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Best MAC games you played?
- Thread starter brandiop
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Rocket League is perhaps my fave. It's so much fun and is a great example of a game that's easy to pick up and play just to have fun, yet is hard to master and will require some playtime to get good. Great for short sessions or extended runs. Love it, probably my game of the generation.
Have you tried
Alien Isolation
Divinity: Original Sin
Surviving Mars
Wasted many hours with these ,best thing you don't even need bootcamp.
Still keep thinking that dam Alien is going to jump out and have me for dinner (again)
Edit: Forgot portal 2......
Alien Isolation
Divinity: Original Sin
Surviving Mars
Wasted many hours with these ,best thing you don't even need bootcamp.
Still keep thinking that dam Alien is going to jump out and have me for dinner (again)
Edit: Forgot portal 2......
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My favorite Mac games so far: Baldur's Gate I + II, Icewind Dale, Civilization IV + VI, Heroes of Newerth, Diablo I + II, Realmz, Escape Velocity: Nova, WOW vanilla up to WotLK, Warcraft II + III, Half Life 2, Marathon series, The Dig, Borderlands 2, Divine Divinity: Original Sin, FTL, Homeworld 2, Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, Monkey Island I + II, Prey, Loony Labyrinth, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Starcraft I, SteamWorld Dig, The Witcher, Assassin's Creed 2, Atom Zombie Smasher, Bioshock I + II, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Capsized, Blood Bowl, Heroes of Might and Magic II, Summoner.
Perhaps worth a mention is that if you're happy to install the Epic Games Launcher, they're currently giving away a different game every week, some of which have Mac versions. Enter the Gungeon is this weeks freebie.
If you like galactic conquest games, I've been enjoying Stellaris and its various expansions.
It's the basic 4X "design-your-alien-race" game in which you start on a single planet, then try to take over the galaxy through either military conquest, diplomatic alliances, or trade. Early game is a lot of sending out explorer vessels, uncovering archeology sites, and creating colonies.
Mid-game is a bunch of diplomacy, border-wars with neighbors, either doing genocide (if you're playing mean) or assimilating of new species into your federation (if you're playing nice) and up-teching as fast as you can research.
Late-game, you probably have a quarter of the galaxy under your control, and then some semi-random event comes (A.I. uprising, invaders from other dimensions, or ancient powers waking up to reclaim the galaxy) that usually shakes up the political scene heavily.
It has a lot of fun flavor tech choices that appear as semi-randomized options, and picking one tech means you are more likely to get similar techs as options later. So, one game, you may end up playing a race that starts genetically engineering themselves and deals with internal schisms as one breed competes with another. In the next game, you may end up investing heavily in cybernetics to make supersoldiers, then upload your entire species into robotic bodies. In another game, you may end up as a fanatic cult of telepathic psions, or as an interstellar drug cartel.
The only drawback is that between mid-game and late-game you may end up in a holding pattern, putting the game on fast-forward to skip through dull parts as the research chains get slower and you have a stasis with politics when you are too strong for others to attack, but their defenses are too strong for you to really invade without a bloody nose.
It's the basic 4X "design-your-alien-race" game in which you start on a single planet, then try to take over the galaxy through either military conquest, diplomatic alliances, or trade. Early game is a lot of sending out explorer vessels, uncovering archeology sites, and creating colonies.
Mid-game is a bunch of diplomacy, border-wars with neighbors, either doing genocide (if you're playing mean) or assimilating of new species into your federation (if you're playing nice) and up-teching as fast as you can research.
Late-game, you probably have a quarter of the galaxy under your control, and then some semi-random event comes (A.I. uprising, invaders from other dimensions, or ancient powers waking up to reclaim the galaxy) that usually shakes up the political scene heavily.
It has a lot of fun flavor tech choices that appear as semi-randomized options, and picking one tech means you are more likely to get similar techs as options later. So, one game, you may end up playing a race that starts genetically engineering themselves and deals with internal schisms as one breed competes with another. In the next game, you may end up investing heavily in cybernetics to make supersoldiers, then upload your entire species into robotic bodies. In another game, you may end up as a fanatic cult of telepathic psions, or as an interstellar drug cartel.
The only drawback is that between mid-game and late-game you may end up in a holding pattern, putting the game on fast-forward to skip through dull parts as the research chains get slower and you have a stasis with politics when you are too strong for others to attack, but their defenses are too strong for you to really invade without a bloody nose.
It was a 4 out of 5 experience for me. Good game, but not a masterpiece. It has been too many years since i played it, so I can't remember why.
