ghacks Technology News

5 Best Freeware Games of 2005

By on December 29, 2005 - TAGS: None

Many great freeware games have been released in the year 2005 and I'd like to present my own personal selection of the top five games to you. The games include strategy games, action games, ego shooters and adventures. Should be something in it for every taste. The freeware scene has developed in the last years producing bigger and better looking games that can sometimes even be compared to commercial products that have been released this year.

5. Advanced Strategic Command

Do you remember the game Battle Isle? It was a great hit on the Amiga Computer and can best be described as one of the first turn based hex-strategy games. Advanced Strategic Command uses a similar mechanism. It's a turn based strategy game. You play against humans in multiplayer or against the computer in a single player campaign or on single maps. You have different types of troops like soldiers and tanks and factories that produce new units.

The graphics are a bit outdated and there is no tutorial whatsoever but everyone should get the hang of the game pretty fast. Motivation and fun are what makes this a great game.

4. Zac McKracken 2

Zak Mc Kraken 2 Adventure Game

First, there was Maniac Mansion, then there was Zak McKracken. Those have been the first two adventures by Lucasarts that used the SCUMM technology and a point and click interface which revolutionized the adventure genre. Zak McKracken 2 is a fan project that looks and feels like the original in many aspects.

It has everything that most adventures of today are missing. Funny dialogs, great interface that is easy to use and riddles that feel like riddles. Remember when you found a chainsaw in Maniac Mansion but no fuel and Fuel in Zak McKracken but no chainsaw? Its the same type of humor, definitely recommended.

3. Warrock

Warrock FPS Shooter Game Spiel

Warrock is a Battlefield like game, the only difference is that Warrock is free to play while Battlefield is not. Warrock uses the same principles, you have to capture flags to gain points for your team and to reduce the points of the other team while you are in possession of those locations on the map. To do this you can use vehicles and one of five classes that have different weapons and skills in the game.

You could choose to play as a sniper, engineer, medic, heavy weapons guy and assault soldier. Everyone is able to enter vehicles like tanks and recon to move faster and gain extra firepower. Graphics are great only some animations have to be worked on to make the game look more professional.

2. GunZ The Duell

Gunz the duell multiplayer game

GunZ the Duell is a massively multiplayer game from Korea. You start by creating a character, with options to change appearance and class in the beginning.  After that you see the main server window where you select a server to play on. The character starts at level 1 and gets experience and money from killing other players and objectives in the game. Game modes include Deathmatch and Team Deathmatch as well as some others like Gladiator.

Every character has a primary fire weapon, a secondary fire weapon and a blade or knife. You can also equip armor and grenades. Every weapon and armor can be upgraded by purchasing new ones from the shop. The game itself is more of an action game than a role playing game; you can perform lots of special moves that look like they came right of the matrix movie trilogy. Wall jumps and running along walls are two of the moves. It takes some time to get the hang for the moves but once you understand them they are essential for your in game performance.

1. Mono

mono game

Mono is a fantastic simple game. Your objective is to change the color of the screen to the opposite color. The player starts with a white or black background and has to change it to black or white by shooting at colored balls that explode into halves and leave traces of their color on the background. You get extras like additional firepower which you need badly later in the game.

I hope that you enjoy at least one of the games listed here.

Enjoyed the article?: Then sign-up for our free newsletter or RSS feed to kick off your day with the latest technology news and tips, or share the article with your friends and contacts on Facebook, Twitter or Google+ using the icons below.




About the Author:Martin Brinkmann is a journalist from Germany who founded Ghacks Technology News Back in 2005. He is passionate about all things tech and knows the Internet and computers like the back of his hand. You can follow Martin on Facebook or Twitter.

Responses so far:

  1. Faizal says:

    Hey you should try http://www.darkthrone.com, the best text based online games.

  2. Muy buena lista!

    No te olvides del Icy Tower: http://www.freelunchdesign.com/games.php

  3. sang nguyen says:

    pretty lame games for the best of '05...

  4. MvChuck137 says:

    I like the play the game that the Gunbound team made called "Rakion"

    It is basicaly in a midevil magical era and u lvl up and build your character. It's an action game so slow computers will cause a lot of lag.

  5. mondus says:

    the mono link says: "Bandwidth Limit Exceeded"

    too bad

  6. Martin says:

    use this mirror from download.com

    http://www.download.com/Mono/3640-2099_4-10379806.html?sb=2&v=0

    I edited my article as well.

  7. Roomba says:

    I love to see good work that is free. It is not always about the doller.

