OSX game me

January 1, 2013 10:13 PM

Are there any well-crafted, engaging, easy-to-learn games for the Mac?

Gaming newbie here. I'm looking for OSX games that are rich and polished and absorbing -- so not those dime-a-dozen, slapdash, browser-based Flash games. However, I don't think I've got the patience to learn complex FPS or fantasy games like WoW (and those medieval-themed games look super cheezy).

I'm thinking of games like that Super Mario Bros reboot for the DS from a few years ago? Or MarioKart? Do such things exist? (Maybe Portal for the Mac?)

posted by dontjumplarry to computers & internet (13 answers total)

Portal's good. You might check out Minecraft if an open-ended type of thing interests you.
posted by brentajones at 10:23 PM on January 1

super tux cart is a bit like Mario Cart.

Whole world of free linux games available which usually work on a mac, if "free" is part of your criteria.
posted by titanium_geek at 10:58 PM on January 1

Have a look at Macgamestore they have stacks of great games..
posted by mule at 11:05 PM on January 1

If you're amniable to Steam games:

* Awesomenauts -- cute 2D team based MOBA (multiplayer online battle arena), if you're seeking online competitive stuff
* The Deathspank series (cheeky simple RPG) is playable on Mac and sold on Steam (note: I played the first one on)
* Triple Town is a simple but adorable puzzle game
* World of Goo -- adorable physics simulation puzzles (oh man I am sensing a pattern in my tastes)

And there's a whole Mac section on Steam--one good part of that is a lot of these games are playable on Mac and Windows, and buying them on Steam gives you access to playing them on both platforms.

And if you want to go retro, GOG.com has a Mac section that has SimCity 2000, among other things:

http://www.gog.com/catalogue?system=osx
posted by foxfirefey at 11:25 PM on January 1

I think Diablo 3 is Mac friendly.
posted by Brocktoon at 11:33 PM on January 1

Minecraft!
posted by BinaryApe at 1:17 AM on January 2

Amanita Design makes fantastic games. Samarost and Machinarium are lovely and engaging.

I had a lot of fun playing The End, which was aimed at kids but I found really challenging and a lot of fun

Peggle is an arcade game which is way more fun than it has a right to be.
posted by Mchelly at 4:50 AM on January 2 [1 favorite]

The Steam sale is still going on, so you can get many games for just $2-5 dollars! I've really been enjoying these games over the last week or so: Limbo, Closure, Thomas Was Alone, and Tiny and Big: Grandpa's Leftovers. Also, seconding or thirding Portal 1 & 2. Link to Steam's OS X games page.

There's a MeFi group there, too.
posted by Room 641-A at 5:00 AM on January 2 [1 favorite]

I'm addicted to Atom Zombie Smasher lately. It has a few modes which permit both casual play as well as deeper play.

The default campaign is actually rather hard to win at, but by my third attempt and some reading of strategies, I learned to turn the tables on Zed (as the zombie menace is known), and you will too. I gather there's a co-op mode but I haven't tried it get into that yet.

Regarding Steam, establish a wishlist of games, and Steam will drop you an email when your games go on sale. It has fantastic sales. Bury-your-wallet fantastic.
posted by Sunburnt at 5:17 AM on January 2

Seconding Peggle, or Plants vs. Zombies from the same publisher. In fact, virtually anything from PopCap is worth checking out.

Torchlight has a Mac port. It's a "hack'n'slash action RPG" that's quick to learn and somehow manages to look gorgeous while reveling in the inherent cheesiness of the genre. A Mac port for the sequel Torchlight II is apparently expected within a few months.
posted by soundguy99 at 7:19 AM on January 2

Portal 1 and 2 (and the entire rest of the Valve catalog) are both available for Mac nowadays.

Amnesia: The Dark Descent if you enjoy being terrified to death.

Second Limbo, with the caveat that it's pretty dark and definitely not for arachnophobes.

Plants Vs. Zombies is really quite entertaining, and straddles the "casual vs. hardcore" difficulty divide very well.

SpaceChem if you want to sink your teeth into a well-designed puzzle game.

Also I second the advice to get in on the currently-ongoing Steam sale. It ends January 5. (Mac games are here.)
posted by neckro23 at 8:40 AM on January 2

Look for "Trine" and "Braid" on Steam. Both are nice indy 2d platformers. A lot of awesome old DOS and Windows games can be had on gog.com and most will run fine under Parallels or VMWare. Some are now shipping with a DOSBox wrapper already available for the Mac (fer instance).
posted by chairface at 10:40 AM on January 2

Look through the previous iterations of Humble Bundle. One just recently ended, so you can't get anything through the bundle right now. You can go to the developers directly, though. Almost all of the game bundles are cross-platform (there was one or two that were Windows-only, some were mobile-only).

Portal 1 & 2 are on Steam for Mac, and there is a decent selection in the Mac section of the Steam store.
posted by jraenar at 5:48 PM on January 2