Most Popular Free, Arena-Style FPS? 205
anomalous cohort writes "I am a casual gamer. Go or Chess are my games of choice when I am up for a serious intellectual gaming challenge. Otherwise, I just want to blow off some steam in a free, arena-style FPS such as Alien Arena, Nexuiz, Sauerbraten, or Tremulous at the end of a long day. Either way, it is very rare for my gaming experience to exceed 30 minutes. The problem is that attendance for these games has dropped off over the years. Finding a game with about two humans and two robots is perfect for me and very rare these days. My question is this: What is currently the most popular free, arena-style FPS for the casual gamer that you know of?"
That reminds me, how is the Quake Live beta coming along?
I think your looking for (Score:5, Informative)
OpenArena
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
or Warsaw http://warsow.org/ [warsow.org]
Re: (Score:2)
> I can't imagine why anybody would play Quake Live [instead of this]...
Furries. [openarena.ws]
Re: (Score:2)
Re:I think your looking for (Score:5, Informative)
Why is this flamebait? See http://openarena.ws/ [openarena.ws]
why is the parent flamebait ? (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2, Informative)
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
most pupular doesnt neciserilly mean the best.
as an avid quake fan, I have found myself contiuing the obsession in a gamne known as nexuiz.
its got some really quite impressive rendering features while still beain able to run on an older pc, and since its based on the quake engine it flies on the internet.
in every major continent theres servers running 24/7 and a nice community of us nexheads to keep you on your toes.
thousands of maps to choose from, hundreds of players and all the classic game modes you'd e
Re: (Score:2)
Ive given nexues a few tries, but always failed to catch anybody else playing, it seams quite a bit like NaturalSelection which i would waste hours on back when i ran windows.
Assault cube is the game i tend to find players on.
Urban Terror (Score:5, Informative)
You can also try Urban Terror [urbanterror.net]. I have played it for a few months and can attest that the maps are fun, gameplay is great, there aren't many cheaters (if any) and the general behavior on the servers is alright.
Re: (Score:2, Informative)
There are definitely cheaters. Me and a few friends admin a server, and catch at least one cheater a day. But, on the other hand, UrT really is a great game. If you go to the right servers, there will usually be an admin watching out for you.
Re:Urban Terror (Score:4, Interesting)
Urban terror ROCKS but is not arena type combat. Many nimrods play it that way, but it's actually team combat with strategy.
Re:Urban Terror (Score:4, Insightful)
You somewhat lose the urban assault strategy style game play when people can run at Mach 5, wall jump up a 3 story building, and then immediately slide crouched 40 yards executing a perfect headshot with a pistol.
I love Urban Terror, but it is definitely not a strategy-heavy FPS.
Re: (Score:2)
Running at Mach5 - check
Wall jump a 3 story building - check
slide crouched 40 yards - check
execute a perfect headshot with a pistol - I'm just not that good I guess. Sounds like someone on your server's running a hack to me....
There are some good strategies you can use if your team will work with you, but quite often everyone's just looking at their personal score and not the overall team score. Sure - if someone else on your team gets the flag you get 10 points, but if YOU get it you get 15! But find a
Re: (Score:2)
Funny - I don't remember ever playing Urban Terror with you, but the night after we post here I find you on the server I always play on. Sounds like you're a member of the clan - have I always just missed you?
Good game last night.
Re: (Score:2)
Ah yes - I recognize that name quite well...
So did you catch the cheater? That's one of the reasons I started playing with you guys - very low incidence of cheating. Nowadays I always play there unless it's full. And then I keep checking back.
Re: (Score:2)
Urban Terror is also in my experience one of the games most likely to work 'out of the box' across many platforms. I play on Ubuntu myself, and it seem to be almost a badge of honour these days to add @(distro) to the end of your nick. I regularly see people with nicks ending in @ubuntu, @fedora, @arch - I've even seen @freebsd....
Quake Live is awesome. (Score:5, Interesting)
Quake Live is awesome. It's really fun. BUT, needs more people, frankly.