I remember when both Doom 3 and HL 2 came out for PC.
I also owned a gaming PC back then (next to my Power Mac G4), so I bought both games ASAP... had to buy the grfx card to be able to run them at decent settings... (Radeon X800 XT)
I could never choose between the two, loved them both. Half Life 2 had a better storyline, but Doom 3 looked so awesome back then, IMHO better than HL 2.
Of course, D3 played mostly inside, and all you had to do is shoot the monsters and find your way, but in HL 2 I found the "baddies" very boring. Loved the airboat though.
Both are available for many years on the Mac (are obsolete really) and and playing them at the highest settings is no issue, of course. I hardly play them now, but occasionally I fire them up on an older Mac (iMac late 2012, macOS 10.13.6) to take a shooting stroll back memory lane.
I play X-Plane 11 a-lot and occasionally Dirt / Grid nowadays.
Bt IMHO, both Doom 3 and Half Life 2 are the best games I ever played, considering the release date.
So, I would vote for both, on the Mac as-well.
To me Half-Life 2 was clearly the superior of those two games. Sure, Doom 3 looked amazing, and had great shooting gameplay, but Half-Life 2 was way superior story and settings wise. It also pushed the shooter field way more than Doom 3.
I understand that.
For me, maybe it's also the fact that Doom 3 was the successor of Doom I and II (duh...)... I mean IMHO, 3D shooters evolved like this:
1. Wolfenstein 3D (and Spear of Destiny)
2. Doom I (and II)
3. Quake (original)
4. Unreal (the original)
5. Doom 3 and Half Life (Open GL vs. Direct 3D)
6. the rest
And being the successor by Id of both Wolf 3D and Doom... Doom 3 just has so much history.
(edited to include Quake)
For me, maybe it's also the fact that Doom 3 was the successor of Doom I and II (duh...)... I mean IMHO, 3D shooters evolved like this:
1. Wolfenstein 3D (and Spear of Destiny)
2. Doom I (and II)
3. Quake (original)
4. Unreal (the original)
5. Doom 3 and Half Life (Open GL vs. Direct 3D)
6. the rest
And being the successor by Id of both Wolf 3D and Doom... Doom 3 just has so much history.
(edited to include Quake)
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No love for Quake in that list ;-) ?
I loved it back in the day on my first Mac (a mega-beige Performa 6400). At the time it looked and played great (to me anyway). The Trent Reznor soundtrack on the CD was awesome - very atmospheric, and I loved that there were so many mods that were freely available.
That's reminded me of Descent (which came bungled with my 6400 along with Full Throttle). It was pretty enjoyable too and I think, the first fully 3D game I ever played on a Mac. The full rotation of your ship in 3D space was pretty dizzying and disorientating at the time, especially at the end of the levels where you had to rush out before it exploded.
I loved it back in the day on my first Mac (a mega-beige Performa 6400). At the time it looked and played great (to me anyway). The Trent Reznor soundtrack on the CD was awesome - very atmospheric, and I loved that there were so many mods that were freely available.
That's reminded me of Descent (which came bungled with my 6400 along with Full Throttle). It was pretty enjoyable too and I think, the first fully 3D game I ever played on a Mac. The full rotation of your ship in 3D space was pretty dizzying and disorientating at the time, especially at the end of the levels where you had to rush out before it exploded.
Ah... Quake... indeed. Should be in my list, between Doom I and Unreal.
I have Quake 1 running on a Power Mac G4 somewhere on which you can play the game with and without OpenGL 3D acceleration. It's fun to see the difference.
I used to play Quake 2 is deathmatch mode with colleagues many years back.. that was fun too.
Another great game we played a-lot in networking (also deathmatch really...) was Carmageddon II.
That was brilliant too. Trying to race each other but really you were trying to kill / at least annoy each other. The "weapons" were so funny.
I have Quake 1 running on a Power Mac G4 somewhere on which you can play the game with and without OpenGL 3D acceleration. It's fun to see the difference.
I used to play Quake 2 is deathmatch mode with colleagues many years back.. that was fun too.
Another great game we played a-lot in networking (also deathmatch really...) was Carmageddon II.
That was brilliant too. Trying to race each other but really you were trying to kill / at least annoy each other. The "weapons" were so funny.
I've got a serious itch give Quake another go now 
Just jumping through some hoops.
