Written by rangit.com

Update 20/01/08 : Thanks to Elane, I’ve added 4 more excellent games, making it a nice round number of 25. =)

Update 26/06/07 : I have decided to check out the games that some of my readers suggested. In the end, I
found 13 more excellent games and have added all of them to the original 8.

Below are addictive 3d games for linux users to fill their time with. These games are really good and some have won
awards or have been featured on magazines. Most of it is cross platform and free. You don't have to use
'Wine' to be able to play as they come with Linux installers.

1. Battle For Wesnoth

   

   David White who started Wesnoth back in 2003, had a vision of a free open source strategy game that had very
   simple rules, uses a strong artificial intelligence, challenging and fun. Wesnoth has already passed the 1
   million mark for downloads. As of March 2007, the game is available in 35 different languages.

   A normal Wesnoth player has

   • 200+ unit types
   • 16 different races
   • 6 major factions

   to choose from. Actually, you can even make your own custom units, design your own map, scenarios or even
   campaigns. It's all up to your creativity. The most interesting part of any game is the ability to multiplay.
   You can challenge up to a total of 8 friends in multiplayer fantasy battles.

2. Nexuiz

   

   Nexuiz is a free, cross platform, first person shooter distributed under GNU General Public License by Alientrap
   Software. It started back in May 31 2005 with version 1.0 using DarkPlaces, a significanlty modified quake
   engine. The current version, 2.2.3, was released on January 26, 2007. Nexuiz's logo is based on the chinese
   character "?" which means strength.

   Several notable features of the game include

   • ability to multiplay up to 64 players
   • ability to generate bots for practice sessions
   • dynamic lighting system similar to Doom 3
3. America's Army

   

   America's Army is a tactical, multiplayer, first-person shooter owned by the United States Government and
   released as a global public relations initiative to help with U.S. Army recruitment. The first version, Recon,
   was released on 4th July 2002. The current version 2.8.1 was released on 22nd Mar 2007.

   It's the first well known computer game used for political aims. The game is used as a playable recruiting
   tool and critics have charged the game serves as a propaganda device. A counter on the homepage of the PC version
   shows over eight million registered accounts as of 2007. GameSpy tracked the game usage and reported an average
   of 4,500 players at any one time between 2002 and 2005. It is enough for America's Army to rank in the Top 10
   Online Games chart.

4. Enemy Territory : Quake Wars

   

   is a first-person shooter follow-up to Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory. It also has the same science fiction
   universe as Quake 4, with a story serving as a prequel to Quake II. Quake Wars is the second multiplayer-only
   game in the Quake series after Quake III Arena. The gameplay is almost the same as Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory,
   but with the addition of controllable vehicles and aircraft, asymmetric teams, much larger maps and the option of
   computer-controlled bots. Enemy Territory: Quake Wars is being developed by Splash Damage for the PC using a
   modified version of id Software's Doom 3 engine and MegaTexture rendering technology.

   At E3 2006(Electronic Entertainment Expo), the game won the Game Critics Award for Best Online Multiplayer.

5. Tremulous

   

   Tremulous is an open source team-based first-person shooter with a game play that is similar to Gloom(a quake 2
   mod) and Natural Selection (a Half-Life mod). The game features two teams, humans and aliens, each with their own
   strengths and weaknesses. The game has been downloaded over 200,000 times and was voted "Player's Choice
   Standalone Game of the Year" in Mod Database's "Mod of the Year" 2006 competition.

6. Tux Racer

   

   Tux Racer is a newbie friendly, open source, 3D computer game starring the Linux mascot, Tux the penguin. Like
   many open-source games, the replay value of Tux Racer is extended by easy modification of the game. New maps can
   be created by making three raster images to indicate height, surface, and object placement. The last release of
   Tux Racer was version 0.61, 29th October 2001.

7. World Of Padman

   

   WOP is a new and free comic style game that uses the Quake 3 engine. The game was recently featured in 3 German
   magazine covers; PC Action, 'BRAVO Screenfun' and 'Linux Intern'.

8. Vendetta

   

   is a first person twitch based MMORPG. New players get an 8 hour trial which is enough to get anyone hooked to
   it. After that, you gotta pay $5 a month which is quite worthwhile, especially considering the incredibly
   communicative development of the game. It has a native linux installer as well as one for Macs and Windows.

9. Alien Arena 2007

   

   Thanks AstralSin for mentioning it.
   

