The Games that I Play

[DMXell]

Well, soon companies like EA and “id” will be developing games for Mac OS X (and in a few years even more since OpenGL is becoming a standard in the game development community) but until then we would all like games on Mac OS X that are not only fun give us one less reason to bootcamp into Windows or something. So, in this forum post I’ll be outlining mostly freeware/open source games that are fun (some will be cheap sharwares). Let’s begin.

(Note - All of these games were testing on an Intel Mac Mini with 1.66 GHz and 512 MB of RAM and run flawlessly, though some may need some minor tweaks or lag a lot in some areas.)

Fire Person Shooters
Nothing is more refreshing than to go and play a game of a first person shooter and let the bullets fly. Story or multiplayer, it doesn’t matter, we want a gun and we want to shoot things in games. Here’s four first person shooter games that should tie us over until more popular games are ported.

Cube [Free] - This game is slightly outdated. It was released in 2005 and is no longer being updated. The graphics are good for the time (and for being free) and you are provided with an assortment of weapons to kill everything that goes after you, and believe me, there’s a ton of weird crap that’ll go after you.

AssaultCube [Free] - As its name may imply this game is a modification of Cube (which is open source). The game acts a lot like Counter Strike despite its roots being AcctionQuake (for concepts). Probably the only flaw is that the game lacks weapons. You start out with three (and only your primary weapon can be different which you have to do before you come back to life after dying) and can pick up one extra weapon (grenades) or modify your pistol by picking up a second one. Aside from weapon choice, however, this game is great. You can easily have hours of fun online with this game.

Sauerbraten [Free] - This is the new Cube. The cube designers created a new gaming engine called Cube2, and that’s what Sauerbraten is based off of. The story is still in the works (a lot like the Doom levels, you aren’t told much), but the graphics are KILLER. I can honestly say that this is one of the best looking games I’ve ever played in terms of general terrain effects. Water actually looks like water, christening and all. I definitely recommend this game to anyone who loves eye candy and fun.

Open Arena [Free] - This is probably the most unique of the four games, though it’s not original. The game is based off of the Quake 3 engine (which was made open source) so that game play is extremely solid. You have quite a range of weapons, from the weaker ones actually being a shot gun and gatling gun to the stronger ones being a giant electricity thing that incinerates your enemies in seconds. Single player fun is okay, I think there’s only four levels, but it’s still fun. I’m not sure how to play online, my computer found no servers, but it is possible.




Adventure/RPG
First person shooters are nice, but we all love creating a character, leveling up and partying with other people, and unfortunately there aren’t many great ones on Mac OS X. Granted we have World of Warcraft, that’s all that most people tend to think we actually have. But in reality there are a few more.

Shadowbane [Free] - A slightly older game than WoW, Shadowbane is a very dark game. You’ll play as one of several races, but the game is so expandable you can literally be anything. The game has professions (I call them) that you can master to focus in on certain abilities in which you can then use to do one of many jobs. My favorite is the assassin but others tend to like the thief which can turn invisible and steal the winnings from other people. But in reality the game offers thousands of possible character choices due to how large the range you have to level up certain professions.Check this game out if you want that kind of control over what you do in an MMORPG. (Note - Turn off weather in the mac mini to get frame raters into the 20’s, looks really good.)

Minions of Mirth [Free] - This game will work right out of the box on a Mac Mini. Graphics are pretty good, and you can join parties like other MMORPGs. But you can also create your own parties with your characters. Infact, you can take up to six of your own characters and party them all at once, controlling each one. It’s pretty cool. Though one thing I want to note is that when you fight, you look like you hit thin air rather than hit the enemy due to no reaction animation by the creators. But, if you can get past that, this game is hours of fun.

Planeshift [Free] - I somewhat like this game and somewhat don’t. The movement engine is okay, it could improve. The graphics are great however, but where are all the monsters!? Seriously, I walked for 20 minutes and found nothing outside of the city except for a huge game boss that a guy was fighting. This game needs more monsters right outside the town. I learned that low levels should fight in the town sewers, but any good MMORPG should have monsters within a minutes walk from the town, not twenty minutes.

Diablo II [Shareware] - Old but still fun, I love Diablo II. I had it on my Windows PC and was happy to learn that if you go on the Blizzard site you can download a Mac OS X native installer that’ll install the game from your Windows disks. So I booted up the game and... what’s up with my title screen? It’s all glitchy, I can’t see my mouse, what the heck? Well, as it turns out Diablo II doesn’t work well with OpenGL, so what you have to do is when you boot up the game you get a menu that allows you to go into Advanced options and change from OpenGL to software rendered. It’s obvious once you get the game. But note, you’ll play the game in 256 color instead of millions from OpenGL, but I believe that the game was made in 256 color as it is so it shouldn’t matter, looked the same to me anyways.




