And so ends a long week that I know for one, didn’t plan for it to be so long. Tomorrow at around this time, I know I’ll be pulling up a seat and watching a re-run of tonight’s episode of Doctor Who, as I relax and smile, and wish you all well. Like I always do, week in and week out. It’s been brought to my attention by Raymond that this also marks my one month writing period, along side him. I’ll be honest, it has been a tough first month, trying to decide what to write for you all, but I feel that what I’ve written, while unusual considering the norm for the blog, is nothing completely unorthodox.

So with great pleasure, I would like to introduce this week’s strategy games. Keep in mind that two of them are real time strategy and one is a turn-based, but all of them should work cross platform. And like always, there’s also the surprise at the end as well for Raymond.cc readers. So let’s begin.

Bos Wars (63 mb)

Bos Wars has to be one of the most interesting Real Time Strategies I have ever played… especially because the default AI is insanely difficult. For those of you last week that tried Bastet last week and swore that game up and down, this manages to make Bastet look doable. Yes, that’s right, it’s that complex. But for those of us used to the old Command and Conquer series, will love Bos Wars due to how similar the idea is. It manages to be one of the most challenging games I’ve played in a long time, but at the same time, one of the ones that I love to come back to, time and time again. Bos Wars works for Linux and Windows, and if you’re using Linux, chances are good your distribution will have a pre-compiled copy in it’s repos.

Warzone 2100 (48 mb with no addons)

If you were a gamer back in the days of Windows 98, there is a chance you have/had heard of Warzone 2100. It is an older game that used to be closed source in design and designed by Pumpkin Studios, published by Eidos Interactive. It was a classic game, along side Urban Assault (published by Microsoft Studios), that tried to revolutionize the real-time-strategy games with an extremely simplistic game GUI as well as allowing for fully customized units specialized as you see fit. But ever since 2004, the game has been open source due to the deconstruction of Pumpkin Studios. And since 2008, even the soundtrack has been turned into Open Source, so we have complete audio and video playback for anyone who wants to play this unique game. (For those that are wondering what made Urban Assault so unique, you could jump into a unit and take full control over it.) Warzone 2100, while by default is a small download, can be expanded into quite a large one with all the possible add-ons and makes for an extremely addictive game even to this very day. Unlike Bos Wars, the AI is not too hard and not too easy, and slowly but surely gets you hooked. An interesting thing to note is that there is also a Portable Apps version of this game as well!

The Battle for Wesnoth (255.9MB)

The Battle for Wesnoth is our final open source game for today, a turn based strategy game that was designed after what appears to be the King Arthur legends. It is a highly addictive game that has a complete tutorial to ease you into the game, several campaigns ranging from simple and easy to highly difficult and stumping, as well as a booming multiplayer. The default install also includes a map editor so you can create your own custom maps for Wesnoth without having to download any separate packages. And on top of working for Windows, Macintosh, and Linux, there is also an app for your iPhone if you own one! To say it’s a successful game would be understating what power Wesnoth has over the open source games!

Finally, today’s surprise is a game modeled after the same idea of Bastet, to infuriate you. Perhaps you’ve heard of it, or played it on a friend’s insistence. But believe me when I say “I Want To Be The Guy” is one of the hardest games you will ever play. I pride myself on being a decent video gamer, but even I can’t beat this game. It’s 69 megabytes and is a complete game… but is also going to be one of those games where you tear your hair out screaming, “Why on Earth did I listen to Paul to play this game?” Thankfully, Linux and Mac users are safe from this game… but I believe it works under Wine, a program that is used to emulate parts of Windows under Linux and Macintosh. (Yes, I know, Wine Is Not an Emulator, but it still is one, you have to admit.) That’s all from me this week, I’ll be posting again on Tuesday.

Links to older Open Source Gaming articles
Week One – First Person Shooters
Week Two – Simulation
Week Three – Remakes of Classics