Golden eras of gaming: Macintosh part II

We continue our look at the best games for Macintosh users with a rundown of our five favourite games for the one-button brigade... Check out part one after the jump...

5. Civilization 3
III as the Macintosh highpoint of Sid Meier’s series as it’s the one where all the elements come together in one epic whole-long, drawn out planning and management meets on-the-fly responses meets borders and cultural relations. The ability to take over enemy cities by force, persuasion, economics or even culture bombing is just one factor in the addictive race from the stone age to the space age using a look and set of game mechanics so perfect they’When people talk about really good games, they talk about the ones where they were still playing at 4AM on a work night, and when people talk about games when they were still playing at 4AM on a work night, they’re usually talking about Civilisation. We’ve picked Civve barely changed since the very first version of Civ. Oh, and sneaking a nuke into an enemy city? Still one of the most morbidly satisfying achievements in gaming.

4. Marathon
Bungie already got themselves an entry in part one of this list, and in part two
there was quite a tussle for this spot between two Bungie games: Oni, the merger of third person shooting and melee combat that had hugely enjoyable mechanics but a sadly anaemic plot and levels, and of course Marathon...aaah, Marathon. The first person shooter where Bungie cut their Halo creating teeth, Marathon remains popular even now, and has been ported both to PC (as a fan project) and to Pippin. You don’t remember Pippin? It was Apple’s spectacularly unsuccessful attempt at making a games console. These days it would be painted white and named iPippin and would sell in the millions, which would be great as it would provide a home for Marathon’s varied levels in which you complete your objectives whilst battling aliens, avoiding crushers and desperately seeking a top up for your oxygen bottles.



3. Diablo
Good old Diablo, the epitome of the action RPG. All those stats and levelling up that sound so good in theory but can be so offputting in practice? Diablo unfolds them in real time, never letting them interrupt the flow of the monster battering action as you explore a series of sixteen randomly generated dungeon levels. The random map generation combined with the reshuffling of in-game items and the presence of more villains than can be encountered in a single play through means that Diablo isn’t just great on one playthrough, it’s great on every playthrough.

2. Myst
Until The Sims came along, Myst was the bestselling game of all time. Yeah, take that haters, the game that everyone wanted to play was originated on a Mac. It has to be said, Myst hasn’t aged well-it plays rather more like a choose-your-own-adventure novel accompanied by pretty pictures. You explore individual screens, working out what needs to be clicked, carried or read to get to the next one, and in the process a story unfolds that will eventually present you with three different game ending choices-your ability to affect the narrative eventually boils down to merely choosing which ending you get. These days that must sound a little feeble, but the imaginative graphics and audio, interesting and morally nuanced story and convincing worlds mean that Myst remains a venerable Macintosh classic.


1. Portal
If there’s ever been a time when every PC and Console owner envied Macintosh gamers it came on May 12 2010, when Valve announced that Portal was coming to the Mac and everyone realised how lucky the Mac owners were to be able to play Portal for the first time. It’s a lovely idea for a game-a first person shooter where the shooting is used to solve puzzles rather than kill bad guys. The gentle learning curve allows you to get to grips with the basics of creating portals that alter position whilst conserving momentum-place one on the floor and one on the wall and you’ll find that jumping into the former sees you come flying out of the latter with all the momentum your jump created intact. The scope for solving puzzles and navigating complex environments is reward enough in itself, but the promise of cake from a decidedly eccentric computer adds a touch of gentle hilarity to proceedings and makes Portal as funny as it is addictive.