Linux Games #3: NetPanzer

Posted on September 13th, 2007

by siyb
And here we are again with our Linux Games Series. This time we are going to cover a realtime strategy game which is based on the ‘conquer and defend’ principle. NetPanzer is a multiplayer-only game. Players can join or part a server at any point, even if the game is already running. The primary goal of NetPanzer is to capture and hold a certain percentage of bases on the map, capturing a base is the only way to be able to produce more units, so it’s vital to defend captured bases.

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There are ten different tank types in NetPanzer, each of them has its specialties and flaws, the easiest way to find out what the individual tank might be good for is checking its attributes. The fife attributes are: hit points, attack power, attack range, defend range and reload time. Personally, I like the titan tanks. They are slow but heavily armored and bring a lot of firepower. As said before, you will need to conquer a base in order to be able to build you units. Capturing a base is simple, but if held by another player it’s not a piece of cake. All you got to do is drive a tank to the circle on the right hand side of the base. After capturing a base use your left mouse button to give building orders.

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Another important part of NetPanzer are the powerup pickups which are randomly placed on the map for you to find. In order to pickup a powerup you have to drive the tank right over it. Powerups come in form of a lightning and contain different goodies like additional units, unit repairs and unit enhancements.

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The game is released under the terms of the GPL. If you wish to acquire more information about NetPanzer or if you want to download the current version for your operating system (Linux, Windows, Mac OSX), visit the official website.

Linux Games #2: SuperTux

Posted on September 10th, 2007

by jesse
SupertTux is a nice Clone of the classic Jump’n'Run Hit Super Mario. The handling is much like the original, one could say it is a SuperMario with different images.

The goal of the game is to save Penny, Tux’ friend out of the hands of the evil Nolok. supertuxAlthough you can grab quite a lot of Power-Ups, most of the enemies get killed by jumping upon them.

With the preview on milestone 2 there are now 98 levels to be played in version 0.30 which are split into two lowlands and additional islands. The new level editor helps to keep the fun factor up, too.

SuperTux is released under the GPL and supports installation packages for Linux, Mac OSX, BSD, BeOS and Windows.
(Thanks Bomba)

Linux Games #1: Wormux, Pengupop, Wesnoth

Posted on September 3rd, 2007

by jesse
Linux not for gamers? Who said that? Besides the possibility to work with emulators like Cedega or Wine, there are a lot of games which work natively under linux. So with this post we’re starting a new category here where we will try to introduce them all - at least the best ones.

Today we’ll begin with Wormux, Pengupop and Battle for Wesnoth.

WORMUX

Wormux is a Worms clone with cartoon skins. The handling and feeling is quite similar to the original. But you can see differences when it comes to the sounds (the Worms sounds rocked) or details like the emphasis on wind strength.

The objective of the game is to eliminate the opposing team. You can chose your favorite team out of a pool with names like PHP, Mozilla or Beastie Team (*BSD). Ingame there are 22 weapons to use, the most of them are availaible from the beginning. Throughout the game you may gain more weapons which will fall from the sky.

You can play with four players at the same time on the same computer which is a lot of fun already. However, there are plans to support multiplayer action via ethernet in one of the next versions.

Wormux cannot only be played on Linux but also supports Windows, MacOS und *BSD. More information and downloads can be found at wormux.org.

PENGUPOP
Pengupop is a multiplayer clone of the famous arcade Bust-A-Move, also known as Puzzle Bobble or Frozen Bubble. Similar to Tetris, the field of play is filled with coloured balls. The goal of the game is to shoot balls so that three identically coloured-balls form a group which are removed from the field then and wipe the field with that technique. Balls hanging on removed balls vanish also but appear on the opponents screen. This makes the game more interesting from the strategic point of view and adds a lot of fun.

This review is about die version of junoplay, because it has some features I really like. If you’re connected to the internet you can always find an opponent quite quickly. Afterwards you can track your score and statistics on the website, each player gets his own profile.

Another nice feature is the possibility to watch your games as flash videos. A short round in which i pwned Zhenech is available in this post ;-)

You can play pengupop nice and fast on Linux systems, Windows and MacOs are also supported. Downloads, highscores and more information can be found at junoplay.com.

BATTLE FOR WESNOTH

“Battle for Wesnoth” is a turn-based strategy game, that is available on several platforms. It has a fantasy theme with elves, dragons and mages in a pretty style that reminds of comics. The playground is isometric and the menu is seperated in two parts, at the top there is the menu and informations about the resources, on the right side is the map and a box with unit-informations. The game is controlled by the mouse, the right mouse button opens a menu and the left mouse button is for selecting.

The game contains a tutorial campaign, a multiplayer mode and many extensions with new maps, made with the editor provided by the game. In the beginning you get a castle to train units, that you navigate over the map. You have to conquer neutral villages to get gold, that you need to buy units, or you attack enemy units. The fight offers you melee or range, if possible. The goal is often to kill the enemy leader, so you should always keep an eye on your own leader, too.

Read more and download for Linux, Windows or MacOSX on wesnoth.org.

yigg this

Thank you, ShadowHunter and Bomba, for helping me with this post!

design: makequick.com | modificashuns and bugfixes by jesse
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