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.

[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.

[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.