Home  My Programs  Freeware  Game Maker  Articles  Links  Misc  Contact

Freeware Menu >> Strategy games


Note: Some games may omit to mention all the game controls, so these are some common game controls, although not all games will use them.
F1 for help, F4 switch between a window and fullscreen, F5 saves game, F6 load a saved game, Esc exit the game.


Transcendence v098b

Transcendence is a vast space combat game. The ultimate object of the game is to reach the galactic core, via a network of stargates, while battling pirates and looting their supplies to fund your mission.
At the start of a game you can choose one of three ships, the nippy Sapphire yacht, the slow but well equipped freighter, or my choice, the Wolfen gunship.
Initially, apart from a good supply of fuel, your ship isn't very well equipped. It can handle the first few star systems, but needs better weapons and shields to deal with better equipped pirates.
To upgrade your ship, you need money. This can be acquired in several ways, trading between outposts (difficult and not very profitable), mining (profitable, but tedious), or blowing up pirate ships and stations and selling the cargo you loot from the wreckage (fun and highly profitable).

When attacking a much bigger enemy, it's a good idea to sneak up behind them!

The first pirates are fast, but easy to kill, especially if you have a omni-directional laser. But things soon get more tricky, as the pirates become more numerous and better equipped, you will need a variety of weapon types to cope with different types of defensive shields. Also for protection you will need better shields and armour.
At first it is tricky to know what equipment to buy, but as you try different offensive and defensive systems, it will become easier.

There are numerous different stations and features to explore as you travel through the star systems, you can take work as an armed escort for freighters owned by the Korolov company, fly missions for the military, or fight in an arena. You will discover that each task has benefits and drawbacks.

You will meet a variety of alien races, some are benign and not easily riled, others are very aggressive and will seek you out for a fight. In the later stages of the game, capital ships appear, with awesome firepower and defences. In my experience, the best way of dealing with these ships, is to run away...............

The game graphics are excellent (especially when you consider the small size of the game file), with an enormous variety of beautifully drawn ships and stations, even after playing for several hours, new ship types still appear from time to time.
The sound effects are pretty good, with plenty of explosions. Sensibly the music stops after the intro.

Presentation is good, with a nice loading screen and title screen. Help is limited to a control key summary accessed by pressing F1 and basic readme in the game folder. However there are several help files on the web site and the forums contain a wealth of useful information.

You can add to your choice of available ships, by using extensions. You can create these yourself, or use those available in the forum. I couldn't complete the game using the standard ships, but I modified a Ferian warship to give me better speed and firepower and made it to the end.

Transcendence is an excellent and imaginative freeware game, it kept me occupied and entertained for hours and surpasses many commercial games. The game is still a work in progress, but it is stable and jam packed full of interesting features.

Freeware -- Download size 10Mb -- Win XP (possibly Win 98se also)

Security note: On the community page the link to the Transcendi page is broken and the page it directs you to, gives a security alert in AVG, so do not click on it.

http://neurohack.com/transcendence/index.html

Strategy/Logic Game -- Babala.

In Babala you control a tank and the object of the game is to defeat all the Babalaks, on each of the two hundred levels.
The game is turn based and during each turn you have a limited number of moves and shots.
During the Babalaks turn, they will attempt to reach you, one touch and you lose. The Babalaks don't shoot at you directly, but they may trigger bombs and flame dragons, which can destroy you.

The game graphics are very simple, with some rather basic animations and the sound is limited to a simple and annoying beep. (I wouldn't bother turning it on)

The levels vary considerably in difficulty, some take seconds, while others require some planning and lateral thinking.
I have been playing the game on and off all week and have only reached level fifty eight so far.
You can set the game to show the range of the enemies movement, but I found that after a few levels I didn't need it.
A useful help legend is provided, which shows at a glance the capabilities of each type of enemy.

Although the game is copyrighted for 04/05 and is still being developed, it has a much older appearance and feel, but all the necessary features are present, with a good help file and control by either the keyboard, or mouse (using the game window controls).
Further help and advice is provided on the games web site, including a forum.

Overall, an enjoyable game, that "grows" on you, although non-puzzlers may find it too slow.

Freeware -- Download size 471k -- Win 98, Me, 2000, XP.

Note: To run the game you may also need to download the GTK+ library (4.87Mb), full details are on the download page.

http://www.babala.org

Home