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What Games Should I Get for My New G5? 159

Posted by Cliff from the time-to-play dept.
Lane.exe wonders: "So I just got a new Apple Mac G5 (Dual 1.8s, 1GB RAM, Radeon 9600, etc) and I was thinking about getting back into some gaming. I was looking over the game selection for Mac, and it's not looking as bright as I'd hoped. But I think this is due more to my ignorance of good games than anything else. What I'm looking for is a few good multiplayer shoot-em-ups (like Quake, UT or Half-Life) and a nicely engrossing RPG. The last few games I've played were Icewind Dale, Pool Of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor, and MechWarrior 4. Has anyone got any suggestions along these lines?"
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What Games Should I Get for My New G5? More

What Games Should I Get for My New G5?

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  • Halo.. (Score:4, Informative)

    by AIX-Hood ( 682681 ) on Tuesday February 03, 2004 @06:53PM (#8175417)
    Halo was just released for the Mac, delivering on the promise made by Steve Jobs and Bungie all those years ago.

    • Re:Halo.. (Score:3, Informative)

      by RatPh!nk ( 216977 )
      In addition to Halo (which is awesome) check out Apple Games. [apple.com] It contains the largest (as I know it) layout for mac gaming both commercial and shareware on the web.
      • Currently they're giving top billing to old Atari 2600 games. I would have hoped Apple would try harder to kill the illusion that Mac only has games which are already at least three years out of date...
      • 3U775H1T

        Halo is not awesome it is very very good. To be awesome it should inspire awe for the whole game. It inspires awe for the first half and then inspires mediocrity for the second half as you move backwards through the same levels with minor alterations.

        Halo might have been awesome if they had just ported the level designs form Marathon over to the new engine. ;)

    • Re:Halo.. (Score:3, Informative)

      by frozendevil ( 734631 )
      For some old school FPS/Bungie action, the Marathon engine has been open sourced. A google search for Marathon Aleph One should turn it up quickly.

      • Re:Halo.. (Score:3, Informative)

        by AvitarX ( 172628 )
        Going back not as far...

        I am pretty sure the original Dues Ex was on the mac.

        Maybe the sequel too.

        I never played either and don't own a mac, but I had a friend at work who had a mac and would go on and on about how good it was.
    • Halo is overrated. I've been playing it. Yeah it's fun. But doesn't offer much over Quake!

      $100 should get you every decent Mac game. (Sorry, couldn't resist.)

  • Mac Gaming (Score:5, Funny)

    by genetic_freak ( 673003 ) on Tuesday February 03, 2004 @06:54PM (#8175423)
    I saw an ad for this last year. Seems that best games for the mac are:

    4.apple puzzle game
    3.breakout
    2.super breakout
    1.Photoshop

    Happy gaming

  • Shareware! (Score:5, Insightful)

    by faust2097 ( 137829 ) on Tuesday February 03, 2004 @06:56PM (#8175445)
    There's a lot more shareware gaming on the Mac, companies like Ambrosia, Spiderweb and Freeverse put out good quality games. If you get anything though I'd recommend Escape Velocity.

    You might want to check out Yohoho Puzzle Pirates [puzzlepirates.com] as well.

    • Re:Shareware! (Score:5, Informative)

      by Tyrdium ( 670229 ) on Tuesday February 03, 2004 @07:11PM (#8175565) Homepage
      Agreed. Ambrosia Software's Escape Velocity: Nova [ambrosiasw.com], the third in a series, is one of the best games I've ever played. It's got about 6 great storylines; which one you follow depends on your actions in the game. The graphics aren't amazing, but more than adaquate. Gameplay is free for 30 days, at which point you need to pay $30 to register (there are a couple limitations in the unregistered version). Also, it's got a very good plugin system, so play time is almost unlimited, with a number of total conversions out, such as Polycon. Their previous two Escape Velocity games were also very good, but Nova is the best.
  • Have you considered Quake or UT?

    • Have you considered Quake or UT?

      why was this insightful? i gained no significant insight, considering the dude who posted this story mentions quake and UT in his blurb, ala:

      What I'm looking for is a few good multiplayer shoot-em-ups (like Quake, UT or Half-Life) and a nicely engrossing RPG.

  • One Word (Score:4, Insightful)

    by lambent ( 234167 ) on Tuesday February 03, 2004 @07:00PM (#8175469)
    NETHACK
    • Ok, I'm a huge nethack [google.com] fan. I'd probably be rich by now if nethack never existed.