   Alien Arena is a completely free FPS started by COR Entertainment in 2004 comprising of a science fiction
   ambience and a Quake like gameplay. This game is playable in single player mode against bots, but the action and
   thrill lies at the online multiplayer mode. Features of the Alien Arena 2007 include an internal server browser
   for finding other people to play online and an external program that acts as an IRC interface. There are 6 game
   types and 6 game mutators that changes the gameplay. Cattle Prod is a new game type that requires you to herd
   robotic cattle to earn points. Alien Arena 2007 is playable in Windows, Linux and FreeBSD.

10. Urban Terror

    

    Thanks AstralSin for mentioning it.
    

    A mod of Quake III Arena, Urban Terror focuses a lot on realism. Number of weapons and gear that can be carried
    is limited. Accuracy is reduced when fired while moving and magazines require reloading upon expension. Damage
    areas are identified throughout the body. Wounds require bandaging and slows down movement significantly if the
    damage is not bandaged. Even a stamina bar is present to indicate if the player is able to sprint or jump.
    Released on 1st April 2007, Urban Terror 4 introduced 4 new features namely, 'powersliding', new weapons,
    player models and improved hit detection. It also supports anti cheating tools like PunkBuster, BattleEye and
    RunDMC.

11. A Tale In The Desert

    

    Thanks Kristjan Siimson for mentioning it.
    

    Set in Ancient Egypt, ATITD focuses on society rather than combat. Actually, there is no combat system
    whatsoever. The fun of the game lies in economic development. Most of the players are from the US and Europe and
    the variety of social activities encourages a lot of interaction. Players are to participate in building,
    community, research and test themselves through challenges called 'Tests'. The male to female players
    ratio is considerably equal compared to other online games and the game is also noted by many to have high levels
    of civility and generosity. The first 24 hours is free, after that a monthly fee of $13.95 is required to
    continue playing.

12. Second Life

    

    Thanks MariusZ for mentioning it.
    

    Second Life is an online virtual world that allows 'Residents' to explore, meet each other, socialize,
    participate in group activities, trade items and services. It's creators, Linden Lab, intends to create a
    world like the Metaverse described by Neal Stephenson in his novel, Snow Crash. In this Metaverse, people can
    interact, have fun and do business. The current currency is Linden Dollar (L$) and is EXCHANGEABLE for US$ in a
    marketplace consisting of residents, Linden Lab and real life companies. It is hardly considered a game as tt
    does not have points, scores, winners or losers, levels or an end-strategy. More than 7 million accounts have
    been registered since its conception. Basic accounts is free but Premium account is US$9.95 if you want to own
    lands.

13. Savage 2

    

    Thanks nemesis for mentioning it.
    

    This fantasy / science fiction, real-time strategy, fps, rpg game is a sequel to to S2 Games' Savage : Battle
    for Newerth. Both teams of human and beasts are pitted against each other in a gameplay where strategy, agility
    and alertness is needed. The game is downloadable for free but online access requires a one time account purchase
    of US$29.99. Activities such as kills, deaths, assists, building razes, damage and score points are tracked. All
    Savage 2 matches are saved and thus searchable in the form of replays. The automatic replay network is a system
    that will greatly increase the skill levels of overall player populations and competitiveness.

14. Warsaw

    

    Thanks mroyf, Cholulalulip, Jo?o Rodrigues for mentioning it.
    

    Warsaw is a free FPS based in Qfusion 3D engine playable on Windows and Linux developed under the motto 'by
    gamers for gamers'. Beta testers from the community goes through internal testing sessions and gives feedback
    on public releases where the main developers will carefully judge suggestions and comments made. Gameplay is
    focused a lot on agility. Weapons picked up will have weak ammo until a new ammo pack is found. Graphic effects
    are minimal, clear and visible.

15. TrueCombat: Elite

    

    Thanks Jo?o Rodrigues, Michael for mentioning it.
    

    TC:Elite happens to be a total-conversion modification of Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory by Team Terminator and
    Groove Six Studios. The game is free and playable across all platforms. Notable features include iron sights
    aiming (no crosshair), multi layer object penetration, letterbox / wide screen view modes, lag compensation,
    client side bullet prediction and support for PunkBuster, the anti cheat software.

16. Frozen Bubble

    

    Thanks PhoenixByrd, Ferk for mentioning it.
    

