The Best Free PC Games of 2011 (so far)

Author: Jack Mason 27/07/2011

The PC has a vast and long running collection of excellent games. Luckily for us, some of the best are free, and who is going to complain about that?

If you are new to PC gaming you may not have heard about some of the great free games you can download and install on your PC . Most of the games in the list below require you to sign up with an email, activate your account, and you are good to go. You would then download the game, install it, and there you have it... Hours of PC gaming enjoyment and it won’t cost you a penny!

This is my list of the best PC games you can play for free in 2011.. These are the free ones that are actually worth playing:

Minecraft:

http://www.minecraft.net/play.jsp

http://www.minecraft.net/servers.jsp

Markus Persson and his team at Mojang Studios have created the runaway success story of 2011 so far, and it is easy to see why once you step into the game. Imagine you find yourself stranded on an island. Your first thought should be “Where the hell am I and how do I survive”... and surviving is paramount in Minecraft. You can do this in a number of ways. The player can kill the wildlife on the island for food, they can build houses for protection, they can create traps for any monsters that may fancy a midnight snack and come knocking on their door.

Minecraft is all about living on an Island and surviving in whatever way you can. The classic version of the game is free for single player and multiplayer. Although it is an older build of the game it still has many of the core game play features intact.

Check out the video below and prepare to become a Minecraft addict once you have sampled the game for an hour or two.

APB Reloaded (All Points Bulletin):

http://www.gamersfirst.com/apb/

APB Reloaded is a great third person action shooter that is still in beta but very addictive and very free. The recipe is simple... Good Guys vs. Bad Guys and you get to choose which side you want to be on. Players who become an enforcer (essentially an officer of the law) will face off against players who choose to be a Criminal. Each player will then join a district to carry out missions, which in turn go towards experience points, money and gear.

Bear in mind that each instance is a massive City (à la Grand Theft Auto) with 100 players in at maximum capacity and you have a full scale war on your hands.

Players can go solo or group up with their friends to take part in big skirmishes and fights on the streets. 10 vs. 10 player battles get pretty mental when you have rocket launchers, machine guns, grenades and cars all going at it fighting over a briefcase for 8 minutes.

We forgot to mention the excellent character creation and customisation tool. Probably one of the best in recent years. You can mould and morph your player character as you see fit. The customisation also extends to your in game clothes and vehicles which can be extensively changed as to make your player appearance unique from others.

As of June 2011 APB reloaded has over 24,000 beta players so why not you sign up today and see what all the fuss is about.

Alien Swarm:

www.alienswarm.com

4 player co-op. Marines.  Aliens. Lots of Guns. 4 different classes to choose from. Tons of equipment to select and use with devastating effect.  A robust level editor. Achievements. Flamethrowers. More guns.

All of the above plays flawlessly and looks gorgeous on Valve’s Source engine. The best part... It is all absolutely free :)

League of Legends:

http://euw.leagueoflegends.com/

League of Legends is an insanely popular free game. It is a top down multiplayer online battle arena game (MOBA for short) inspired by the legendary Warcraft III custom scenario DOTA (Defence of the Ancients).

Players are made into 2 teams of 5 and get to pick one of 79 individual champions to play as. Every champion has a unique look and a unique set of skills. Players level up as the game progresses and are allowed to buy items which have an effect on combat.

Each team starts in their base or “nexus” and your main objective is to destroy the opposing teams “nexus”... However, to get to the other teams “nexus” isn’t an easy task. There are 3 routes (“Lanes”) into the enemy base but each way is guarded by monsters(“creeps”) and Towers which attack you if you go anywhere near them and do a lot of damage.

League of Legends requires strategy, communication, teamwork and concentration to succeed. It may seem a little daunting at first and the learning curve is quite steep, but when you win a game and you play well, you really feel like you deserve it.

As of July 2011 League of Legends has 15 Million registered users and on average 10 games are started every second... So why not join in and see what all the fuss is about!

Quake Live:

http://www.quakelive.com/

Quake Live is a hardcore multiplayer FPS (First Person Shooter). It is now completely free and very fun to play. The best part is you can play it in your browser after installing a small plug in.

Based off Quake 3 Arena (released in 1999), Quake Live features game modes such as Free For All, Team Deathmatch, Capture the Flag and also a couple of new modes which have been added. Players duke it out with Rocket Launchers, Rail Guns and Shotguns in expertly designed levels with multiple rooms and layers. Don’t worry if you are a new player either, Quake Live features an extensive matchmaking system so you don’t get matched against someone who is much more experienced than you.

Get a taste of some Old School PC gaming and log into Quake Live today... Happy Fragging!

World of Warcraft – Starter Edition:

https://us.battle.net/account/creation/wow/signup/

As of June 28 2011 anyone with a Battle.net account can play World of Warcraft absolutely free up to level 20.

World of Warcraft is an online sensation. Released in 2004 by Blizzard Entertainment it now has over 12 Million active accounts. You create a character; you hone their skills and equipment. You will go on epic raids and battles with friends and you will become addicted to this game.

The user interface (UI) is great, the story and Lore are immense, and the game play feels perfect for a Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game. There is a reason this game is so popular and that is because it is simply very good.

Team Fortress 2:

http://www.tf2.com/freetoplay/

Team Fortress 2 or TF2 for short is a team based first person shooter multiplayer game developed by Valve Software. Players are set into two teams (red and blue) and must compete over a principal objective. Each player is allowed to choose to be one of 9 different classes. These include The Spy, The heavy, The solider, The medic and The Engineer to name a few. Each class of course has its own unique weapons and abilities that help aid the team in achieving the current level objective. This could be capturing the opposing team’s intelligence or pushing a bomb in a cart to a location before the timer runs out!

Played on your own this game is very fun and very addictive. Played with friends it gets even better. TF2 is probably one of the best Mutliplayer games on the PC at the moment and it’s completely free. Play this game now and you won’t be disappointed. Charming, rewarding and very entertaining.