To that end... I have some invites. Ask nicely. :)
Re:Quake Live is awesome. (Score:5, Funny)
Dear sir God bluephone, master of creation, Lord of the Azure Calling:
May I have an invite, you sexy hunk of man?
yours sincerely,
mindlessautomata*NOSPAM*@gmail.com
Re:Quake Live is awesome. (Score:4, Funny)
Dear Ma'am Goddess bluephone, master of creation, Lady of the Azure Calling:
May I have an invite, you sexy babe of a woman?
yours sincerely,
cheschire?NOSPAM?@gmail?NOSPAM?com
-ps I figure it's a 50/50 shot, right?
Re:Quake Live is awesome. (Score:5, Funny)
On Slashdot? Are you out of your fucking mind
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Meh, Q3 works just fine. Unfortunately, it's quite difficult to find a good DM or CTF game without the idiotic excessive mod... Still, I'd appreciate if you could send an invite to mobby.6kl gmail com so I could try it out, and perhaps challenge you to a duel ;)
Anyway, my suggestions are Q3 and UT99. They're not free, but should be very cheap by now and are as fun as ever. There aren't too many servers or other players, but then this isn't Battlefield so you only need one other player for some good 1-on-1 D
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Speaking of the original Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory, I LOVED that game. I played it regularly for years. It provided me with as much enjoyment as nearly any other game in my life (right up there with Sierra's AGI and SGI adventures), so even if the fun/cost equation didn't throw a divide-by-zero error it would still be good fun value. There were no ads or anything of that sort either.
I haven't tried any of the others, but I will now that I know about them.
2nd vote for Enemy Territory (Score:3)
Well, it's not really an arena game, but it's great fun, it's free, and if you really want to, you can play a single map, which usually takes 20-30 mins (sometimes shorter, rarely longer).
It's based on the Q3 engine, and there are a lot of active servers, and some great mods (most of the mods don't change the gameplay a whole lot, but simply refine the game in a lot of ways that were missing in the stock release - there are, I believe, a few total conversion mods if that's your thing).
Instead of being about
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:1)
I honestly have some problems with Quake Live (Score:5, Informative)
Why? Quake Live has fewer maps, it is not NEARLY as customizable, lagcode resulted in significant relearning and fudging of previously-tight timing, and in all you just felt like all of the browser-based revisions to the game were completely unnecessary, like they were filling out a concept that really didn't make much sense in practice.
Lack of Customizability
New maps and mods have to be added by central servers, top-down style. By comparison, Q3 has had such longevity because of bottom-up modding and map creation by fans. The result of QL's method is that gameplay and map choices instantly stagnate because there's no easy outlet and proving ground for new maps and features.
In-Browser Game Selection Doesn't Work
Rather than have this bizarre browser-based launcher, honestly they should have just spit-polished Q3 itself, added some ad-code to make money, and left the rest untouched. The browser is slow to navigate and find the best server for a duel using the browser map selection, compared to Q3 where I was used to using 3rd party server trackers and instantaneously connecting.
Lag/Netcode Seem Geared to More Casual Gamers
Currently, most Q3 duels take place in the CPMA mod. The physics for CPMA is frankly screwed up (apologies to those who actually like the strafe-jumping-gone-mad movement--I guess I'm not hardcore enough to remember when it was cool in Quake 1), but you can play with vintage Q3 settings and the lag/netcode is decent. A high ping is noticeable, but usually consistent enough to compensate because you are able to see your lag in the timing of your shots appearing on the screen.
By comparison, in QL, the lagcode/netcode seems to tend to mask the lag you experience, making your shots appear instantaneous even if they aren't in fact. This is likely to make it more accessible, but the result is less predictability for hardcore players. A duel means much less when you feel like the game isn't being straight with you about where you are actually shooting.
Overall
Q3 is still unrivalled as a 1v1 duel and straight-FPS TDM game. Carmack admitted he believes as much in a recent interview, so it's a shame he doesn't see how the lack of customizability, dumbing-down of the server interface, and dumbed down lag/netcode really cripples the game meant to be a replacement for Q3.