      Still, I have to say, while this comment is quite funny it is not insightful. First of all, the `wc -w` thing has been done to death, please mod it down. Second, the guy asking the question bought a Mac. He don't want to even touch his keyboard or use a second mouse [apple.com] button.

    • I even have Nethack on my Zaurus. Trust me... that game is already going on there.

  • Games for the mac (Score:5, Informative)

    by tayjo ( 673861 ) on Tuesday February 03, 2004 @07:00PM (#8175473)
    You could try NeverWinter Nights, Bioware even has instructions on their site for installing the expansions. Jedi Academy, which I am currently enjoying, just came out. Warcraft III and its expansion are also availible. The up and coming World of Warcraft will also be mac comapatible.

  • rpg type game (Score:3, Informative)

    by Polo ( 30659 ) * on Tuesday February 03, 2004 @07:01PM (#8175483) Homepage
    try dungeon siege...

  • AA (Score:4, Informative)

    by RaisinBread ( 315323 ) on Tuesday February 03, 2004 @07:02PM (#8175488) Homepage
    America's Army is goodun... Its good quality, and you can't beat free.

    I've also found that there are some really good emulators for the mac, SNES9X [mac.com] being a favorite. There are more. [emulation.net]

    If you're a MUDder, you can get to those with just about anything. I use Cantrip [solidsun.com], but it doesn't seem there are as many great Mac MUD clients...

    Best of luck: I'm interested to see what others have to say... Its been really slim pickins....

    P.S. - I also heard there may be another option [slashdot.org] available soon.

    • Re:AA (Score:4, Informative)

      by Quobobo ( 709437 ) on Tuesday February 03, 2004 @08:52PM (#8176249)
      If you want to play SNES on your Mac, don't use the "official" port of SNES9X.. SNES9X Custom [geocities.co.jp] is much better, and is frequently updated with new features and SNES9X code (the official port hasn't been updated since April of last year!).
      • Yes, definately! I had problems with the official SNES9X port after upgrading to Panther. My boyfriend redirected me to this version and it works like a charm.

        Coolest part: in SNES9X Custom, the icon in the dock isn't an SNES console (as in the official version), but a Super Famicon!

  • Don't count on big names (Score:3, Informative)

    by ctr2sprt ( 574731 ) on Tuesday February 03, 2004 @07:06PM (#8175528)
    The biggest names in FPS and RPG games are going to be Quake III and Neverwinter Nights. There are many other games, but you probably won't have heard of them. Nobody makes much money off Mac games, so there's a lot of "indie games:" games without a big-name publisher, usually distributed as shareware or sold only online. Now I'm not saying this is a bad thing, you just need to get used to not being able to play the latest and greatest games on your Mac.

    This shouldn't be a big deal, since if you were big into gaming you wouldn't have bought a Mac. You should definitely be able to find enough games to keep yourself entertained, though.

  • ...hehe, just kidding. But you can run old DOS games screamingly fast (too fast, actually...) and newer (1997+) games at a good clip.

    On the native side...

    Fallout 2. It's ported to OSX and it's still the best post-apocalyptic RPG ever created.

    I also bought Tropico, which is a fun but somewhat confusing (Why are you all unhappy? More death squads!) sim.
    • I was recently pleased to find that DosBox [sf.net] can run Impulse Tracker pretty well, which is to say better than Windows XP. Not fast enough to be useful on my G4/450 but I'm definitely saving up for a dual G5. :)

  • Dark Horizons: Lore (Score:5, Informative)

    by VisorGuy ( 548245 ) <ina c t i ve> on Tuesday February 03, 2004 @07:09PM (#8175556) Journal

    Dark Horzons: Lore [darkhorizons-lore.com] is an up-and-coming Action Mech game (not a simulation like Mechwarrior).
    It currently runs in Win32 & Mac OS X and the Client will run [without crashing] on Linux as soon as the installer is ready, which should be Any Day Now(tm).

    Here's a quote from the page:

    Created by independent game developers, Max Gaming Technologies, Dark Horizons: Lore is set in the Dark Horizons Universe in the mid 22nd century. Lore throws you in control of the worlds most advanced weapon system during the conflicts between the Federated States and Eastern Confederation. Remote pilot vehicles like the AR-16b Hunter mechanized assault vehicle or the ECM-74 Juggernaut tank in explosive multiplayer action.


    Crammed with fast-paced, extreme action, Dark Horizons: Lore puts you in command of the 22nd century's finest achievement, the Mechanized Assault Vehicle, or MAV. Remotely piloted from control pods located halfway around the globe these giant war machines are bristling with the latest plasma rifles, cannons and missiles. Pilot a single MAV or gain experience and take command of a MAV group or even an entire battalion and fight with your friends as a unit.

