This article is a brief selection of shooter and strategy games for Linux. It’s not intended to be a complete list, but you can dig into much more information and links by checking the included references at the end of the article.

Shooter Games

AssaultCube is a first-person shooter
http://assault.cubers.net

Cube 2: Sauerbraten is a 3D first-person shooter with integrated map editing mode
http://sauerbraten.org

Nexuiz is a first-person shooter
http://www.alientrap.org/nexuiz

Project: Starfighter a multi-directional, objective based shooter game
http://www.parallelrealities.co.uk/projects/starfighter.php

Urban Terror is a standalone Quake III Arena first-person shooter
http://www.urbanterror.info/news/home

Warsow is a Quake-like, fast-paced first-person shooter
http://www.warsow.net

Strategy Games

Battle for Wesnoth is a turn-based strategy game
http://www.wesnoth.org

Glest is a real-time strategy game, with optional multiplayer
http://glest.org/en/index.php

References:

Open Source Games at the Open Directory Project
http://www.dmoz.org/Computers/Open_Source/Software/Games/

Linux Gaming
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux_gaming

Open Source Video Games
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_source_video_game

I don’t know about your game preferences, but I sure do enjoy war games, especially those I can play online against other players. It really brings out my competitive spirit and it gets me away from the cares of daily life.

The Warrior Life.

To really get “in the groove”, I choose a game that lets me play the role of a fighter. A role playing game (RPG) is one that lets my imagination get into the situation, into the world created just for a particular game. An online war RPG game lets me live through the game character, fighting for my survival and struggling to do as much damage (earn the most points) as I make my way through the map.

Zero In.

There are lots of online war RPG games, so let me give you a guide of the features to look for so you will be able to get down to enjoying the kind of game that you like.

Free and Paid.

First of all, there are both paid and free online games. To play some of the games, you must pay first. If you choose the free games, however, beware that many are set up to entice you to pay for various features. These games let you start for free, but charge you for special weapons, maps, or enhancements.

Important Tip for Registering.

Many of the online games make you register, or sign up, for an account before you can play, even if playing the games is free. Especially when you are not too familiar with a site, it’s best to use a “disposable” free email address to sign up. That way, if the site starts spamming you and you can’t unsubscribe, you can just ignore it.

Security First.

Next, beware that you can play games that run in your browser, or games that run as programs on your computer. Unless you are short on disk space, there is no reason to limit your selections to browser games. However, be sure to scan any files you download with a good antivirus program before you install (run) them.

Read the Documentation.

Another thing to watch out for is that some online war RPG games only pit you against the built-in challenges in the game itself. Others let you play against other people online. Sometimes it’s hard to distinguish which characters are generated by the computer and which are controlled by actual players (people). Find out who controls the characters by checking the documentation for the your particular game.

What it Takes to Start Playing – a Warning!

Another warning is that you should be careful when looking for games to play online.

Some of them require you to complete special offers before you can play. The offers may require you to buy things or sign up for services. Look at each screen when you visit a site for the first time, so that you aren’t caught off-guard.

Here’s How to Get Going.

What’s the best way to get started? Just visit a search engine (like Google or Bing) and put in the search term “online war rpg game”. You can then investigate the sites in the search results one by one.

Use Available Search Functions.

Another tip for finding a cool online war RPG game is to visit a site that shows many online games, then narrow your selection to war games. This is only possible on sites that let you search the games, or ones that display categorized listings of games.

One to Get You Started.

If you want to jump to a site right away, here is one to give you a head start:

http://www.mpog100.com

This site lists the 100 top multi-player online games as judged by visitors to the site. It covers more than war games, but you can usually find some good online war RPG games in their list. The bonus is that the games you find will be highly rated by other gamers, giving you a good chance for a positive game experience.

Have fun!

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