Linux fun for the holidays
- Tux Racer
- Soldier of Fortune
- Sim City 3000: Unlimited
- TORCS (The Open Racing Car Simulator)
- Pingus
- Heavy Gear II
- Icebreaker
- Pysol
- Tuxedo T. Penguin: A Quest for Herring
- Freeciv
Got some time off to celebrate the holiday of your choice? Well, you really shouldn't spend any more of it in front of a flickering monitor, but hey, you've been working hard: It's time for some fun! Download one of these 10 games -- carefully selected by Lee Anderson, LinuxWorld.com's resident game guru -- and have a blast sliding down snowy slopes, zapping the bad guys, racing the NASCAR circuit, or building a city or a whole civilization. Many of the games star our favorite flightless waterfow, Tux. Be warned, though; not all of these titles are suitable for the little ones.
--LinuxWorld.com Editors
Able to reach speeds in excess of 160 kilometers per hour, Tux the Linux mascot takes center stage in this open source downhill-skiing simulation. From its humble beginnings as a cute college project, Tux Racer has become a commercial-quality title with its use of excellent 3D graphics, weather effects, and fast-paced play. The latest version also features a cup mode -- in which you collect herring and set lap times to advance to the next track -- and a number of sleek menus that'll have you tearing up the slopes in no time.
Tux Racer is available for free at http://www.tuxracer.com and is suitable for all ages.
Soldier of Fortune
Without a doubt, Soldier of Fortune is the goriest first-person shooter I have played on Linux. Featuring a modified Quake II engine, Soldier of Fortune's main attraction is its devastating location-based damage model, which allows for some extremely graphic visuals -- including flying limbs, gruesome head shots, exposed bones, and painful nether-region wounds. A selection of common FPS weaponry is available to disembowel underworld scum in a number of vaguely linked levels; the game follows a story line that could have come from a Hollywood action movie.
Soldier of Fortune is available for purchase from http://www.lokigames.com/products/sof and http://www.tuxgames.com for about $46. Even with its gore-lockout feature, Soldier of Fortune's ESRB 17+ rating is well deserved; the game is not suitable for children.
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