Re: (Score:2)
This is probably off-topic, but I'm actually amazed that so many people still care about Quake of any stripe. I kind of assumed, I guess, the entire world moved on to Unreal Tourney like my own group of friends... the news that they're making a web-based Quake III blows me away.
No, you're awesome (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
I am intrigued by your ideas^H^H^H^H^Hinvites and would like to subscribe to your newsletter.
Re: (Score:1)
Ooh go on you lubberly person.
marksthomas @ gmail.com
tar muchly
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Note to self: DON'T DO THIS AGAIN. I haven't had this much email since I needed help moving $40m out of Nigeria.
"Winners" are being emailed shortly.
Re: (Score:2)
If only they would sort out ta damn mac client!
Small team and they want to get everything sorted out on one platform first. I can't blame em..
That said, Quake Live is a ton of fun.. I recommend checking it out.. :)
Slower pace? (Score:2)
I'd be very interested in the same, but more similar to "Day of Defeat" than to "CounterStrike" ... that is, a game where you can't jump and run all over the place but actually need to take your stamina into account.
Is there anything like this available, perhaps a mod of one already mentioned?
Re: (Score:2)
You're looking for Rainbow Six (pre-Lockdown, so most likely Raven Shield) and SWAT 4. And also Operation Flashpoint, and to a degree Armed Assault. I don't recall there being an actual stamina counter in R6, but running around like a headless chicken in any of these games will get your ass killed in an instant. There are of course plenty of "realistic" mods for other games, but this is pretty much as good as it gets.
Re: (Score:2)
Rainbow Six: Raven Shield is now $9.95 on steam for international purchase, one thing, update punkbuster prior to running it for the first time, or suffer the wrath of outdated driver crashes.
For the OP, stop being a cheapskate and pay for team fortress 2, its worth every cent :)
Re: (Score:1, Informative)
Now that you've brought up TF2, I must say that no, OP don't buy it. I paid only something like 7 bucks, and I regret it more than the mini bike [tunbridgewells.gov.uk] (not actually me in the picture) I blew all my savings on when I was a kid. Not only you have to deal with Valve's bullshit with Steam, but it's just not as good as its popularity might lead you to believe.
Re: (Score:2)
Wow. I love TF2; Steam aside, the game play is good, the weapons are good, the level design is good, the aesthetic is a little cartoonish, but I don't see a problem with that.
The only thing I have complaints about is that every few months, when they release a class update, you have to suffer through a month of everyone playing the same class, trying to get the achievements...Though there is occasional humor in that: when the first update came out you could attract a swarm of doctors by playing a scout. When
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
"Cheesecake"? :-)
I don't know if, by OP, you mean me or the submitter of the Slashdot article. Anyway, the (hilarious!) trailers that I've seen for TF2 leads me to believe that it's a very fun game, but not exactly "realistic" in the way that DoD is -- I don't want to compete with teens that have mastered "bazooka jumping" and trickjumps.
I think I belong to a minority who thinks that the low stamina of DoD characters was a *feature* rather than an annoyance. You could run ~50m OR jump twice, then you'd have
Re: (Score:1)
It's free and has many players online.
Runs on Linux, Windows and I think OSX as well.
Re: (Score:2)
Thank you, I shall try this.
Re: (Score:2)
Sadly "Need a Medic!" is about all you hear coming from any server I play on while the medic sits around and stares at your dead corpse.
At least the bots can be bothered to revive you. Can't say the same for the players.
Re: (Score:2, Informative)
Try TrueCombat:Elite, it's a free tactical shooter that runs on the free game Wolfenstein Enemy Territory. It runs on Windows, Linux and Mac. http://www.tcelite.net/, there's a few decent videos on YouTube with gameplay http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=YDFeFXfO3AY
Re: (Score:2)
Thank you, I shall try this also.
Warsow, WoP, ... (Score:5, Interesting)
List of Alien Arena players (Score:5, Insightful)
It's possible to see a list of Alien Arena players online here:
http://chaingun.org/browser/ [chaingun.org]
The servers with the most real, breathing, living players are listed first.