I'm halfway there and managed to get Mac OS 8 installed in SheepShaver in order to get my original quake disc to install so I can grab the pak files needed for QuakeSpasm. Probably would have been quicker to just buy the PC version from GOG but it didn't feel right
Got some real nostalgic feels from installing and navigating OS 8. Man, that little fly out tab to change various things and choose how many colours the display used etc. I still miss the ability to double click on a window's title bar to minimise it to a strip.
I remember having a demo for Carmageddon way back. It was pretty good fun.
Apologies for derailing the thread, I'll shut up now.
Just jumping through some hoops.
I'm halfway there and managed to get Mac OS 8 installed in SheepShaver in order to get my original quake disc to install so I can grab the pak files needed for QuakeSpasm. Probably would have been quicker to just buy the PC version from GOG but it didn't feel right
Got some real nostalgic feels from installing and navigating OS 8. Man, that little fly out tab to change various things and choose how many colours the display used etc. I still miss the ability to double click on a window's title bar to minimise it to a strip.
I remember having a demo for Carmageddon way back. It was pretty good fun.
Apologies for derailing the thread, I'll shut up now.
No need to shut up!
It's fun talking about those times
Next to the Power Mac G4, I also still have a B&W Power Mac G3 (400 MHz) with the Voodoo 5 5500 Mac edition grfx card and the "Blue Whale" 21" Apple CRT.
Firing that Mac up is pure nostalgia.... all those Classic Mac games in 3Dfx mode....
It's fun talking about those times
Next to the Power Mac G4, I also still have a B&W Power Mac G3 (400 MHz) with the Voodoo 5 5500 Mac edition grfx card and the "Blue Whale" 21" Apple CRT.
Firing that Mac up is pure nostalgia.... all those Classic Mac games in 3Dfx mode....
That was the one with the 3 pronged translucent legs wasn't it? One of my old bosses had one of those. I remember lugging it about when we moved offices - it was a beast. I don't miss those flickering monstrosities, even if the colour representation was good.
For me the best games playend on Mac are: Tomb Raider series (1 to 5), Half Life 1 and Half Life 2 series, Portal 1 and 2, The Binding Of Isaac (today 782 hours of gaming), Hotline Miami, Amnesia: The Dark Descent and Soma.
If you haven't played Bioshock 3 (Infinity) you are missing out. Not only does it finish the story that sort of starts in Bioshock 2 but it is a brilliant story line in itself.
It seems like I started playing a long time ago and my favorite genre has been FPS so my earliest recollections are Doom, Halo and Duke Nukem, followed closely by the Marathon Trilogy. Marathon really was ahead of its time. Eerie, complex maps, great story line and great graphics for the day.
My all time favorites have been Doom, Quake, Prey, Rage, The Bioshock trilogy, Thief, Borderlands 1 & 2 including the Pre- Sequel (which is really funny if you are an Australian), The Metro series (dark and apocalyptic) has a great original story line, DeusEx; Human Revolution and lastly not forgetting Machinarium which is not an FPS more of a role playing game but with the most original graphics I had ever seen at the time. If you want to test your problem/puzzle solving skills this is a must.
Right now I am playing Tomb Raider; A survivor is born. After having recently replayed a number of the above mentioned games, Rage in particular. This will be my last opportunity after all because when macOS Catalina is introduced next month it will no longer support 32bit games like many of the ones I have mentioned. I have resisted games like Tomb Raider in the past like Batman; Arkham City because my device was not up to the specs and the game-play is so complex, but I am enjoying TR immensely.
It is unlike any other FPS/RPG I have ever played.
My all time favorites have been Doom, Quake, Prey, Rage, The Bioshock trilogy, Thief, Borderlands 1 & 2 including the Pre- Sequel (which is really funny if you are an Australian), The Metro series (dark and apocalyptic) has a great original story line, DeusEx; Human Revolution and lastly not forgetting Machinarium which is not an FPS more of a role playing game but with the most original graphics I had ever seen at the time. If you want to test your problem/puzzle solving skills this is a must.
Right now I am playing Tomb Raider; A survivor is born. After having recently replayed a number of the above mentioned games, Rage in particular. This will be my last opportunity after all because when macOS Catalina is introduced next month it will no longer support 32bit games like many of the ones I have mentioned. I have resisted games like Tomb Raider in the past like Batman; Arkham City because my device was not up to the specs and the game-play is so complex, but I am enjoying TR immensely.
It is unlike any other FPS/RPG I have ever played.
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It is on my list. I bought just before the great 32bit purge of 2019!
Currently playing Batman: Arkham Asylum, and that also goes on my 'greatest Mac games' list.