The Linux Blog

Well, at the moment, I’m backing up my Source files from steam. The backup utility has been around for a while (I think this is the link), but is now fully integrated. Just go to Play Games and right-click any game. Select the ones you wish to backup and the format (650MB CD or 4.7 GB DVD) you can burn, click next, and you’re off.

Sadly, I don’t have a DVD burner, so I’m stuck with burning 5 CDs (my drive is 8x burn too ).

Today, many, many games are out there and more are coming soon. I would like to review some of the older games that will run on slower computers. Most of these games will run fairly well on a 1GHz PIII with a Radeon 9000 or GeForce 2 MX. The lineup for today is Continuum (Sub Space), Age of Empires II: The Conquerors, and Half-Life (and Counter-Strike).

Continuum

This game is positioned in outer space, is 2-D, and will run on just about anything (400MHz PIII with worse than a GeForce 2 MX). Also to note, it’s free.

There are many different modifications for the game, which are called ‘zones.’ I will discuss my favotite zone, Trench Wars, where you begin as one of many ships, each with its own features. Some ships have red bullets, which are weakest, some with yellow, the medium type, and some with blue, the most devistating type. At the top, you have an energy bar (applies to all zones). When you shoot or get hit, your bar goes down. If it diminishes completely, you lose. Game over. You’re gone… for another 3 seconds or so. Shooting will not kill you, however. The object in this zone is to hold the ‘ball’ near the top-middle of the map. You obtain the ball by running over it and then defend it from intruders.

Eventually, however, this game becomes kind of dull, as do all games, but maybe a little faster than others.

Rating: 7/10

Age of Empires II: The Conquerors

Age of Empires II: The Conquerors will run fairly well on a PIII 1GHz with a GeForce 2 MX. It’s a type of game where you build a base, defenses and all, and then go out and conquer the enemies.

There are single-player missions as well as a multiplayer mode. In multiplayer, you play basically as described in the last paragraph. In single-player mode, you are given a set of accomplishments to achieve (e.g. don’t let Joan of Arc die while escorting her across the map), which you must do so to suceed. It’s quite a fun game and a lot people still play it (Zone), even though it’s old.

Rating: 8/10

Half-Life / Counter-Strike (1.6)

As many of you know, Half-Life 2 was released today (11/16/04), but I’m not here to review it, I have yet to finish it. Half-Life is what I’m talking about. You know, the old one, which was released on November 19, 1998, which many people adored. I won’t say much, as I haven’t finished it either. I will, however, review Counter-Strike.

Counter-Strike is probably the most popular multiplayer game out there without much arguing (this includes the Source version as well in this case). It’s unique in that you buy weapons, you don’t choose your class, you don’t do anything like that, just buy your weapons. It’s also much harder to kill people, as headshots can kill a whole lot faster than foot-shots. In other games, the difference isn’t that dramatic, you don’t go around practicing head-shots like in Counter-Strike. The only thing that really annoys me in CS is the fact that you can’t be good without being called a cheater. This is partially due to the amount of people who are horrible at the game and the other portion due to the volume of people playing. More people means more people who cannot tell what a cheat looks like. Overall, it’s an awesome and hard game to play if you get on the right server.

By the way, get Half-Life 2 while you’re at it. To get any of the Half-Life series games, just download the Steam client (free), make an account (free), and purchase games. Half-Life is only about $8 USD in stores at the moment, but I am unsure about the cost on Steam.

Counter-Strike: 9.9/10

Half-Life: ??/10

Is it finally here? Yes, it is. After a 5 year development cycle of missed released dates, code leaks, and trials, Half-Life 2 is released. Rejoice, the wait is now over. A good read on the journey of Half-Life 2, though quite long, may be found at GameSpot.
As for me, I’m playing, so leave me alone for a week or two .

If you don’t know how to buy the game (wait, who doesn’t?), check out the official Steam website.