getting a new iMac...best games for os X

thegelding · January 10, 2002 7:02PM

ok, the only game my girls play currently is The Sims....we use to play Pod Racer when it first came out...and of course Bugdom when we first bought our current iMac DV in 1999....so we aren't big game players....but we are getting the new iMac and will be moving from 9.1 to os X and was wondering what the best games for the mac are (as in--What Games can you Not Live Without)...thinking of getting a couple of different styles (we aren't big on first person shoot em up type games)....Black and White looks good, Alice looks nice, are Star Trek and return to castle wolfenstein just shoot games?...because they look like they have great graphics, but, once again, we are not a big "kill everything in sight" household....any and all thoughts will be appreciated as i want to see this new machine being used constantly (between iMovies and games and everything else, i expect that the girls and i will be fighting over the machine)...thanks g

might even have to get a "kill everything in sight" game if really shows off the new iMac...--so what do you think are the 5 best games for iMac...preferably OS X, but any style game...g

[ 01-10-2002: Message edited by: thegelding ]

ender · January 10, 2002 10:09PM

Giants: Citizen Kabuto (MacPlay)

Red Faction (GraphSim)

Sacrifice (MacPlay)

Escape Velocity: Nova (coming soon-ish from AmbrosiaSW)

Blizzard's games (Starcraft, soon Diablo II, sometime Warcraft III).

Ok, kinda cheated there at the end, but I mostly play shooters/other violent games.

I guess you could also try Deimos Rising by Ambrosia, but it didn't hold me like the others I listed.

-Ender

daver · January 11, 2002 1:21AM

There's a game called Airburst that's extremely addictive and runs on OS X very well as a Carbon app. Imagine four-player breakout, only with floating balloons. The gameplay is fast and simple and the graphics are nice.

You can download it from Apple's OS X software site:

<a href="http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/games/airburst.html"; target="_blank">http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/games/airburst.html</A>;

bradbower · January 11, 2002 10:39AM

My favorite game is The Sims! It's carbonized, as well. There are even 2 add on packs, as well as the nearly infinite number of add-on packs, skins, floors, walls, roofs, objects, furniture, houses, music, etc that you can download off the net! Really great game, well worth the money. <a href="http://www.aspyr.com/"; target="_blank">Aspyr</a> has lots of cool titles, including The Sims.

Also, there are lots of cool little freeware games coming out. Check <a href="http://www.versiontracker.com/macosx/"; target="_blank">VersionTracker</a> for titles such as: JewelToy, Lines, Same-X, and MacBlox. Airburst is also pretty good, as someone above recommended.

sizzle chest · January 11, 2002 11:19AM

I would second Brad's nominations of Same and Jewel Toy. My oh my, the hours I have wasted on those games...

thegelding · January 11, 2002 2:43PM

cool...thanks...my girls love The Sims (Hot Date is coming in March), and i will definetly check out the freeware from versiontracker....how is Alice?? STVoyager?? thanks g

logan cale · January 11, 2002 2:47PM

Get Escape Velocity Nova when it's released. Looks awesome.

macaddict · January 11, 2002 3:17PM

I'll fill you in on some "kill everything in sight" games, even if you're not sure you even want one.

In order of how good the graphics are:

Return to Castle Wolfenstien

Quake 3

Deus Ex

Unreal Tournament

Alien Vs. Predator Gold

Rogue Spear

In order of how much of gameplay is twitch killing (most to least):

Quake 3

Unreal Tournament

Return to Castle Wolfenstien

Alien Vs. Predator Gold

Rogue Spear

Deus Ex

Deus Ex has a plot with a lot of situations where shooting is not the best idea. Rogue Spear is a realistic squad-based antiterrorist game. RTCW is a shooter based on an enhanced Quake 3 engine and sort of a plot (not sure, haven't played it), and AvP is a twitch shooter based on the movie. UT is just like Q3 with a slightly more soophisticated "feel" to it...the action isn't quite as fast, but there are more weapons and many different ways you can use them. Quake 3 is just running over powerups and blowing apart anything that moves.