    Check it out.

  • Shareware and Commercial (Score:4, Insightful)

    by rackniraz ( 593103 ) on Tuesday February 03, 2004 @07:14PM (#8175587)
    The great thing about using a mac is the cool shareware stuff. We've got some of the best developers (Ambrosia, Pangaeasoft, they're everywhere) and we get some great games. Here are a couple of great ones...

    enigmo [pangeasoft.net]
    escape velocity nova [ambrosiasw.com]

    As far as commercial games go, Halo is a great choice, you can pick up UT, EverQuest, Warcraft III...There are a ton, and more coming thanks to great porting houses like Westlake.

    I'm personally hooked on EQ right now, and it's great...not nearly as many people per server, but it's become a nice community without the assholes that plague the pc version. If you don't know what I mean by that, think your typical battlenet user.

  • If you want quake, buy quake. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by isaac ( 2852 ) on Tuesday February 03, 2004 @07:14PM (#8175588)
    Quake 3 has been out for Mac OS for years. Lots of big-name franchises are available for Mac - Warcraft III, Neverwinter Nights, UT2003, Rainbow 6, Medal of Honor, etc. etc.

    The biggest glaring omission from the Mac gaming world is Half Life (and, by extension, Counter-Strike). It does really suck not to be able to play Counter-Strike.

    I'd check out www.insidemacgames.com [insidemacgames.com] to see what's available [insidemacgames.com] and what's coming soon [insidemacgames.com]. Note: I'm not affiliated with this site. It was just the first site that came up when I did a Google search for "mac games."

    -Isaac

    -Isaac

    • If you are going to game on a Mac, definitely start off by checking out insidemacgames.com ; it is a wonderful site with a lot of information.

      I would also check out macgamer.com ; there's a lot of overlap between the sites, but what do you expect.

      If I had a nifty new G5 I would use it to play Shadowbane with the graphics turned up, since my poor old G3 can only show me floating torsos. I'd probably also buy NWN and Morrowind, as others have suggested.

    • Many mods for Q3A too.
    • And if you miss counterstrike that much, you could install Q3A and the urban terror mod at www.urbanterror.net which is very good. (In my opinion, superior.)
  • Quake and UT both run on MacOS. You could start there. This "Halo" thing seems to be kindof popular too.

    Dunno about RPGs. But my Mac is a G3 (an old G3), so I don't exactly keep up with Mac gaming. RPGs are for nerds, anyway.
  • All of the Quake series is available...they are growing old but are still no less playable...but I still play Quake2 as it is my favorite game of all time...nothing beats a good round of ActionQuake! (shush you Urban Terror zombies!) There's Unreal Tournament 2003, Halo as mentioned already, Ghost Recon, emulators for about any console you can think of (hint: go to www.emulation.net), Jedi Knight II, Jedi Academy, Tomb Raider Angel of Darkness, Age of Empires II, Civilization III, all of the Sims series, Si
    • Action Quake is the single most enjoyable multiplayer game I have ever had the pleasure of watching or playing.

      That game simply combines the reality and fantasy prefectly.

      Of course, the fact that me and my friends replaced the sniper head splitting sound (also the knife kill sound) with "Suck my ass and gargle my balls" made it much more interesting......
  • One nice thing about NWN (although not officially supported) is that all the PC released expansions work just fine on your Mac.
  • Diablo II is still fun and engrossing, better with the expansion. The Mac version is on the same CD as the PC version is, and you can play online for free on battle.net since it's a Blizzard game.

    I don't know about WCIII or whatever, but Diablo II and the expansion can be had for $20 combined nowaday, quite worthwhile.
    • Just a little note about Diablo II: WIth the original version you need classic to install the game. You can then patch it for native OS X compatibility. That might have changed in later editions of the game but is true for the original one.
      • >> Just a little note about Diablo II: WIth the original version you need classic to install the game.

        I've recently installed it on my wife's laptop - I think it was version 1.03 before the BattleNet update and it didn't require a classic install.
  • everquest?
  • We have a couple of dual 2GHz machines at the office. Playing Medal of Honor (on a 23" display) is like looking out a window. At some point I'll have to check actual framerates at that resolution - but it's obviously *really* good. So anything using the Q3 engine will be Just Fine.
  • Baldur's Gate II and the expansion are excellent RPGs. Be sure you get the expansion as well, since there's a problem with dual processors that is only fixed in the expansion.

