It is the summer holidays and many people have plenty of time on their hands. Some of us are stuck with laptops and can’t play the huge blockbuster games that require hefty graphic cards. Why not try these classic open source remakes? The underlying gameplay has already been proven and the graphics are updated to a presentable and playable level. Everyone of these games listed here were best sellers of their times and many of us hold great memories of these games.
I personally remember playing a lot of Total Annihilation, Transport Tycoon, Civilization, Colonization, X-COM: UFO Defense and Worms. I still regularly play TA Spring and FreeSpace. TA has great multiplayer and FreeSpace has some quality campaigns that boast of good stories and exciting gameplay. Please do take your time to try these games out. They are free, have very good gameplay and are sure to entertain you. You won’t be disappointed!
Top 10 Classic Game Remakes
1. TA Spring - Remake of Total Annihilation
“Total Annihilation a.k.a. TA is a futuristic RTS PC game, created by Chris Taylor and Cavedog Entertainment and released on September 30, 1997[1] by GT Interactive. It was the first RTS to feature 3D units and terrain, a significant achievement in the days before graphics cards with hardware based 3D acceleration became commonplace. Two expansion packs were released, The Core Contingency on April 30, 1998[2] and Battle Tactics on June 30, 1998.[3] The game won many awards, including Gamespot’s Game of the Year Award for 1997. TA is considered to be one of the best RTS games of all time, and is still played actively today, more than 9 years after its release.”
TA Spring has improved 3D graphics, control schemes. Even the TA’s successor, Supreme Commander takes a few pointers from Spring. Great multiplayer community means there is always a game ready to be played. Try this out if your computer is unable to run Supreme commander or you are looking for a great RTS night with your friends.
Download @ http://spring.clan-sy.com/download.php
2. FreeSpace 2
FreeSpace 2 was a Space simulator like the Wing Commander Series. However now it is living on as an open source game where there are even user created campaigns with quality and content that rivals that of the original. User created campaigns include settings in Babylon universe, Battlestar Galactica Universe and also Wing Commander. Improved graphics means that flashing light effects and sounds make the game seem quite modern. Great for a fun night blasting enemies away.
Download @ http://www.hard-light.net/wiki/index.php/FreeSpace_Open_Installer
3. Simutrans - Remake of Transport Tycoon
“Transport Tycoon (TT) and Transport Tycoon Deluxe (TTD) are computer games in which the player is in control of a transport company, and can compete against rival companies to make as much profit as possible, by transporting passengers and various goods by road, rail, sea or by air.”
I remembered spending a hours playing Transport Tycoon when I was still in school. You get to learn some basic economics and business skills. Great for a young mind to play as it is addictive and educational. Parents might just want to introduce this game to their children. Sadly economic building games are no longer hot games and very little companies actually develop them anymore. Simutrans has simple graphics but the underlying game play is very complex and there is much to learn.
Download @ http://forum.simutrans.com/index.php/board,51.0.htm
4. NetHack - Remake of Hack
“NetHack is a single-player roguelike computer game originally released in 1987. It is an evolution of an earlier game called Hack (1985), which was itself an evolution of Rogue (1980). The “net” element references that its development has been coordinated through the Internet, which was notable at the time. The “hack” element refers to a genre of role-playing games known as hack and slash for their focus on combat.”
The player takes the part of a dungeon-diving hero in search of the Amulet of Yendor. The dungeon spans over 50 levels, most of which are randomly generated. The dungeon contains monsters, weaponry, magical items, hidden doors and more.Diablo, Titan quest has great graphics. Nethack has no graphics to speak of. Instead it compensates by adding very flexible gameplay. Using ASCII characters to represent monsters and walls, it creates a random universe everytime you step into the game. I tried it once but I found that I kept dying. Not for the faint hearted I guess. But as an RPG, it is the golden benchmark of game play
Download @ http://www.nethack.org/v343/downloads.html
5. Vega Strike - Remake of “Elite” which inspired Wing Commander: Privateer
“Vega Strike aims to insert players into a large, dynamic universe with diverse factions of varying disposition to the player and to each other, and an economy model where trade, combat and exploration are all profitable. Financial gains allow the player to buy upgrades and/or better vehicles, thus enabling him/her to advance into more dangerous and profitable missions. The player can have varying levels of relations with factions. Negative relations can form if the player kills some of a given faction’s ships. Positive relations can be formed if the player destroys ships that are part of an enemy to a given faction. Players can either buy and sell cargo, or accept missions from the Mission Computer, as well as talking to people in the local bar at the space station/planet. In the tradition of some precursor games, individuals of significant plot importance are often found in bars.”