This makes it slightly easier to find servers with real people on. The trouble is that there are quite a few servers and people tend to flock to small subset as group (obviously wanting to play together). It's hard to find any pattern as one set of servers may be popular for a few days and then another set of servers.
Evenings are a good time to play - it seems that most people are like the OP and want to let off a bit of steam after work. And what better way than with a nice big chaingun? :)
As for most popular, that's bit of a loaded question. They all play differently - really it's down to personal choice. All of the free FPS mentioned in the article are excellent and have a dedicated following. They're good quality considering they're produced by the effort of a few dedicated souls just for the hell of it, so it's worth giving each a try to see what appeals. :)
Wikipedia also has a list of free FPS, which includes some other gems not mentioned in the article (like Warow, OpenArena and Cube):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_free_first-person_shooters [wikipedia.org]
New version of Alien Arena later this week! (Score:2, Informative)
It should be pointed out that the original article is a bit off - Both Nexuiz and Alien Arena have had steady, if not increasing playerbases over the last couple of years.
That said, a new version of Alien Arena is being released this week. This game has made major improvements in gameplay, content, and engine in the lastest releases, and it continues again in version 7.21
Alien Arena is a game that was built from the Quake2 and Quake3 sources, but bears very little resemblance to either of these games by no
Quake 3 Arena (Score:2, Insightful)
Why play anything else when the perfect game is already out there? It's basically free these days.
Re: (Score:1, Informative)
It IS free these days: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenArena [wikipedia.org]
Well there's an old beast still alive (Score:2, Informative)
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
As much as I love Quakeworld, I'd have to say that it depends on where you live. If you're in the US, don't bother unless you want to play brainless Clan Arena mods. If you're in Europe, the community is much larger. There are (from my understanding) significantly large free-for-all communities as well as dueling and team deathmatch (2on2 and 4on4) communities.
The game is VERY difficult to get into, which is why I would fully recommend making use of #qwrookie if you happen to start fresh or even after a
BZFlag (Score:5, Interesting)
I'll probably be modded down for this, but there's also the very neat BZFlag [bzflag.org]. True, players are tanks instead of humans, but technically it's still a "Free, Arena-Style FPS" (okay FTS).
Re: (Score:2)
I was thinking the same thing. The Free For All (FFA), "shoot everything and everybody" style of BZ Flag seems most popular - most of the servers listed will be that type of game.
However, if you prefer a more 1-on-1 (or up to 4-on-4) strategic type of play that also involves more skill, be sure to get on the "Ducati-style" Capture the Flag (CTF) servers. Warning: lots of "old timers" are CTF fanatics, and have been playing for years, with skill to match. The learning curve in Duc-style CTF is very steep, bu
Quake Live beta (Score:2, Informative)
The biggest feature is the whole system they've built around that, though.
Honestly as a web developer, I'm quite impressed. They've i
There's always Skulltag.. (Score:2, Interesting)
If you wanna go oldschool, there's always doom II... Check out Skulltag. It's got tons of new game modes and a whole slew of features, like OpenGL support, that make it play more like current-gen games. Supports up to 32 players. Community is still going strong and there's always someone playing.
http://www.skulltag.com
word on QL beta (Score:2, Informative)
First, I suggest you try Warsow [warsow.net]. Someone already mentioned it so there's not much to say.
Now on Quake Live. The beta is going extremely well, although, very slow. Their website is actually better than most, if not all, current games' GUI systems. The matchmaking thing is also working like a charm. I'd say Quake Live is going to rock when the public beta kicks off.
The ads fit extremely well as Quake 3 had big video screens from 1999.
It's basically Quake 3 gameplay with some tweaks the so called "casual gamer
Free is nice, but seriously... (Score:3, Informative)
Re: (Score:2)
You do know Q3A was open sourced, right?
