me to go out and buy my first computer.

Another brilliant PD game for the Amiga was "Wizzy's Quest", a program written, can you believe it, in Basic. That was one of the most addictive games I've ever played.

[Big_John]

thanks kraellin. i basically always need to have one mp fps going. when my friend and i get tired of the bf2 demo, we'll check out enemy territory.

[Paul Peru]

Nethack - quite possibly the game I have wasted the most time on in my life (and there have been a few which have taken a lot of time).

Argh! I wasted so much time on Angband!!!
It nearly ruined my life at one point.

I'll look into those Ur-Quan Masters, as I used to waste a suitable amount of time on SC2, mostly meleeing with a friend.

[Alexander the Pretty Good]

I'm going to re-recommend The Ur-Quan Masters - I dug it up, and I'm having a blast!

It can be tricky, but if you have a good strategy, it is quite fun.

[Productivity]

Nethack....

Is it what I think it is?!

How am I supposed to know if you don't tell me?

Given the paucity of information in your post, I'm going to assume that you think it is a game, where in a flying net in the sky, pink ocelots defenestrate blue llamas, while getting hacked to pieces by an iguana of biblical proportions who enjoys sodomy.

For the record, no it is not that.