In order of violence:

Quake 3?the air will be red with blood in a full game full of people

Unreal Tournament?like Q3, but the blood sticks to the walls

RTCW (once again, never played it, not really sure)

Dues Ex?bloody, but at least the body parts stick together

AvP?Alien guts just don't have the same effect...probably because the blood is green

Rogue Spear?One shot one kill. Very realistic, so therefore it may be more dramatic even though it's not very bloody.

I'd say buy RTCW if you just want a fun game to show off the iMac's graphics, Deus Ex if you want a long, twisted plot, and Rogue Spear if you want a very realistic (but very fun) game that makes up for it's out of date graphics in the gameplay department.

silk · January 11, 2002 3:20PM

...RTCW is almost only about "shooting everyting in sight "(very nice graphics though)

download the multiplayer BETA from VT and try it out!

jeffyboy · January 11, 2002 5:57PM

Not to be a prude, but from what you've said about FPS and kill-em all titles, I'm not sure Alice would be a good choice. It's pretty dark and violent.

I happen to like, it, though.

I play Age of Empires II a lot.

Jeff

ghost_user_name · January 11, 2002 6:23PM

Starcraft is highly addictive. Starcraft is my choice for best Mac game ever.

majormatt · January 11, 2002 7:17PM

[quote] ...RTCW is almost only about "shooting everyting in sight "(very nice graphics though)

download the multiplayer BETA from VT and try it out! <hr></blockquote>

I must disagree.

I would consider Quake III arena and UT solo matches to fit your above statement better. In Wolfenstein there is a strong teamwork aspect, so therefore without teamwork you have no chance of winning as a team. Medics give health and heal, leutenants give ammo and call airstrikes, and engineers repair guns, set dynamite and disarm dynamite. As you can see, the team needs a good balance of players to win. So, it is not simple 'get a gun and kill'

There are also a number of small adjustments to the game which make it more realistic (and more fun) than other FPSs. Such things include: soldiers are tired from running to fast; heavier weapons make soldiers run slower; soldiers tire from evasive hopping (think UT); and sniper aim is deterred from a "tired arm" simulation.

I have been in games where there was instant spawning, instant health, and instant ammo. Trying to make it like UT/Q3A ruined the balance of the game.

fran441 · January 11, 2002 7:51PM

You should get Civilization 3. That looks like a great Mac OS X game. I don't think anyone's mentioned it yet.

You start out with a city, and you try and reach a goal for your civilization. There are different ways to achieve this goal (and win). One of them is militaristic, but there isn't any blood or gore, and it basically shows an icon marching on to another icon. Either you lose your piece or you are successful.

You can focus on trade and diplomacy as well. Expand your empire, build roads to trade between cities, find other civilizations and trade/communicate with them as well.

It's a very fun game, it will go at your own pace, and isn't too difficult to play. (Don't let the manual which is the size of a small novel fool you.

)

I was going to buy this game today, but the Apple Store in Peabody, MA did not have it in stock. I did get to see the new iMac, however. What a NICE machine it is. You will not be disappointed with it. It is one speedy little machine, let me tell you that. I was amazed at it's performance when I used it.

Any way, if you get a chance, I would check out an Apple Store. I'm not sure how old your girls are, but there are many cool games out for Mac OS X that the Apple Store stocks.

Anyone remember Glider?

xool · January 11, 2002 8:01PM

I love Civ 3 and its out for OS X. However its kinda' slow (especially if you use the Quartz text feature).

But still a great game!

bradbower · January 11, 2002 8:14PM

Heck, I can't wait to get Civ 3.. Civ 2 (Classic) was great!

Also, does anybody know when there's going to be a port of SNES9X native in OS X? Then again, it's not that graphics intensive really, I've run it just fine in Classic several times

[note: SNES9X is a Super Nintendo emulation system.. tons of great games are available around the net, irc, gnutella (my favorite will always be SMRPG); MacMAME is another one for classic arcade games. They're both for classic MacOS as far as I know.. unless there's some knockoffs I've missed.]

Age of Empires, anyone? Is it good? I want to try it, but I always forget.