    The latest version 2.0 includes an adjusted launcher speed, new scoring system, 4 lives and online multiplayer
    mode, but only available to Linux users at the time of writing. Version 1.0 of the game is available across all
    platforms including Symbian Series 60 line of smartphones and a single player Java applet version. Written in
    Perl, the free to play Frozen Bubble features 100 levels and a cute penguin (I think it's supposed to be Tux)
    who shoots to form bubbles of the same color.

17. The Open Racing Car Simulator

    

    Thanks to PhoenixByrd for mentioning it.
    

    TORCS is an open source 3D racing simulator using OpenGL technologies. It is runnable on all Linux, FreeBSD,
    MacOSX and Windows platforms. There are 50 different cars, 20 tracks and 50 opponents to race against. The
    multiplayer mode can accommodate up to 4 human players. Several of the simulation include damaged models,
    collisions and aerodynamics like ground effects, spoilers, etc. Development is currently being carried out to
    enable online racing mode.

18. FlightGear

    

    Thanks to PhoenixByrd for mentioning it.
    

    Since 1996, FlightGear has been a collaborative project that aims to create a sophisticated open source flight
    simulator framework. FlightGear uses the SimGear simulation engine. Some of the aircraft models available in
    FlightGear include gliders, helicopters, airliners, fighter jets, etc. Weather effects such as clouds, lightning
    effects and time of the day is illustrated.

19. Frets On Fire

    

    Thanks to PhoenixByrd, Solitary, Hellmark, tuopppi, for mentioning it.
    

    Winner of the Assembly Demo Party 2006, Frets on Fire is a music video game that uses the keyboard to play along
    with scrolling on-screen musical notes to complete a song. The player has to imagine the keyboard as a guitar and
    pick it up to play. One hand will be used to press the 'frets' (F1 to F5) and another will be used to
    press the 'picks' (Shift or Enter). Colored markers that appears are to be played by pressing
    'frets' of the correct color and 'picks' at the correct moment. There are also song editors and
    tutorials featured in the game. This game was addictive once I got the hang of it.

20. Scorched 3d

    

    Thanks james, Pyro for mentioning it.
    

    Scorched 3D is a 100% free turn-based artillery game modeled after the classic DOS game Scorched Earth 'The
    Mother Of All Games'. Operatable across all operating systems. What started as a 3D landscape generator has
    now become a cool 3D game that requires skills to master. Players are supposed to take turns homing in to hit the
    target by adjusting the angle, rotation, power and a weapon of choice every other turn. Hits and kills will
    generate income for you to buy better weapons and items. Note that items are as important as weapons.

21. ManiaDrive

    

    Thanks to Shamar for mentioning it.
    

    ManiaDrive is a free clone of Trackmania, the great game from Nad?o studio, and is an arcade car game on
    acrobatic tracks, with a quick and nervous gameplay (tracks almost never exceed one minute), and features a
    network mode, as the original. Lots of crazy driving involved.

22. Warzone 2100



Thanks Elane

Warzone 2100 is a real-time strategy and real-time tactics hybrid computer game, developed by Pumpkin Studios and published by Eidos Interactive. Outside of the story, Warzone 2100 only has a single faction, limiting some of the variety that can be expected from such games of its kind, although the faction is very complex. Essentially, Warzone 2100 plays much like Earth 2150 with 3D units and terrain, customizable vehicles, a lack of traditional standing infantry, use of “research” to acquire new technologies, and perceptible differentiation of vehicles types.




23. Spring
    

    

    Thanks Elane

    The game is mainly focused around multiplayer games over the Internet or a LAN connection. There are currently a few single player missions, built on the basic support for this through Lua scripting. There are also many skirmish AIs under development, allowing for offline play or extra players in an online game. Two skirmish AIs ship in the game package, as well as three maps and the XTA mod.

    
    

24. Battle Tanks
    

    

    Thanks Elane

    “Battle Tanks” is a multiplayer game in the first place. Network game and split screen mode are available, and also a mixed mode is possible, when two players use split screen on the server computer, and others connect via LAN. Two possible modes are deathmatch battle and cooperative game. Hardware requirement is minimum and the game is cross platform.

    
    

25. Excalibur: Morgana’s Revenge v3.0
    

    

    Thanks Elane

    EMR 3.0 is a unique scenario based upon the Aleph One (Marathon) engine. It is a first-person action adventure game, featuring an epic and in-depth story line. It brings more exciting new maps, new high resolution textures and landscapes, a completely new set of weapons, new monsters and friends, new scenery, new 16-bit sounds, original music, and a carefully woven original story line that transcends time.