5 Fun Free Mac Games (you’ve never heard of)
Everyone likes to kill some time playing a computer game every once in a while. Why not today? I think the lack of Mac games is actually a positive thing: it forces us to become casual gamers, and because of this, we tend to appreciate the time spent playing games more than hardcore PC gamers.
I have compiled a list of five games you probably have never heard of. All the games are playable even on a low-end MacBook and more importantly, simply fun! So log out of your Facebook account, shut down that e-mail client and do your brain a favor by getting your game on.
These games are all free, cross-platform and made either by the open source community, or by a single developer. Buckle up…
1. Armagetron (Advanced)
Remember the movie Tron? Armagetron is an OpenGL arcade game where you drive a so-called “light-cycle”. This vehicle leaves a small wall behind so the main objective is to make the other players hit your wall while trying to avoid hitting other players’ walls. You can play Tron against the computer or with up to 16 players using the multiplayer/lan mode.
2. Neverball
This game has already achieved cult status even though many people never actually tried it. Neverball makes heavy use of its physics engine: in order to reach the next level you have to guide a ball through an obstacle course with your arrow keys. The first levels are easy but it can get really tricky. There is another game included in the .dmg binary by the same author called Neverputt which uses Neverball’s physics engine for a cool little multiplayer mini-golf simulation.
Become addicted to Neverball here
3. Frets on Fire
Do you like Guitar Hero? Well why would you have to pay for it when there’s a great Finnish open source game called Frets on Fire? Frets on Fire features inverted keyboard gameplay (contrary to popular belief, guitar playing with your keyboard is fun), support for guitar controllers, and even song importing (you can compose your own songs, download community created songs or import Guitar Hero music). Take your keyboard and become a virtual rockstar!
Get ready to rock here (the Mac version is still experimental)
4. Cave Story
This game is a platformer masterpiece. The Japanese developer studio StudioPixel spent 5 years creating the game and they did a great job. Cave Story has everything a platformer would ever need: “solid controls, smooth gameplay, a great cast of characters and dialogue, an interesting plot, good music and beautiful old-school 2-D artwork.” Some people would probably put it in first place, but I’m not a big platformer fan.
Rock your pixelated socks here (don’t forget to download the English translation)
5. Moonlight Walks
“It’s the summer before you go away to college, and you’re spending it visiting with your aunt and uncle on a small island in the Atlantic ocean. One night, while out taking pictures of the full moon, you meet a girl walking down the beach…”
I’m sure some of you may know many other anime-style games but Moonlight Walks has a special place in my gamer heart. According to the website, Moonlight Walks is a bishoujo visual novel written by an American author in just one month. It features 21 paths to 4 different endings. What I like is the story and it’s a pity that the artwork is not on the same level. Don’t worry, even though it’s a novel, you will finish this game in about 20 minutes.
Take a walk in the moonlight now
When you have some time on your hands and you decide to play a game, try one of these five. You’ll see how small games can be fun and exciting. Do you know any other little games for casual gamers? Feel free to share your comments.
cOOl, thanks
I played neverball before
So it’s 4 Fun Free Mac Games (I’ve never heard of)
Yeah, wow. Talk about a “fun” packed post. Great roundup!
Where are the real mac games? The shooters, the strategic games, the racer games, the… well, you know… the games that people actually play and love.
Hope EA makes some on that..
I’m actually working on writing the soundtrack for a game that’s a lot like Neverball…I’m trying to see if I can push for a Mac release too.
These are some great game finds for the Mac! Can’t wait to have some time with them all.
Another great couple of Mac specific games, if you like semi realistic flying sims, and shooting things up, is Skyfighters 1918 and 1945. Both games have various missions included, the capabilities to create your own missions, or even flying online with others. You can customize just about everything. Plane paint schemes, sounds, terrain, etc. Check them out also.
BZFlag is a great multiplayer online shootem up game. It runs great even on older macs like eMacs. I think it should be on your list.
There’s a huge list of free games (and all sorts of other apps, with awesome sorting options) here:
http://osx.hyperjeff.net/Apps/apps?sub=16&w=1
I’m not sure how many of them are fun, but a lot of them are definitely worth a download.
I browsed through the beginning and found arcTron, which is awesome:
http://www.qhex.com/software/arctron/
And the other day, I stumbled upon Point of View, which is the model of what a Mac game should be:
http://futrellsoftware.com/pov/
Awww… why isn’t Battle For Wesnoth isn’t up there?
I said /little/ games
Thanks for your comments
Thanks for the Frets of Fire turn on! I have been playing it non-stop!!
I know how you feel man.. I couldn’t STOP when I first tried it.
It’s great that more and more people are developing games for Macs and the iPhone. If you wanna see about 300 various iphone games check out http://iphonegaming.com.
Personally, I’m more of a tetris guy though
Everyone keeps bangin’ on how there are no mac games. Well, I have Command and Conquer generals plus exp, Doom 3 + exp, Quake 4, Warcraft 3 + exp, WoW, Diablo 2 + exp, Quake 3 Arena, Unreal Tournement, Elite Force 2 and 3 Star Wars FPSs. There are LOADS of games for the Mac. Get off your butts and look for them!
I think you underestimate the meaning of “LOADS”. Because there aren’t LOADS of real games for the Mac.
There are no GTA, no Need for Speed, no Crysis, no Gears of War, no Freedom Fighters, no Second Sight.
A handful is not LOADS. If there were LOADS then we would see so much more like the PC has.
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Although I haven’t tried any of these games, to me Neverball sounds alot like another game called Marble Blast, where you do the same thing, but it doesn’t look as good as the picture above.
cool
I was a bored kid until I saw this page thank you