[ 01-11-2002: Message edited by: bradbower ]

bradbower · January 11, 2002 8:20PM

Maybe they'd like Tony Hawk Pro Skater, too. I played it a bit and it's really cool! I love several games like it on the PS. Apple's even got a page about it.. <a href="http://www.apple.com/games/articles/2001/05/tonyhawk/"; target="_blank">http://www.apple.com/games/articles/2001/05/tonyhawk/</a>;

Heck, just have a look at Apple's games site. There's a big list of OS X ones here: <a href="http://www.apple.com/games/macosx/"; target="_blank">http://www.apple.com/games/macosx/</a>. Of course you can always boot into OS 9, for a good game.

I have a 13 year-old neighbor who really wants me to get her "a copy" of that Harry Potter.. haha. Maybe your girls, depending on age, would like that too. It sounds okay.

[ 01-11-2002: Message edited by: bradbower ]

spectre · January 11, 2002 8:31PM

Brad, both SNES9X and MacMame are OS X native.

Heres SNES9X: <a href="http://www.versiontracker.com/moreinfo.fcgi?id=4080&db=mac"; target="_blank">http://www.versiontracker.com/moreinfo.fcgi?id=4080&db=mac</a>;

Heres MacMame:

<a href="http://www.versiontracker.com/moreinfo.fcgi?id=2596&db=mac"; target="_blank">http://www.versiontracker.com/moreinfo.fcgi?id=2596&db=mac</a>;

Both of those emulators are kinda butchered in OS X though. SNES9X doesn't have any graphics card support, netplay, or gamepad support. MacMame doesn't seem to have gamepad support, but you can use opengl.

tigerwoods99 · January 11, 2002 9:46PM

Links Championship Edition.

<a href="http://www.boldgames.com"; target="_blank">www.boldgames.com</a>

APCD=no more doing anything else for me!

jeffyboy · January 11, 2002 10:13PM

As I said, I play Age of Empires II a ton. It's my favorite game right now.

It has cool historic campaigns, (Joan of Arc, William "Braveheart" Wallace,) as well as any feature and customization I could imagine an RTS having.

Oh yeah, it's fun, too!

Jeff

bradbower · January 11, 2002 10:46PM

[quote]Originally posted by spectre:

Brad, both SNES9X and MacMame are OS X native.

Heres SNES9X: <a href="http://www.versiontracker.com/moreinfo.fcgi?id=4080&db=mac"; target="_blank">http://www.versiontracker.com/moreinfo.fcgi?id=4080&db=mac</a>;

Heres MacMame:

<a href="http://www.versiontracker.com/moreinfo.fcgi?id=2596&db=mac"; target="_blank">http://www.versiontracker.com/moreinfo.fcgi?id=2596&db=mac</a>;

Both of those emulators are kinda butchered in OS X though. SNES9X doesn't have any graphics card support, netplay, or gamepad support. MacMame doesn't seem to have gamepad support, but you can use opengl.<hr></blockquote>

Well, like I halfway mentioned, I may have missed it if they were OS X-native. I haven't been looking

Thanks.

thegelding · January 12, 2002 11:56AM

well, thanks for all the suggestions (planing to buy stuff for a computer that hasn't even shipped yet....really looking forward to it though...want to get great games and apps and load up the ram so the system will fly)....

the girls love The Sims and we will get all the add ons....will definetly try Airburst and Same and Jewel Toy....can't beat the price....

thinking of getting Black and White and Escape Velocity: Nova for the girls and myself to use....maybe Alice (i know it is dark, but my girls are fairly dark too...and my eldest is doing a production of Through the Looking Glass this spring and is playing Tweedledee (or is it Tweedledum) and the White Knight...so she may well like the game as "research")....

then i'm getting Giants: Citizen Kabuto for me...haven't had a computer game of my own for years, but that title looks great...we see...

again, thanks for the help...this is a great site!

g

what comes with the iMac---just Otto-matic?? looks like fun...we did love bugdom, and the look and goals are very similar....run around, kinda fight, save kidnapped victims....was hoping Cro-Mag rally, or whatever it's title is, came with the iMac too...but not sure....looking at Aspyr and MacPlay and other game sites was great....looks like lots of great games are either coming to the mac or being made for the mac....yeah...

getting a new iMac...best games for os X

Comments