Download @ http://vegastrike.sourceforge.net/files/index.html
6. FreeCiv – Remake of Civilization
Sid Meier’s Civilization is a computer game created by Sid Meier for Microprose in 1991. The game’s objective is “…to build an empire that would stand the test of time”. The game begins in 4000 BC, and the players attempt to expand and develop their empires through the ages until modern and near-future times. It is also known simply as Civilization, or abbreviated to Civ or Civ I. It is generally acknowledged to be a pioneer in the genre of turn-based strategy games.”
Civilization is one of the longest running franchises in computer gaming history. The latest is Civilization 4 which incorporates multiplayer. Civilization is another turn based game that I played a lot of. Even recently I had play matches of civ 4 with my friends. This game definitely brings out the “one more turn” syndrome that sucks you into the game and refuses to let you go until the game ends.
Download @ http://freeciv.wikia.com/wiki/Download
7. FreeCol - Remake of Colonization
“Colonization has many similarities to Sid Meier’s previous title, Civilization. Both games pit the player as a godlike leader of an embattled civilization, the objective being to gain supremacy over rival civilizations, primarily through military means and discovery, but also through diplomacy, economics, and the strategic transformation and utilization of the land.[3] In Civilization the player begins the game in 4000BC, with a ‘primitive’ tribe which “gradually builds up a sophisticated conglomeration of cities… infrastructure, units, resources” and scientific know-how, “nearly everything is quantified (not only money, production of units, and infrastructure but also science and culture). With increasing levels of sophistication of the population of the cities, the player controls the differentiation of the people, some become farmers, others soldiers, scouts, diplomats, scientists etc.”
Colonization is very similar to civilization. Both comes from the great game designer, sid miero. Colonization takes place in the great immigration of the New World. There is a stronger focus on economics and diplomacy compared to Civilization. A game I played in between civilization 1 and civilization 2.
Download @ http://www.freecol.org/index.php?section=6
8. UFO:_Alien_Invasion - Remake of X-COM: UFO Defense
“The story of X-COM begins in 1998. The initial plot centers around increased reports of UFO sightings. Tales of abduction and terrorism by the unknown aliens become widespread. The nations of the world come to perceive this as a threat and attempt to form their own forces to deal with this, such as Japan’s Kiryu-Kai; these forces fail miserably, the Kiryu-Kai not intercepting a single UFO in its five months of operation. On December 11, 1998, representatives from some of the most powerful nations in the world meet in Geneva, Switzerland, to discuss the issue. From this meeting was born the Extraterrestrial Combat Unit—X-COM, who the player controls in the course of the game.”
Another remake of a classic game. UFO Alien Invasion is a turn based tactical game when you do battles with aliens. In addition you also have to allocate resources to develop new technologies and build new bases. Games of these type have almost become non existent now. The closest I think is Company of Heroes.
Download @ http://sourceforge.net/project/platformdownload.php?group_id=157793
9. BZFlag – Remake of Battlezone
“Battlezone is an arcade game from Atari released in 1980. It displays a wireframe view (using vector graphics rather than raster graphics) on a horizontal black and white CRT (with green and red sectioned color overlay). Due to its novel gameplay and look, this game was very popular for many years.”
Download @ http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=3248
10. Wormux – Remake of Worms
“Worms is the first in a series of turn-based strategy games developed by Team17. It was released in 1995 and is one of the most popular strategy games ever made. The player controls a team of worms, each team consists of four members. The objective of the game is to wipe the enemy team(s) within the time limit, the team which has worms still alive at the end of the match is the winner. The player has access to a whole variety of weapons, from simple firearms like the shotgun, to heavy weapons such as the air-strike.”
Simple to pick up and play with your friends. Worms is a great party game.
Download @ http://www.wormux.org/wiki/en/index.php
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