Action/Strategy
And finally, the remaining typical computer game falls into these categories. Action is usually all out killing and strategy is usually... well... a game where you think. So let’s wrap this up!

Battle for Wesnoth [Free] - Well, what this game lacks in graphics (only 2D) it makes up in fun. This is a turn-based strategy game where you have to conquer the enemies, or simply get to the other side of the map in some cases. This game has about 15 levels in campaign mode. Sound like nothing? Well each campaign has 4-30 scenarios in it. In the end this game is like a 200 level game and for free. So what’s one of the best features? Add-ons. Inside the game you can download fan-made extensions for the game, which usually just include more campaign’s. All in all this is a must download for anyone looking for fun!

BZFlag [Free] - What do you get when you take battle tanks and give it steroids? This game. he graphics aren’t great and the game curve is extremely high, but this game is addicting! The maps are riddled with flags that give you abilities, My favorite is the one that lets you shoot through walls (annoying to them, fun for you). But you can also get one that lets you go through walls, burrow under ground so that you can only die by being rolled over, and other things. There are hundreds of them. But beware, some are bad! I remember getting one that lasted for four seconds (only the bad ones are times) and I could only go in reverse, imagine that when getting fired upon! So, this is a fun game, try it out.

And I saved the best for last.

Lugaru [Shareware] - Yes, this is shareware, but it’s only $20 (USD)! But, you can download the demo from their site which gives you the first three levels. And while it’s only three levels, you’ll play them OVER AND OVER AGAIN! Yes, this game is that addicting. Why? Because in what other game are you a giant rabbit that knows Kung-Fu and kills other giant Kung-Fu-using rabbits? That’s right, no other game. And there are many moves you can do to kill rabbits, plus you can jump off walls like a ninja! It’s insanely fun, download this, you won’t regret it!

Well, I hope I was somewhat informative with my games that I play. If I missed anything feel free to comment.

[Drgonzo2k2]

Hey, great post! I had no idea there were this many great FREE games for Intel Macs. I'll definitely be checking some on this list out! Thanks again!

[DMXell]

Cube runs extremely well on the Mini. I get frame rates in the 50's up to even in the 100's. Here's a video I made to show it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tXB5zqSWLEc

[johnodd4]

I love sauerbraten nice engine and great fun.

[jimmyb32]

Thanks for the list of games. If you have any more please post!!

[dungeon92]

I like Planeshift, but it's free so there isn't very intense development and I've died because I FELL THROUGH THE MAP where there was a small opening where 2 planes meet where you go into the sewers, also I love cube, but so few people play it when I do (around 3 A.M. my time) so I do singleplayer a lot and on my shitty laptop I can get upto 80 fps easily. The video had a very interesting point about the way Windows and Mac use VRAM and on minimum requirements for a dual install game the VRAM is sometimes 32MB while the Windows is 64MB-128MB.
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"You must control your future by taking command of your present, and fixing and learning from your past."

"When history is forgotten people don't realize when it repeats."

Going to Missouri S&T!!

[dingo]

Played on my G4 Powerbook (and soon to be played on my new mac mini):

Nexuiz

Free DL from either Apple.com or alientrap.org. An community project with an engine built from scratch. Lots of players. A solid FPS.

Midnight Mansion

Free DL from Apple.com. A very fun and challenging "Pitfall" type game that involves getting keys, avoiding traps and monsters, solving problems. Solid graphics, terrific music and runs fine on any machine. A few levels are free and the whole game is 15 or 20 bucks. Includes an editor to make your own maps.

[Tucom]

Check out: www.urbanterror.net


Amazing game.



Peace

[DMXell]

[davidgilmour]

Remember that every Mac Mini Intel can play 1,000s of free games with MacMame (google it). All your favourite arcade games from the 70's, 80's and 90's can all be downloaded for free from the good ol' net and played flawlessly on any Mac Intel

[Maxime]

Is urban terror suppose to run on mac os? I only found a link to download the Windows version.
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Mac Mini / Core2Duo 2.0Ghz / 4GB / 64GB G.Skill Falcon SSD / OSX 10.6.0
Dell Mini 9 / Atom 1.6Ghz / 2GB / 32GB RunCore SSD / OSX 10.5.6

[marka87uk]

[Soma 115]

lol...i used to be so addicted to d2 expansion. im thinking of selling my account. it's got wicked good gear if anyones interested. well...actually 3 accounts =/ lol
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Mac mini
-1.83 GHz
-2 Gigs
-120 Gig HDD
-500 Gig Iomega external

[Mad Mini 2.0]

Minions of Mirth universal binary appears to be broken.
The install goes fine, but when the game menu comes up. I have no keyboard and my mouse will not work properly.
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mac mini 2.0 ghz Core Duo, 2Ggb Ram 120gb HD