Sauerbraten (Score:5, Informative)
Sauerbraten wins this one by far. The gameplay is addictive and the graphics are actually very good, which is something that isn't quite common in FLOSS games. God knows how many hours I've lost to this piece of software alone.
http://sauerbraten.org/ [sauerbraten.org]
Re: (Score:1)
a free, arena-style FPS such as Alien Arena, Nexuiz, Sauerbraten, or Tremulous
Well, I suppose it certainly fits the criteria...
Re: (Score:1, Flamebait)
It quickly gets boring. The only games are insta gib on shitty maps like a recreation of the old UT level so it just one big lame sniper match, which I quickly got bored of in UT.
It's true there are some good maps however they're all ruined by having areas where once one side is in, they've practically won the match in capture & hold mode. The example that comes off the top of my head being the Japanese castle level.
The maps can also be as ugly as they are good looking, because the whole world is made f
The Real Dark Horse is... (Score:2, Interesting)
I enjoy Alien Arena, but one I don't see mentioned is Armagetron. Shame, really.
WarRock (Score:1)
Combat Arms + Enemy Territory (Score:4, Informative)
Not "arena" per se, but ET is lots of fun, class-based. Graphics are a bit outdated (2003ish) but you can't beat the gameplay.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
I'll second the ET motion.
I played that game probably more hours than any other game ever.
Good depth of play within a fairly simple mechanic. Combination of classes, skills and weapons fairly well balanced.
Arena-Style? (Score:2)
It's called Deathmatch, and don't you forget it.
Re: (Score:2)
No it's not, deathmatch implies all against all. Arena implies fast paced action within a tight confined space which could be all against all, team play, ctf, etc.
Re: (Score:2)
And suddenly the name Quake 3 : Arena makes sense. Another day, another thing learned. I can go back to bed until tomorrow now.
Ob (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Soldat (Score:1)
Soldat [soldat.pl] is a free to play CS/Liero type of game that works well under wine. Several hundreds active players worldwide, several leagues, obscenely fun, etc (if you are not stupid enough to dismiss it for it's graphics)
Urban Terror (Score:1)
Tremulous Recommended (Score:1)
Having played this game religiously for 3 years, I might not have the most impartial perspective but I can still say that I've tried the other games mentioned and have found none as entertaining as tremulous. Your ability to walk on walls/ceiling on the alien side will most likely be the first thing to grab your attention. Once you get used to that, you'll enjoy the fact that those little critters you always fought in single-player FPSs now have a human intelligence behind them, giving rise to quite an intr
Dabble in something a little more popular (Score:1, Offtopic)
Take the plunge and spend a one-time purchase on Team Fortress 2 or Left 4 Dead (US$20 and US$50 respectively). Lots of fun, free DLC is still being released for 'em, and lots of people play them.
Doesn't fit your definition of "free" but AFAIK all the free FPSs have been exhausted in this thread already and all of them are pretty old. Experimenting in something a little more recent could be interesting and fun. They're not very "casual" but if it turns out you don't like TF2 you're only down $20.
Quake Live - Missing the mark (Score:1)
I was pumped when I got my Quake Live notice...
Quick games of Quake at lunch.
Nope. Apparently although it runs in a browser it does use some of the old odd ports so at work it's blocked by our firewall.
Oh well I can try it at home!
Get home - fire up Ubuntu - login - and get a message Quake Live isn't supported on my operating system.
Argh!
WoP! (Score:3, Insightful)
TF2 (Score:1)
You can get Team Fortress 2 for around $10 and the community is very active. I realize that this is NOT free, but it is very inexpensive. The cost to activity ratio is probably nearly as high as a free FPS because there are so many servers with lots of people playing on each.
I've played Combat Arms (which is actually free and has quite good gameplay), and I just can't stand the type of players that gravitate towards free. The chat rooms before the games are just filled with swearing and racial slurs. I
Americas Army - Its free (Score:2)
It may not be open source but Americas Army runs on modest hardware and is a free download. Some of the maps are quite complicated but some are fairly open so take no time to learn. There are also usually loads of empty servers so you can have a quick walk around to see which map you like the look of in peace before diving into combat.
