Oh no! More hand-picked free games.

The last time I presented you with my favorite free games, I strived to achieve collage-perfection. This time I tried something easier. Photo-manipulation, using the most advanced digital tools. You can see the results on the nice hand-crafted (ahem) pic, that's right above this paragraph. But, I digress. Nobody is here to read about my artistic and/or technical endeavors. You are all here for the games.

Well, the games that made it to this list, were carefully hand-picked in my rather picturesque cyber-garden. They are not shareware titles, trials or mods. They are all full free (100% legal) games, and each and every one of them has given me at least a few hours of clean-godly-gnomish fun. (America's Army is not included, and no matter how many of you moan, it will never be. I hate this game). Well, without further ado then, on to the list...

The Top of the Crop

Xenon 2000: A Xenon II update, by the Bitmap Brothers themselves. Joy, oh joy! Respects, bows and generally dances around. In a happy way. Oh, it's a classic shoot em'up if you must know.








SimCity: The original, society-altering, pseudo-scientific, but exquisite game (cyber-toy, more like it) for city planner wannabes, is at last free.








GunZ: That's one for my gore-minded friends. Go on, download, install and murder polygonal entities to your heart's delight.








Trackmania Nations: Race race-cars and have mindless fun. For free of course.








Zork I, II and III: The best adventure games ever, made it to the public domain, and there was much rejoicing. Brilliant. No screenshots provided. (They are text-adventures. Aaaah...)


Cholo: A beautiful and groundbreaking (it's an 8bit game remake) 3d action game. Requires some strategic thinking and should be avoided by epileptics. Obviously.








KKrieger: An impressive First Person Shooter in under 100kbs? Of course. Marvel at this creation by the demoscene's finest...








NetHack: By popular demand. The ultimate hack-n-slash time sink. Respect the addictive power of ASCII.








The Elder Scrolls: Arena: Apparently Oblivion's grandfather. An immense RPG, with basic but functional 3d graphics. Thank you, Bethesda.








Hidden and Dangerous Deluxe: The same. Also included are: Devil's Bridge expansion pack and H&D game editor.








Facade: The next step in AI development or the evolution of the Sims and cyber-voyeurs? No matter what you think, you really have a look at this innovative almost-gamy piece of software.








The List v.2 (TM)

....MMOGs

Planeshift: Nothing to do with planes or planets, Planeshift is a pretty standard fantasy-themed MMORPG. It's in 3d too!

Gunbound: An amazing-looking on-line game, that's actually fun and simple.

Urban Dead: The best free MMORPG. Web-based, popular, simple and humorous. Plus you can be the Zombie.

Wyvern: It's a MMORPG, it looks like a MUD and it's in beta. What is it? Wyvern, of course.


....Strategy & Wargames

MegaMek: Live the excitement and all-around sexy action of ...er... the BattleTech board game on your PC.

Invade Earth: A sci-fi version of Risk.

Chart Wars: Apparently a management game, that has something to do with music. And charts.

GameBiz: Like Chart Wars, only with games.

Bontago: Interesting, real-time, requiring abstract strategy and in 3d.

Dark Oberon: The best freeware 2d RTS around, featuring amazing clay stop-motion animation.


....Shooters

Nexuiz: A pretty decent deathmatch FPS. I must admit it was rather enjoyable.

Starsiege: Tribes: Calling this a shooter is an understatement, but I just don't feel like elaborating. An amazing game, and I guess you'll have to thank Vivendi.

Red Planet Arena: Another highly-polished FPS, but for free.

Alien Breed: Obliteration: At last. A 2d shooter and a remake/expansion/improvement of one of the better games on the Amiga. Classic.


....RPGs

Ultima IV: A remake.

Zelda Classic: Another remake.

Eternal Daughter: Not a remake.

Dungeoncrawl: Neither a remake, nor a novel idea.


....Adventures

The Black Cauldron and more Al Lowe games: Have a look at legendary Al Lowe's creation after he did Softporn and before doing Leisure Suit Larry.

Flight of the Amazon Queen (CD version): A classic 90's point and click adventure, with great humor. Quite a tough one too.

Betrayal at Krondor: Based on the works of R.E. Feist, this is an excellent adventure. By Sierra of course.

Space Quest 0: Replicated: A funny fan addition to the Space Quest saga.

Kings Quest I, II: Great VGA remakes of the classic Sierra games.

Spooks!: Short, gothic and fresh. Reviewed by me right here.


....Games in Space

Elite: The ueber classic space-trading game, available for free through your browser. Immense.

Battlecruiser Millennium: A very complex, but ultimately rewarding game. In space.

Babylon 5: I've found her: Simply brilliant. Perhaps the best space sim of our day, and it will cost you nothing. Nada. Nichts. Rien.

Wing Commander Privateer Remake: Self explanatory and very well done.


....Arcades

Zombie Farm: Destroy 3d zombies the old fashioned way.

One Must Fall 2097: Great 2d graphics and typical beat 'em up (one-on-one) action.

Beats of Rage: Nothing to do with the Beat generation, just a very well done Streets of Rage tribute.

Horace and the Spiders: Typical platform action from the Spectrum era. Nostalgic.

GL-117: A very-very arcadey flight simulator.

FlightGear: A rather more realistic flight simulator.

A game with a kitty: Beautiful 2d platform action with great visuals.

Little Fighter 2: Decent and with anime style.

Cave Story: Arcade-adventure-platform gameplay and retro visuals.

Rumble Box: Artsy 3d beat 'em up. Worth a look.


....Unique

Cloud: What can I say for this one? It's beautiful, innovative and very playable. Makes me wonder why I didn't include it in the Top of the Crop games. Really great.

[N]: Not unique in terms of gameplay, but with highly original visuals.

Klass of '99: Relive your school years and cry like a baby.

Ocular Ink: Plain weird. You get to control an eyeball...


....Casual Time Wasting Thingies (CTWTs)

Lemmingball Z: Quirky little game, that's got Lemmings in it.

Plasmapong: Pong with fancy graphics. Guaranteed to break the ice at parties.

Future Pinball: A work in progress it might be, but an impressive pinball game it is.

Grid Wars and other nice and short casual games.

FooBillard: 3d Billard would have been more appropriate, me thinks.

Oh, and ABA Games are offering a modest collection of interesting and mostly 3d freeware games.
. . . . . . . . .

Related Gnome's Lair articles: Running old DOS games, Morrowind mods, Play retro games on Java, Telltale Texas Hold'em review


Related Tags: Free, free games, freeware, game, video games, entertainment, games, adventure, FPS, RTS, strategy, arcade, action, retro, Al Lowe