  • Raven Shield (Score:2, Insightful)

    by attaboy ( 689931 )
    Or Rainbow Six 3 as some people persist in calling it ;-) is an incredible multiplayer experience. The realism of the game surpasses that of some of the newer "realistic" shooters (e.g. America's Army, Vietnam), although not quite as good as Operation Flashpoint (although I find RS more enjoyable than OF, personally.)

    You should definitely make this one of your first gaming purchases.

    One of my favorite online features is coop play. Taking down 30 terrorists with a team of players is only surpassed in exc
  • Hi. I bought an expensive computer, I'm real cool you see. Now, maybe I should go ask people what games "Like Quake and Unreal" work on it..without saying if I know if Unreal or Quake work on it !

    If you want a good shooter what the hell is wrong with Quake or Unreal ?

  • I'm confused (Score:5, Funny)

    by NanoGator ( 522640 ) on Tuesday February 03, 2004 @08:06PM (#8175981) Homepage Journal
    "What Games Should I Get for My New G5?"

    Plural?!

  • Comment removed (Score:3, Informative)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Tuesday February 03, 2004 @08:13PM (#8176028)
    Comment removed based on user account deletion
    • MacPlay doesn't have their act together with this game: NOLF2 only plays on QuickTime 6.3 [macplay.com]. The most current version of QuickTime is 6.5 [apple.com], and Panther cannot be downgraded below 6.4. It's a mess and customers who upgraded to Panther have been stuck waiting... Our only hope is that someone (apple or MacPlay) fesses up and fixes their problem. I'm a bit disappointed that Apple continues to sell faulty game [apple.com] - they should wait until it's fixed.
      • Guess what, not everyone is running Panther. They're not selling a faulty game if the person who buys it happens to be running 10.2 still. Granted it is a mess and it should be dealt with, I'm simply defending Apple's right to continue selling it. Perhaps they ought to warn people too...

  • Games for the Mac (Score:3, Informative)

    by PylonHead ( 61401 ) on Tuesday February 03, 2004 @08:18PM (#8176054) Homepage Journal
    This Apple "switch" ad [ugo.com] should help you figure it out:

  • mac games:
    - www.ambrosiasw.com
    - www.freeverse.com
    - www.victoly.com/~adam/
    - www.insidemacgames.com
    - www.macgamefiles.com

    emulation:
    - mac.emuscene.com
    - www.emulation.net
    - www.mameroms.com
    - www.planetemu.net

  • Hmmm (Score:4, Insightful)

    by MalleusEBHC ( 597600 ) on Tuesday February 03, 2004 @08:27PM (#8176099)
    Congrats on the purchase of the G5. For starters, check out GameRanger [gameranger.com]. GameRanger (aka GR) is the hub for most all Mac gaming outside of Bnet and MMORPGs. You can check the game list on the GR website, but you can find basically all the popular FPS and RTS games there. For the more popular games, finding a good host won't be a problem, but for older or lesser known titles it can be tough. That's just one of the downsides of the smaller Mac gaming community. However, being small can also be an advantage as you can get to know a large portion of the people you play with on a regular basis.

    As for the actually games, I would recommend Raven Shield (aka Rainbow Six 3) for an FPS. It will look awesome on your G5, and the gameplay is quite addicting. Everyone I know who has tried Halo hasn't liked it. Ghost Recon isn't bad, but it feels much slower paced than Raven Shield. There are also the old standbys like MoH and Quake 3, and you can probably pick those up cheap if you shop around.

    I'm not an RPG guy, so I can't really comment there. I know some guys who are enjoying NWN, but that's about it. However, one game I think you should definitely check out is Jedi Academy. It has both great single player and multiplayer action. Another highly recommend game is EV Nova [ambrosiasw.com]. The Escape Velocity series has been a classic on the Mac for a long time now, and EV Nova does not disappoint. You should also take a look around Ambrosia's site. They are generally regarded as the makers of the finest shareware games for the Mac.

  • This topic is just asking for it... (Score:4, Funny)

    by reiggin ( 646111 ) on Tuesday February 03, 2004 @08:31PM (#8176121)
    Cliff, I really think this question comes from the "time-to-flame" dept.

    Seriously, is there any other question (aside from "Games for BSD?") that could possibly draw more apple-flaming?!? I think not.

    • I can see your point, in that Macs haven't been "good" gaming platforms for a long time. However, many people buy their computers for tasks other then gaming, but still want to be able to have fun, without resorting to a console based system.

