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Good time-"waster" game on a MBA?

N

Nutdotnet

macrumors member
Original poster
Jan 15, 2004
49
0
I'm in the hospital the next few days so I'm looking for a good time killer game. I have a 13" MBA (1.7 i5 version). So obviously it can't be too graphically intensive.

I primarily enjoy rpgs or simulation games, nothing in "real-time" since I'm using the touchpad and keyboard for gameplay. Specific genre isn't important, as long as it's interesting, easy to play, and fun, I'm all for it.

Mac-specific would be great, but I don't have a problem installing bootcamp to run Windows if needed.

Any advice would be most appreciated! Thanks!
 
Nutdotnet said:
I'm in the hospital the next few days so I'm looking for a good time killer game. I have a 13" MBA (1.7 i5 version). So obviously it can't be too graphically intensive.

I primarily enjoy rpgs or simulation games, nothing in "real-time" since I'm using the touchpad and keyboard for gameplay. Specific genre isn't important, as long as it's interesting, easy to play, and fun, I'm all for it.

Mac-specific would be great, but I don't have a problem installing bootcamp to run Windows if needed.

Any advice would be most appreciated! Thanks!
Click to expand...

Anything PopCap, all there games have a 1 hour demos on their site. Not exactly rpgs or sims but they sure are fun! If you find one you like, pick it up in the app store!
 
If you have sheepshaver for OS9 you can play many classic games. They should run on an MBA.

All the games compatible with the ScummVM emulator will work on a MBA I think. These are games like Monkey island 1/2, simon the sorcerer etc etc.

With DoxBox (for PC version) or sheepshaver (for OS 9 version), Master Of Orion 2 is a good game. An oldie (1996) but a goodie. I recommend DosBox simply because the land on planet battles via sheepshaver crash the game. Quite a few hours of fun to be had there. And still one of my favourite games all these 16 years later.
if you have never heard of Master of Orion 2, it's a space turn based strategy game.

Plants Vs Zombies might be a little too much for a trackpad. But if you're ok with that, that's a fun little game.

The new Back to the Future game (in 5 parts). I'm not sure if that'll run on an MBA. It did run on my old 2006 iMac though. So you might be lucky. Google up the game to see if you'll like it. if you are fan of the movies you should. I thought the movies were alright but I thought the game was just amazing. The game takes place just after the 3rd movie. So it's a totally new story. Could be a 4th movie in a way. I say worth checking out.

Some little casual games I think are worth checking out.
Bejeweled 3
Bit Trip Runner (seems a little too action oriented but you only use the keyboard to play it)
Braid
Burn the Rope
Crayon Physics

Samorost2, Haluz, Haluz2, Machinarium. All strange point and click games. Very quirky and well worth a look into. There is mouse/trachpad work for these games, but they are not fast paced games. You can take them slow and no issue there. Well worth looking into.

Tasty Planet, Tasty Planet 2, Feeding Frenzy. They are just moving the cursor around thew screen to eat fish or other things. That's it. No clicking involved. SHould be ok on a trackpad I think. But best to check them out first.

Edge. That's a 100% keyboard game. About a cube rolling around various mazes. It's a lot more fun then it looks. And it has a nice soundtrack too.

If I think of more I'll put them up here.
 
Bootcamp

i would stick to something more turn based rpgish. If you are going to be running windows XP for bootcamp i would recommend some older games like Fallout 1 and 2. Great turn based games that i still play on my older mac in bootcamp. I also recommend any of the older Heros of Might and Magic games. They are a good play as well. But I don't use my mac platform for gaming so for mac specific games the only thing that rings a bell would be Warcraft 3.
 
Fattyq said:
i would stick to something more turn based rpgish. If you are going to be running windows XP for bootcamp i would recommend some older games like Fallout 1 and 2. Great turn based games that i still play on my older mac in bootcamp. I also recommend any of the older Heros of Might and Magic games. They are a good play as well. But I don't use my mac platform for gaming so for mac specific games the only thing that rings a bell would be Warcraft 3.
Click to expand...

Yes, turn-based is what I'm really looking for. I'll check out Fallout 1 and 2.

Thanks for the tips everyone!
 
What about old RPGs like Baldur's Gate series, Fallout 1&2 ?
You also have games like Heroes of Might and Magic series too.

All those are very playable with keys+pad.
They can be run in bootcamp or even virtual box/vmware/paralells.
(virtual box is free btw..)
Or even in wine if you are a bit experimental

If you go for heroes of mm 5 or 6 you want bootcamp tho.
 
Nutdotnet said:
I'm in the hospital the next few days so I'm looking for a good time killer game. I have a 13" MBA (1.7 i5 version). So obviously it can't be too graphically intensive.

I primarily enjoy rpgs or simulation games, nothing in "real-time" since I'm using the touchpad and keyboard for gameplay. Specific genre isn't important, as long as it's interesting, easy to play, and fun, I'm all for it.

Mac-specific would be great, but I don't have a problem installing bootcamp to run Windows if needed.

Any advice would be most appreciated! Thanks!
Click to expand...
You could torrent Heroes of Might and Magic 3, but that'll require Bootcamp for sure. It's and old old old OLD game from like the late 90s, and its graphics quality include animated gifs, but MAN is this a fun game! And you can literally sink HOURS and HOURS in to it.

Also, don't feel too bad about torrenting... I seriously doubt you can find this game legitimately in any format today.
 
bungiefan89 said:
You could torrent Heroes of Might and Magic 3, but that'll require Bootcamp for sure. It's and old old old OLD game from like the late 90s, and its graphics quality include animated gifs, but MAN is this a fun game! And you can literally sink HOURS and HOURS in to it.

Also, don't feel too bad about torrenting... I seriously doubt you can find this game legitimately in any format today.
Click to expand...

It's still for sale:
http://www.gog.com/en/gamecard/heroes_of_might_and_magic_3_complete_edition

It would run very well in vmware/parallells/virtualbox too,
or in wine (I run it in wine)
 
Has Anyone recommended Sim City 4, if you want time killed this is the game to do it. Keep in mind that its really slow on mac since it was written for powerpc and is 6+ years old. If you can play it on windows or Wine/Crossover, I would recommend doing that instead. Of Course there is a patch that lets it run on natively on Intel processors but its no longer sold so if you want the mac version you have to unfortunately go to the pirate bay or another torrent site. If you still want to do it heres the link to the patch.

https://rapidshare.com/#!download|95p6|3849692993|SC4RHMac1.1RevA.dmg|13396|R~8C7ABE23E30D66DCFAE3CE31563F3D82|0|0

Tell me if the link doesn't work, i'm still new to the UI for writing comments :(.
 
Too late to help the OP, but for others reading this thread:

Get Limbo (available on the Mac App store for $10 I think).

An amazing and unique platform puzzler.
 
Pac the Man X is a free OS X game that runs on both Intel and PPC. Great rework of the classical game for the newer generation.
 
bungiefan89 said:
You could torrent Heroes of Might and Magic 3, but that'll require Bootcamp for sure. It's and old old old OLD game from like the late 90s, and its graphics quality include animated gifs, but MAN is this a fun game! And you can literally sink HOURS and HOURS in to it.

Also, don't feel too bad about torrenting... I seriously doubt you can find this game legitimately in any format today.
Click to expand...

Agreed. I wish somebody would release it on the app store, or through steam or something. Even for the iPad it would be fantastic.
 
eric/ said:
Agreed. I wish somebody would release it on the app store, or through steam or something. Even for the iPad it would be fantastic.
Click to expand...
A link to the game for legitimate download was already posted on this thread. Scroll up a little and you'll find it. :)
 
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