The only downside is the training missions you have to perform once at the start but solutions to these can be found on the web. In particular utube has walkthroughs for the h
Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory (Score:2, Informative)
Quake Live beta... (Score:1)
Tribes 2 (Score:5, Informative)
I haven't gotten a chance to play this yet, but Tribes 2 [tribesnext.com] has been released as freeware. Just a couple weeks ago it was patched to allow network play on unauthorized servers, which are the only servers anymore. Seeing how recent this development is (as of Jan 2), I'd expect Tribes 2 multiplayer to be on the upswing.
If I had mod points... (Score:2)
I'd mod this up informative.
I've recently reinstalled the original Starsiege Tribes (which, BTW, is freeware!) and have been playing it daily for about 2 months. My wife, jokingly, suggested I play something else, so I pulled out my old Tribes 2 CD and installed it, but I can't get it to work. That link of yours will reopen one of my favorite Team FPS games to me.
(my tag on both Tribes games, BTW, is [PSSr]logic7 for any of you that dare to find me)
waning arena gamer base.. (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
because arena games are (relatively) easy to make with a distributed uncooperative team. Once you have the basics in place people can work on improving the interface, improving the weaponset, improving the character art/models and making new levels pretty much independently.
For a story game you need someone to sketch out the story, then all the mappers need to cooperate to make maps that fit with that story (and feed back to the story guy when they can't so the story can be adjusted) and to use a consistent
Urban Terror (Score:2)
Instant Action! (Score:2)
Marathon. Linux, Mac, Windows. (Score:2)
Here [sourceforge.net]
UT2004 (Demo) (Score:2)
Headhunter? (Score:2)
I still miss the Quake I/II mod Headhunter, very nice in that it had strategy without teamplay, is there anything else that is more complex than deathmatch but doesn't have teams? Not to knock teamplay, but when your teammates are pickup game players who are not interested in having a clue (we need more than just me to guard the flag folks!).
Sauerbraten (Score:3, Informative)
Sauerbraten is _fast_. It gets rid of many factors which slowed people down in Q3 and really and truly concentrate on annihilating enemies.
Plus, it has nice GFX.
Re: (Score:2, Funny)
Dear A.C.,
your social experiment to see what is the threshold of bullshit /.ers tolerate before calling some censoring measure is clearly not working. Perhaps that's because everyone see it's a social experiment. Anyway, I think you should try harder, perhaps recruit some people to elevate the noise level... even though I don't think you'll succeed.
Best regards,
Daniel
Re: (Score:1)
Yep; he's just venting because Taco rejected his advances :P
Re: (Score:2)
I always liked red faction however the memory hacks and cheating made me leave. I'll check out your links.
Re: (Score:2)
Ok, now I know this probably is hard to find and not free, but I play and would like to recommend Red Faction. It has many, many, many user made maps (my favorite are the Micro-faction maps - whereby you are the size of a mouse in this giant room) great gameplay, and server setting called "pure-faction" that has an anti cheat mode built into the server side.
Go to L4Y.com to join forums and download maps for free. You can start your own server and check out the maps ( some of the best are by designers Lots-o-Pot and RedFrog.)
Many of the gamers there are ages 25-55+ Even several women players...
Cya there - my player name is Bird...
I'll second that... many people often complain that the graphics aren't so hot, but it has the most addictive gameplay and a pretty solid core group of players. It's just a shame that THQ/Volition won't open source the damn thing as they did for Freespace2 and as others have done in the case of the Descent series and quake series.
Re: (Score:1)
I know it isn't free as in speech, but Half Life 2 Deathmatch is free to all nvidia card owners.
It's also free to ATI card owners:
http://www.steampowered.com/ati_offer1a/ [steampowered.com]
so between the two that'll covers most bases - or Windows-using ones anyway.
Re: (Score:2)
It's the RSI, my wrists were killing me until I switched. After 2.5 games I got the transition down and now I can't stand playing games with the mouse. It's kind of like the transition from keyboard to keyboard + mouse.
(But backwards, ha ha ha.)