      I just don't think asking what are good games for Mac's is flameworthy. Asking why the latest major production isn't availible for it is another story though. :p
    • It's only flameworthy because most of the flamers:
      A) Have been living in a cave the past 5 years and
      B)Are extremely gullible.
      The fact is there is a very healthy amount of games available for the Mac and these people are just too closed-minded to accept it. Sure there aren't as many games, but one thing you will notice is that the games that do get ported are usually the most popular and/or best games available. These are the kind of people who accept quantity over quality. In fact, I'd go so far as to sa

  • Rrootage and Noiz2Sa (Score:3, Interesting)

    by moosesocks ( 264553 ) on Tuesday February 03, 2004 @08:46PM (#8176209) Homepage
    While they might not have the world's most descriptive titles, you'd do well to check out Rrootage [victoly.com] and Noiz2sa [victoly.com]

    They're both highly abstract top-down shooters with pretty cool graphics. It's quite difficult to describe them with words -- the only way to experience them is to just play them. There are also windows ports availible somewhere.

  • tranquility (Score:3, Interesting)

    by presearch ( 214913 ) on Tuesday February 03, 2004 @08:54PM (#8176264)
    tranquility [tqworld.com] is simple to learn, yet takes months to master.

    Playing through all it's levels takes most players over 100 hours.

    It's a great way to show off what your G5 can do and looks amazing on a big Cinema Display.
    It's good for you, it's cheap, and if you talk to it nice it might wash your car.

    There's no other game like it (and there's probably a reason for that...)

  • I got one... (Score:2, Informative)

    by brosmike ( 662936 )
    Descent 3. Not quite sure if it qualifies as a FPS (it is first person and you do shoot stuff, so...), but it is a truly kick-ass game. Amazon's got it here [amazon.com].

  • MAME! (Or rather, MacMAME I supposed) (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Man In Black ( 11263 ) <.ac.wahs. .ta. .or-ez.> on Tuesday February 03, 2004 @09:10PM (#8176344) Homepage
    I can't believe no one has recommended this yet... I play MAME way more than any of the piddly PC games that are out there. No system is complete without a nice copy of MAME. Of course, you'll have to dive into the newsgroups to find... *ahem*... "support files"...
  • Kiki the Nano Bot [sourceforge.net]

    While it's not a major game from one of the big game studios, it is a heck of a lot of fun. It's basically a 3D (actually uses 3 dimensions, not just a 2D game with 3D graphics) puzzle game. You play as Kiki, and your goal is to get to the exit. The best part is it free and the source code is available for download.

    BTW, I want to sell my copies of UT2003 and American McGee's Alice.

  • Get the Marathon Series it may be dated but its one of the best FPS's ive ever played to this day I still love marathon. Come on after all Halo is just Marathon 4!

  • er... no Wolf? (Score:1, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward
    ... I can't believe no one mentioned Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory!!!

    imho, best damn multiplay fps out there now - an' it's free!
    • I can't believe no one mentioned Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory!!!

      imho, best damn multiplay fps out there now - an' it's free!

      They didn't mention it because it's not available for the mac.
  • Unreal Tournament 2004 (which is basically UT2003 with lots of new stuff) is coming out soon (for the PC and Mac simultaneously). Might want to hold off getting UT until then ;)

  • Second Life (Score:2, Informative)

    by dr_leviathan ( 653441 )
    ...of course!

    http://secondlife.com

    Well, the Mac client is currently in beta, but
    it's only $9.95 for a lifetime of access.
  • Descent 3 is awesome--as good as Halo. Not sure if it runs under OS X.
  • Halo, Call of Duty, C&C Generals, Jedi Knight II, Neverwinter Nights, Unreal Tournament, Warcraft 3, Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, Sim City 4, Unreal Tournament 2003, Dungeon Siege, Civ3, etc.

    There are a fair number of games for the Mac these days - almost to the extent where one could be a casual gamer and semi hard core gamer and be a Mac user.
  • Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • I used to play Civ III on my powerbook, that was before I installed gentoo on it. I think the new expansion may be out on it too.
  • ...you really should have got a PC.

    And I'm a die-hard Mac nut. I've been playing games on the Mac since Brickles, but actually started thinking about games when I bought new Macs since Warcraft. However, the last time I felt like I needed a new machine, I realized that to feed my need, a Mac wasn't going to do it. I still prefer my Mac, and use it for everything else (which it does just fine at). It (350Mhz B&W G3) can still handle the Mac-only games like the various Ambrosia titles, so I really h

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