  8. Ben says:

    Warrock is, I belive, only free while the beta-test.

  9. deathneo says:

    WAR ROCK is a straight rip and jack of battlefield, they even took sounds from battlefield....... isnt that illegal? Your better off buying battlefield 2 and getting mods then WarROCK

  10. Ivan Minic says:

    Mono is simply fenomenal logic game, one of the best that ever came out!

  11. Martin says:

    I agree with you, Mono is simplistic but makes lots of fun, has great gameplay and a good sound.

  12. Magicor says:

    Very good selection. I have included this link in FREEWARE_11

  13. brian says:

    is it just me or is Zak2 only in German? Is there an English version?

    Brian

  14. Martin says:

    There should be an english version because there is an english solution for the game http://www.nikis.de/zak2lsgen.htm

  15. Martin says:

    you can download a version with many languages from http://www.the-underdogs.org/game.php?id=4361

    when you setup the game you can select the games language :)

  16. Jon Ward says:

    COR Entertainment's Code Red Alien Arena should be on that list.

  17. Yogin says:

    You missed an incredible freeware game:

    http://www.wesnoth.org

    It really shows the miracle of community development and GPL licensing.

  18. Mocheeze says:

    Someone is forgetting about Blockland: http://blockland.us Don't forget to get the (also free) addon of 'Return to Blockland': http://returntoblockland.com

    It's a free 1st/3rd person Lego building game that you do co-operatively with other people online in user-hosted servers. It got a lot of coverage (The Screen Savers) back in February/March. I've been addicted to it since then.

  19. G-spot says:

    I have to give a kudos to a game that's been in development for many years and was recently completed. Although the game itself is free it runs on the Dungeon Siege engine.

    The Ultima V remake done by Lazarus.

    AMAZING!!!!

  20. G-spot says:

    whoops.. forgot to post the site for Ultima V Lazarus.
    http://www.u5lazarus.com/

  21. ROFLCHOPTER says:

    All the best stuff in the world is free. I love you freegame maker guys. Big hug!

  22. Ken says:

    Those games are NOT my favorites! My favorite freeware game released in 2005 is Babala, is Babala. It's very keen, try it.

  23. Colin Saunders says:

    This is a blatant plug for http://alexadex.com, a free online game where players buy and sell shares in websites. Might make this list next year. ;)

  24. dee says:

    Kingdom of Loathing rocks! The best MMORPG you will find, free to play,
    expertly executed and utterly addictive.

  25. Saad says:

    dang man...........gunz the duel is a really tight game :)

  26. wolfie 13 says:

    WAR ROCK is a straight rip and jack of battlefield, they even took sounds from battlefield……. isnt that illegal? Your better off buying battlefield 2 and getting mods then WarROCK

    Said by deathneo December 30, 2005 at about 6:28 am
    ^you sir, are an **** ****, IF you cannot apreciate that people do this stuff
    for free you shouldn't have clicked on this link if the first place, WarRock
    IS free and (in the korean version which IS translated) has more features.
    Bf2 will st you back when new 40 pounds! thats around 50 Dollars!
    Don't knock FREE games.

  27. Pyro108 says:

    yea blockland DEFINETLY rules over all other games

  28. Mosh says:

    Decent list. Probably wouldn't have been my choices but still a very interesting read.

  29. Caja says:

    Mono is a great game. I like really short games, too busy to play long ones, and a game can be played in approx. 5 - 10 minutes. the first couple of times it is almost like a wild halucination, my chair was even traveling around the desk.

  30. Vivek says:

    This top five freeware games of '05 list isn't so great, but the comments (and the links) make it worthwhile. Keep post more good stuff everyone !

  31. Scotty says:

    To all those jackasses who wish to complain about the games, just remember
    they are FREEWARE and the host of this site go to a lot of trouble to
    bring them to you! I for one am extremely greatful to the host, as I barely
    subsist on a disability pension and could never afford to go out and buy
    games.
    To the host of this site, I say "Thank you!"

  32. mijijo says:

    Yo estaba buscando una lista de servidores Battlefield2 pirata para jugar,,,, solo queria divertirme un poco... Claro que no sabia que existia un juego Free de esta magnitud y categoria...

    I'm just can say THANKs....

  33. lenny says:

    get more and better games

  34. Tweaks4PC.com says:

    Wow! Some real gems here. Most of them look like high-quality games. Really gonna waste some time playing these. Thanks for sharing! :)

Subscribe without commenting

© 2005-2013 Ghacks.net. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy - Disclaimer - About Us