Lugaru: 3D Ninja Fighting Bunnies

Games aren’t usually the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the word “Mac.” And it’s true, Macs don’t have many games. By games, for the sake of this post, I’m talking about 3D games, which are not always commercially available. The vareity available on the PC just isn’t there for the Mac. Luckily, there is a wealth of free first-person shooters available based on the Cube and Quake engines (like OpenArena).

However, first person shooters get tiring. Lucky for us, there’s a great shareware game called Lugaru. What’s the premise of Lugaru? Well, basically you’re a rabbit named Turner on the island of Lugaru, and you’re out to avenge your family’s death. Hey, you’ve gotta give them points for creativity!

Lugaru is a third-person 3D hand-to-hand combat game. You start out with a couple of different fighting moves: Kick, punch, swipe, etc. Then, as the levels progress you get to use knives, swords, and staffs against the variety of rabbits and wolves that you fight. The gameplay is fast-paced and very dependant on timing and you can crouch and jump unrealistic yet awesome distances. (Hey, it’s a rabbit ninja - what do you have to compare it to?) Other “supported” tactics include sneak attacks, knive throwing, and jumping around a lot to confuse your enemy.

Lugaru’s graphics aren’t terrific - they’re not really up to par with commercial video games, but they certainly aren’t bad. Lugaru 2 is supposedly going to have much improved graphics and gameplay when it comes out in the near future. (demo video) If you take a look around on the Wolfire Lugaru forums, there are a large number of maps and full-fledged “expansion packs” featuring brand new campaigns and stories in the Lugaru world.

Lugaru is shareware with a few levels playable for free, and avaiable for $20 from Wolfire Software. It is likely that Lugaru 2 will be another $20 or so out of your wallet when it is released sometime soon (so the developers say) so some may prefer to wait before buying.