The 13-Year-Old s Picks

The 13-Year-Old's Picks

At the opening of this book, I mentioned my nephew, Paul, now a happy Linux user and, as it turns out, a happy Linux gamer. Since I wanted to know what an expert on video games finds entertaining, I asked him for a list of his favorite games so far. I've already mentioned at least one of the games he likes: PPRacer (or TuxRacer). His list of favorites is pretty varied.

For starters, he thinks FreedroidRPG is awesome. Johannes Prix and Reinhard Prix's FreedroidRPG is a beautiful 3D role-playing game with superb graphics, a cool soundtrack and sound effects, and a well-developed world (Figure 19-15). Here's the back story. Sometime, in the not-too-distant future, a mega-corporation known as Megasoft (or MS for short) has effectively taken over the galaxy. They managed to do this by using their vast corporate power to install Trojan horses in every computer-equipped machine on the planet, including those of government and police. As a result, all of humanity was enslaved. Due to some terrible programming error, however, the machines rebelled and took over, thus making things worse than they already were.

Figure 19-15. FreedroidRPG is a great combination of classic adventure with a post-industrial science fiction theme.

The only hope for mankind now is a cyborg version of Tux, a so-called lunarian. Equipped with high-tech armor, low-tech magic, and a laser sword, our hero is ready to take on the machines and bring freedom to the galaxy. Along the way, you'll battle numerous villains and monsters, pick up items, money, and weapons, and meet up with all sorts of interesting characters. FreedroidRPG is available at http://freedroid.sourceforge.net.

Remember the 1982 Disney movie called Tron? Inside the computer, programs engaged in gladiatorial battles, fighting for their users. One of the deadly sports in this virtual world was a lightcycle race. Contestants rode a kind of motorcycle that left a wall of light in its wake. The cycles themselves can't stop. The only thing you can do is ride, avoiding your opponents' walls while trying to get them to crash into yours. The last program standing wins. A lightcycle called KTron comes with your KDE desktop (program name ktron). The popularity of the lightcycle concept has created a number of variations on the theme, including one of my nephew's favorites. It's called Armagetron (Figure 19-16) think Armageddon. Armagetron is available at http://armagetron.sourceforge.net.

Figure 19-16. Armagetron is an excellent re-creation of the classic lightcycle duel.

My nephew's list was pretty long, but I'll leave you with a last favorite of Paul's, which also happens to be one of mine. It's called SuperTux (Figure 19-17), a classic jump-and-run platform game in the style of, you guessed it, Super Mario Bros. The story goes like this: Tux and Penny (Tux's love interest) are out for a nice date together when Tux gets knocked out and his lovely Penny gets penguin-napped by the evil Nolok. Held prisoner in Nolok's equally evil fortress, Tux must brave all sorts of perils to save his lovely lady. It is your job to help Tux succeed in his quest. SuperTux is available at http://super-tux.sourceforge.net.