With all the focus on console and PC-gaming these days, you poor old Mac lovers often feel like you’re totally ignored. Fear not, Apple fans, Uncle MacPCWiz is here to show you that you are not all ignored by the gaming community. Here are the top 5 games available for your Mac. We’ve lovingly gathered some of the best here for your convenience, so whip out your new MacBook Pro and give these a spin.
Spore (Electronic Arts)
EA's Spore for your Mac
The lowdown: This amazingly charming “character evolution” type game merges multiple run-of-the-mill building blocks into a big, entertaining game.
The good:
- Intuitive and comprehensive customization tools
- Oozes charm at every part of the evolutionary ladder
- Impressively broad scope
- Great audio and art design
The not-so-good:
- Individual gameplay elements are extremely simple
- Repetitive nature might bore some casual gamers
- Early stages aren’t very engaging
Price: Available for $32.51
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Heroes of Newerth (S2 Games)
The lowdown: This game comes with amazing pedigree — it is based on the worldwide hit Warcraft III mod Defense of the Ancients — DotA, to those in the know — but has completely upgraded Warcraft III’s ancient graphic structure to give you a mind-blowingly beautiful team strategy game.
The good:
- If you’ve played DotA, the graphics will surely feel like a much-needed upgrade
- New ladder and re-connect system does away with the “leavers” that you used to hate in Warcraft III online
- Although they did not have to build the gameplay from scratch, S2 games have improved on what they can
The not-so-good:
- No LAN play as of the moment
- Pay to play
- No visible movement forward or sequels to the game
System Requirements:
- Mac OS X version 10.4 (version 10.5 required for GeForce 7300, Quadro FX 4500, Radeon X1600 or higher video cards)
- Intel processor (2GHz Core 2 Duo recommended)
- 1GB of RAM (1.5GB recommended)
- 128MB video RAM (256MB recommended); Integrated Intel GMA 9500 and X3100 chipsets not supported
Price: Subscription available for one-time fee of $30
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Torchlight (Valve)
The lowdown: Excellent dungeon crawler, enjoyable combat in a very light, cartoon-y environment. For casual gamers looking to get as much fun out of an RPG as you can, look no further.
The good:
- Great use of the standard action RPG formula
- Atmospheric dungeons
- Casual gamers can get in and get out at any time because of save function
- Good monster variety
- Fantastic musical score
- Outstanding loot drops
The not-so-good:
- No multiplayer
- Does very little that’s new
System Requirements:
- Mac OS X version 10.5.8 or 10.6.3
- Intel processor
- 1GB of RAM
- 256MB video RAM (ATI Radeon X1600 or nVidia equivalent)
- 800MB hard disk space
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Out of the Park Baseball 11 (Viva Media)
The lowdown: A lot of subtle improvements from the last edition, this is as good as any baseball game on the Mac can be.
The good:
- Many subtle improvements to the interface and stat tracking
- Includes the authentic 2010 MLB rosters
- Upgraded, more realistic historical play
The not-so-good:
- Not a huge step forward for the OOTP series.
System Requirements:
- Mac OS X 10.3.9, or 10.4.4 for Intel Macs (10.4.8 or higher recommended)
- 1GHz PowerPC G4 or 1.8GHz Intel Core Duo processor (2GHz G5 or 2GHz Core Duo processor recommended)
- 256MB of RAM (1GB recommended)
- 1GB hard disk space
- 1024 x 768 display resolution
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Portal (Valve)
The lowdown: With delightfully unique gameplay and fantastically witty writing, Portal is a huge success. This opens the door for PORTAL 2, for the Mac, which Valve is planning to launch very soon.
The good:
- Portal technology is pure mind-bending delight
- Sublimely witty writing
- Brilliant song accompanies end credits
The not-so-good:
- It’s heck short for such a great game
- No, like, really really short
System Requirements:
- Mac OS X version 10.5.8 or 10.6.3
- Intel processor
- 1GB of RAM
- 256MB video RAM (ATI Radeon X1600 or nVidia equivalent)
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The gaming gap between PC and Macs is not that wide, but suffice it to say that developers think in terms of “PC and consoles first, Mac second.” That is not such a bad thing, because eventually, the games will get to you, o dear Mac lover. Just not that fast.
In the meantime, enjoy these great games, even if in the back of your head you know that they were built for PC and consoles like the Xbox 360 first.
Hey, not enough storage on your new MacBook Pro or iMac to run these games? Get for yourself a DIGISTOR Mac-formatted external hard drive and install these games with confidence.
The only thing lacking with these is a place to run your Blu-ray discs. (DIGISTOR also has cool external blu-ray drives for Macs.)
