Best free arena first-person shooter?

Tek7

Tek7

CGA President, Tribe of Judah Founder & President
Staff member
So I recently tried out Xonotic and liked it. Then I realized most of the active player base resides outside of the US, which means there aren't many servers where my ping is under 100.

I then started looking around at other free arena FPS games and found Red Eclipse. I'd already known about Classic Nexuiz and WarSow.

So which of these four games is your favorite?
And do you know of any other free arena FPS games?

I'm leaning toward removing Classic Nexuiz from the running since it's unlikely it will ever be updated.

I like Xonotic, but there's not much documentation on dedicated servers and many of the servers are based outside the US.

I played Warsow a few years ago and liked it, but the art style may not be for everybody.

I've yet to try Red Eclipse, but I'm downloading it now.
 
When it comes out, I recommend Tribes: Ascend. Got to demo it at Quakecon this year and had a blast playing it.
 
So... who wants to make ToJ arena? lol....

Anyway, I'll be downloading red eclipse when I get home.

EDIT: RED ECLIPSE HAS SWORDS?? WIN...

EDIT2: Why isn't cube on that list? Imma totally gonna try cube.
 
Last edited:
CajunGeek said:
When it comes out, I recommend Tribes: Ascend. Got to demo it at Quakecon this year and had a blast playing it.
Click to expand...
I should have clarified.

I meant free AND open source, not free-to-play.

I found a few more free and open source arena FPS games:
It looks like OpenArena hasn't been updated in a while, but the ETA for the next patch was "Summer 2011."

I also learned Xonotic has vehicles which...doesn't really sway me one way or another. At least, not until I see how they work in-game.
 
Mostly_Harmless said:
NO! we already have the best AAA shooter ever...it's called UT 3!
Click to expand...
I already asked everyone not to play other arena shooters on Monday nights. :)

And finding a free and open source arena FPS is more about playing quick (10-15 minutes) deathmatch rounds when the mood hits. If Quake Live had caught on with ToJ members, I likely wouldn't have gone looking for free and open source FPS games.

Joshinator said:
EDIT2: Why isn't cube on that list? Imma totally gonna try cube.
Click to expand...
Because Cube hasn't been updated since 2005 and Cube hasn't been updated since July 2010.
 
Okay, so far:

Not diggin' Red Eclipse. I don't like the graphic style, movement, controls, or weapons as much as the other games on the list. I can see why other people would want to play it, but I'm just not feelin' it.

I like Warsow. I think Mostly_Harmless would really like Warsow if he tried it. But the emphasis on movement and bunny jumping doesn't thrill me. One of the reasons I prefer Quake over Unreal Tournament is the lack of dashing and dodge-jumping in Quake and Warsow makes liberal use of dashing and dodge-jumping.

So far, Xonotic is still in the lead, but I have a few other games to try first.

EDIT: And I gotta say "nope" to World of Padman. Just...nope.
 
Last edited:
Cube 2?

And hey, could we get a deathmatch subforum? lol

I really actually like quake live... I just always forget to play it.... o_O
 
Last edited:
Last I checked America's Army was a FPS and free. I tried it way back when it first came out and it was buggy and full of cheaters. Not sure now tho.
 
ewoksrule said:
If I wanted to check out UT to play on mondays, what do I need from steam?
Click to expand...

If you can buy it in stores or off amazon, i highly reccomend that because steam charges way too much money for it! Please add me to steam as well! "Brian_Jacko"
 
Joshinator said:
And hey, could we get a deathmatch subforum? lol
Click to expand...
No. We have enough forums as it is. :p

Joshinator said:
I really actually like quake live... I just always forget to play it.... o_O
Click to expand...
If you ever decide to fire up QL and see me on Steam, send me an invite and, if I'm where I can, I'll join you.

ewoksrule said:
If I wanted to check out UT to play on mondays, what do I need from steam?
Click to expand...
Mostly_Harmless said:
If you can buy it in stores or off amazon, i highly reccomend that because steam charges way too much money for it! Please add me to steam as well! "Brian_Jacko"
Click to expand...
Maybe at the regular price, sure, but the Unreal Deal Pack (which includes UT3, Unreal, Unreal 2, UT2004, and UT99) goes on sale during every major Steam sale. If you're patient enough, wait until the pack goes on sale and pick it up for $15 or less.

If you're less patient, then yes, Amazon is the place to go. It's $10.72 with FSSS (free super saver shipping with orders over $25) right now.

Wolfeman said:
Last I checked America's Army was a FPS and free.
Click to expand...
America's Army is YAMS, not an arena FPS.
 
Tek7 said:
America's Army is YAMS, not an arena FPS.
Click to expand...

I"m 41 years old. I've been playing computer games since Ultima II and Zork on the Apple II+. That is the first time I've ever heard the term YAMS.

A google search brought me this.
yams.jpg


It leads me to a site that talks about 'Yet Another Merchant System' for buying stuff.

The one time I played America's Army it had no micro-transactions and it was definitely FPS.

So what am I missing?
 
Yet another military shooter..... rage.....

Just downloaded sauerbrauten.. will be trying it out...
 
ewoksrule said:
oh no incoming Tek diatribe...
Click to expand...
Nah, if people enjoy military shooters, then enjoy them in good health. They're just not my thing and I like having an acronym to succinctly indicate which sub-genre I'm talking about.

And I admit it is fun to find an excuse to re-post this image.

YAMS!

Wolfeman said:
I"m 41 years old. I've been playing computer games since Ultima II and Zork on the Apple II+. That is the first time I've ever heard the term YAMS.
Click to expand...
That's because DannyMeister coined it recently on these very forums. I took the acronym and ran with it. (Poor Danny.)

Joshinator said:
Yet another military shooter..... rage.....
Click to expand...
I didn't mean to make anyone upset! I just like to have a friendly chuckle (all in good fun!) at the oversaturation of military FPS games on the market.

And what better way than with sweet potatoes?

...I mean, YAMS!

Joshinator said:
Just downloaded sauerbrauten.. will be trying it out...
Click to expand...
Red Eclipse is based on Cube 2. Not entirely relevant, but still informative.
 
sauerbraten is fun. Just confusing. All active servers are 100+ ping... Still pretty fun though... Didn't even notice the lag while playing :D Not quite something I'd remember to play.
 
Alien Arena is right out. The installer prompted me to install a toolbar for Internet Explorer. I declined the toolbar to finish the installation, but the game didn't wow me, either. Not bad, but not as good as Xonotic.

I think all that's left for me to try is Classic Nexuiz, but even if it's great, it's unclear whether the game will be updated once the new Nexuiz (which uses CryEngine3 and will cost money) is released.
 
World of Tanks. It might be a YAMS because it doesn't have lasers and potions but it is a bit different and it's free.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top