Online FPS: Tribes

I love Tribes. Alright, it's an old game, but it deserves some attention, because you can download it for free at Download-dot-com, and it doesn't require a very powerful computer.


Tribes is a first-person shooter. It was a commercial game (back in the year 2000), but it was re-released as a free download. Now, I don't play Tribes as much as Sauerbraten, but you should still try it if you can. If you play Tribes, please, comment on this blog (this post; not my other posts) and share your opinion of the game. If you have a fansite, feel free to post a link to it.

Free MMORPG: Cronous

Cronous is a face-paced, massively multiplayer, online role-playing game similar to MU Online but closer to KAL Online. You pick one of, I think, four character types. You have a fighter, a magician, a barbarian, sorry, savage, and something else I can't recall right this moment. I'm a magician.

The gameplay is similar to MU Online, but the graphical style is a mix of KAL Online and Knight Online. (That's two too many onlines for me, but hey, those are their titles.) You have a very beautiful world in Cronous, and the best part of it is how low-end your computer can be. This isn't the next Runescape, but Cronous still impresses me with how easy it was to start playing it. It didn't crash my computer at all, either!

Now, my word of advice: If you're looking for a game that promotes teamwork, Cronous comes close, but everything is combat-based. You will be fighting endless streams of enemies. You do get to smelt armor and customize its color (sort of), but most of the game is just constantly fighting monsters and upgrading your stats.

MMORPG? I don't think so.

There are some free games appearing with the intention of being free MMORPGs, but most of them aren't even role-playing games; they're first-person shooters or strategy games. Two perfect examples are Warrock and Battle Globe.

Warrock is massively multiplayer first-person shooter, so it's really a MMOFPS; not a MMORPG. Yet I always see it listed on MMORPG lists. I have never tried it out, though, because I'm not really interested in any FPS other than Sauerbraten, the Halo series, and maybe Half-Life 2. Warrock's title really doesn't appeal to me, either. I mean, what does Warrock mean?

Battle Globe is closer to a MMORPG, but it is better suited as another browser-based strategy game. Its selling point is the fact that it uses Flash to give it more interactivity and animation. It looks like something I'd play, but I probably won't give it a try until the beta is over with. Moreover, I believe this game may cost money after open beta, and I sooner not get addicted than pay for a game I once played for free.

Another game I must mention is Runescape. People keep calling it a free MMORPG. That's false. Runescape is pay-to-play, however, they have a small portion of the game world set aside for free version as a way to entice new paying customers. It's a sort of try-before-you-buy demo version.

MMORPGs Everyone Can Play

This is a (very) short list of games I have played recently which are online, multiplayer, and have massive worlds. Also, they all work on my computer, which has a very old video card, not suited for hardcore gaming. These games should all work for you as well.

Runescape - www.runescape.com
Okay, I have to mention this first, because it's pretty much the only Java-powered MMO game I ever played, and it plays well on any system that supports the latest version of Java. Also, it requires absolutely no downloads, meaning you play it entirely on a single webpage.

MU Online
While I never played MU Online before, I started playing it via the Forsaken server today, and I must say, "Wow, this is like Darkstone, but it's online, and it has better graphics!" If you can wait for the updates to complete, this game is worth checking out.

Mythos F2P MMORPG

While I hate previews, I'm finding Mythos irresistible. Reason being I love Diablo style games, and this one will be free! Also, it's a MMOG, so there's a community backing it from the get go. IGN has a review of the genre and videos of gameplay from the closed beta.

Let's see, nice graphics, check... free-to-play, check... it's already better than Runescape!

My Own RPG

While I'm still working on it, I've released a demo of Syboard Adventures. It's coming close to being a game worth playing, but I need everyone's feedback. Post a comment here or at Syboard.

While I loved how my webcomic was turning out, I'm reinventing the story behind Syboard Adventures, and I may start from scratch on the comic.

In lesser news, borrowing from another blog, a game engine, Silver Tree, is looking to be a real nice implementation of hexagon tiles. Seriously, though, watch the video of the editor. Nice music involved.

I Have Ego

I like to think people appreciate my blogs, but I haven't received much attention yet. I urge you to comment on my blogs and give me feedback. Do you like what I'm doing?

I'm downloading Egoboo to remind myself why I quit playing it so long ago. If it has improved a lot since last year, I may keep it this time. If you play Egoboo or happen to also have the PC version of Darkstone (not a free game), maybe we could connect and play one of them together.

Sauerbraten Mods

The previous post was about Sauerbraten, an amazing game. It has a butt-load of features, but it still lacks a few necessities for the heavy user, like good textures. You can download a nice, big pack of textures here.

Obviously, I'm not just sharing textures. There are many other things you can modify in this game. For examples, visit Quadropolis, the unofficial official Sauerbraten modding community. Quadropolis has scripts, which can be hard to use, but they will add new features to the game engine. There are also user-created maps and various other things to download and add to your Sauerbraten collection. I recommend this.

Just to start us off...

There are tons of open source projects out there, most hosted at SourceForge. One of the best open source games is Sauerbraten, a first-person shooter (FPS). The FPS genre has got rather repetitive with tons of Xbox and Xbox 360 games all being alike. Sauerbraten is fresh, even through it has been around for years.

Sauerbraten allows you to play either online or offline in an arena or "map" of your choice. That sounds normal, right? Well, Sauerbraten also allows you to edit said maps and even start a new map and create it from the ground up... or down. Unlike its predicessor, Cube, you can have multiple levels to your scructures, so pretty much anything is possible.

Better yet, Sauerbraten allows you to cooperatively edit a map with as many people as you can find to join your server. This makes Sauerbraten similar to Halo 3's Forge, only you're making the maps from scratch; not just moving spawns around.

Sauerbraten has no physics to its gameplay, so don't expect to be able to spawn crates high in the sky and watch them break as they hit the ground. If you like Quake or Unreal Tournament, you'll still enjoy playing Sauerbraten.

Sauerbraten - http://www.sauerbraten.org
Cube - http://www.cubeengine.com

Freeware Vs OS

OS for open source.

This blog is my place to show everyone all that is free and all that is open source. If you have a similar blog, please, post a comment to this welcome message. We can exchange links.