Runes of Avalon - an enjoyable game for Linux

In my teens I was addicted to playing computer games. We all are at some point of our lives. And I have played a wide variety of games from arcade to RPG and simulations. But the most enjoyable ones were games which had simple controls. Some of the classic games of yore I have immensely enjoyed are Pacman, MS-Pac, Dig Dug, Snake and so on. More recently, I enjoyed playing the two games Fizzball and Prof Fizzwizzle and the molten mystery which the regular readers of this blog would have already read a review of.

Two weeks back I had the opportunity to try out another very interesting game called "Runes of Avalon". This game is the brain child of Roman Budzowski the founder of Anawiki Games - a professional game developing firm based in Poland. "Runes of Avalon" game has been released for the Linux platform apart from that for Windows and MacOSX.

The game is played entirely with the aid of the mouse and the objective of the game is to clear out runes which are nothing but small tablets of varied colors with inscriptions on it. On first glance the game has some semblance with a tetris game in that you have to match three or more tablets (runes) of similar colors to make them disappear from the board. You can rotate the runes by clicking the right mouse button. And the runes come in different combinations so some mixing and matching is in order. But the similarity to tetris ends there.

Fig: Play Quest mode main page

Fig: Game play in progress

The game has three modes of play. Them being "Play Quest", "Time attack" - where you have just one minute to clear the board of runes and "Endless play".

There are a total of 105 different levels in the "Play Quest" mode. In this mode each time you bring together three or more runes of same color together to form combinations, it gets recorded in a beautiful energy meter on the top left corner of the game board (See figure below). And once the specified quota of energy for each color of rune is met, the level is completed.

Fig: Different stages of the energy meter and timer

This very entertaining game also has a bonus game called "Gallery" where you have to put together jumbled images and make them whole again.

Fig: Completing this level provides you with additional spells or power-ups

It might be said that there are numerous games of these sort with similar game play. To some extent it is true but if you ask me, what makes a game a success and a joy to play is a combination of factors - them being ease of control, superior graphical effects and an entertaining game play. I found "Runes of Avalon" game to sport all these qualities.

It is also commendable that the game developers decided to release a Linux version of their game albeit a non-free game, which in my mind is a big thing in itself because as they all say, an Operating system is as useful as the applications which run on it. And as more and more game developers roll out games for Linux platform it will have a trickle effect in the rise in popularity of Linux.

Pros of Runes of Avalon

• Very entertaining game play
• Ease of control - You play the game entirely using the mouse.
• Beautiful graphics.
• More than one person can play the game simultaneously by managing multiple profiles and the game keeps track of individual scores.
• Automatic saving of ones play levels so you can come back and continue playing where you left off.
• Value for money
• Has over 105 different levels in the "Play Quest" mode, with other modes containing more levels.
• Can download additional levels from the net for free.
  

Any drawbacks ?

This game makes use of OpenGL libraries. So if you have an NVIDIA or ATI graphics card, you won't be able to play the game properly using their open source drivers bundled with all Linux distributions. You will have to download and install the proprietary drivers from the respective websites before you can play the game.

If you are using a Linux distribution such as PCLinuxOS or Ubuntu, downloading and installing the proprietary graphics drivers is a piece of cake and can be done using Synaptic. I tested this game in PCLinuxOS 2007 and the game played flawlessly.

What really makes me happy is that professional game developers are eyeing the Linux platform with increasing interest. The OpenGL framework on which many games could be based upon shows a lot of promise. The Beryl and Compiz project is proof of what could be achieved with OpenGL and that, is just the tip of the iceberg.

The game - Runes of Avalon - is nominally priced at $19.99 and you can download a time limited demo version of the game which is fully playable and test it out before making the jump to buy it. The simplicity of this game makes it an ideal one for kids and adults alike and provide hours of fun in the process.