Shall we play a game?

January 16, 2012 12:28 PM

Seeking Mac game recommendations. Back in the day, I enjoyed the hell out of Oni. The mix of hand-to-hand and gunfighting, the story, the visual style. What other games might I like? I am by no stretch of the imagination a hardcore gamer.
posted by adamrice to computers & internet (16 answers total)

Starcraft is always a good choice, but you'll need a newer macbook to be able to run it. If your looking for an easier more casual game, I cannot recommend Half Life 2 enough.
posted by KeSetAffinityThread at 12:33 PM on January 16, 2012

[Hey folks, game suggestions are great, Pirate Bay links, not so much. Thanks.]
posted by jessamyn at 12:41 PM on January 16, 2012

Oni was such a great game. I really wished there were sequels. Just like I wish there were sequels to Grim Fandango (my god, has it really be 14 years?).

I don't necessarily recommend these games, but I was recently reminded of Oni while playing the Kane and Lynch games on Steam. Apparently there is a K&L movie in development as well.
posted by postel's law at 12:49 PM on January 16, 2012

Kick it old school with another Bungie classic, Marathon, which was open sourced.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 12:58 PM on January 16, 2012 [2 favorites]

A great place to browse would be Steam's Mac games list, Available Here. Or through steam once you install it. Which you should.

If you really haven't played any games in a long time (which the Oni reference would lead me to believe), I doubt think there's any doubt you should be starting with Portal.
posted by malphigian at 1:10 PM on January 16, 2012 [2 favorites]

Try the Halo Demo, which allows you do co-operative play with strangers on the internet and play a single level of Halo. Not bad, for free.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 1:11 PM on January 16, 2012

For whatever it's worth, my hardware is an iMac with 2.93 GHz Core 2 Duo chip. Not the latest, but probably sufficient. Some of these games have definitely been on my radar, but I wasn't sure which plunge I should take.
posted by adamrice at 1:18 PM on January 16, 2012

If you haven't played Half Life 2, you should definitely play Half Life 2. It's wonderful. (Also it should run just fine on your iMac.)
posted by anaximander at 1:21 PM on January 16, 2012 [2 favorites]

Seconding Marathon. The game is basically a precursor to Halo at heart, but the story that is told through the terminals is a fascinating one. You can easily ignore it and play it like a Doom FPS, if you want, or try to piece it together yourself, which is challenging. There's also a decent multiplayer option (one of the first, IIRC.)
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 2:03 PM on January 16, 2012

I also played Marathon 2 a lot back in the day.
posted by adamrice at 3:26 PM on January 16, 2012

For something different, but with the potential to play in a lot of different ways, you might want to check out Minecraft. Its focus isn't really on action, but there's plenty if you want. Exploration, construction, survival, etc. Story...not so much, other than whatever you might want to imagine. Check out Youtube for tons of videos to give you an overview.

Also, seconding Steam. Not sure how the Mac selection is, but with the constant sales, it's perfect for a casual gamer. Great games for an astonishingly small amount of money.

And, keep an eye on the websites for Humble Bundle and Indie Royale. There aren't any bundles currently, but when there are, they're good for picking up great games you might not otherwise hear of. Also, very cheap.
posted by Ducks or monkeys at 4:10 PM on January 16, 2012

Bastion can now be played through Google Chrome. It's very worth trying, and equally stylized, albeit in a different way.
posted by Strudel at 8:30 PM on January 16, 2012

Oh, also, Portal. I cannot believe I neglected to mention Portal. And then when you've finished Portal, Portal 2.
posted by Strudel at 8:31 PM on January 16, 2012

If you've never played the console version of Halo, do yourself a favor and get the Mac version. Like Oni, it's a fun, well-balanced, visionary and strongly story-driven title made by Bungie. The AI, music, level design, cinematics, all top-notch. And since it's already ten years old, it should be a real bargain.

You probably won't get much out of the multiplayer (I'm not sure what kind of multiplayer support exists for Mac players a decade after release), but the single-player campaign is an essential experience for any connoisseur of modern gaming.
posted by Rhaomi at 9:02 PM on January 16, 2012

There aren't a whole lot of Mac games out there yet, although that's changing. Valve Software's Steam service, the #1 digital download provider, started offering Mac versions a year or two ago and the publishers (especially independents) are slowly catching on (Mac games on Steam).

The vast majority of the Mac games on Steam are simpler indie games, not 3D shooters. I don't know of any console-style shooters like Oni that are available. The biggest PC game titles on Mac are Valve's own games, all of which are excellent, although they're all first-person shooters (or puzzlers, in the case of Portal 1/2).

You should also be aware that if you're running Lion, Rosetta is no longer available so you can't run any non-Intel apps, including games. This rules out tons of older Mac games like Halo. I'm not sure if Rosetta works well or at all for 3D-accelerated games anyways.
posted by neckro23 at 11:05 PM on January 16, 2012

There was a Universal update to the full and demo versions of Halo.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 11:52 PM on January 16, 2012