Don’t think for a moment we missed yesterday’s announcement that Star Trek: D-A-C is heading towards the Macintosh system. Currently available for the Xbox LIVE Arcade, PlayStation Network and Valve’s Steam digital distribution service for Windows PC, the Mac version comes out in December via TransGaming Inc.‘s GameTreeOnline.com digital distribution platform courtesy of Paramount Digital Entertainment.

Now, when you grow up being asked, “As in ‘Captain?’ ” every time you tell someone your name, you tend to grow bitter towards the source of the joke. Therefore, my interest in Star Trek begins and ends with Star Trek II. But I’m told it’s still very popular, so one of my readers will likely be able to tell me what D-A-C stands for. Until then, game details:

Star Trek: D-A-C is a fast-paced, top-down space shooter where up to twelve players can compete in intergalactic battles between Starfleet and the Romulan Empire.

Star Trek: D-A-C supports online multiplayer, online co-op and single player gameplay. There are four different game types—Survival, Team Deathmatch, Conquest and Assault. In the single-player Survival Mode, Starfleet captains have only three lives to blast through waves of enemy ships. When destroyed, enemy ships and drones drop special ability and score pick-ups, and players are challenged to grab as many as they can before their lives run out. Top scores will move players to the top of the leader boards and Starfleet ranks. In Team Deathmatch, teams go head-to-head, clashing in a winner-takes-all fight to the finish. In Conquest, teams must simultaneously protect and conquer control points in space. In Assault, teams take turns trying to dominate or defend a sector of space.

In Star Trek: D-A-C, players choose from five ship types for both the Romulans and the Federation—Missile Cruiser, Support Frigate, Bomber, Fighter and Flagship—with each ship offering unique capabilities for players to master and manipulate from the Captain’s chair.

Star Trek: D-A-C, which will be available for download for $9.99 from GameTreeOnline.com in December, is rated “E” by the ESRB. It will require Mac OS X 10.5.8 Leopard or higher, an Intel Core Duo Processor, 2GB RAM, an ATI X1600 or NVIDIA 8600 GT or greater video card, and 450MB Hard Disk space. For more information, visit www.startrekd-a-c.com.

Product [Star Trek: D-A-C]

Full Story » | Written by Kirk Hiner for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

MacHeist, purveyors of the popular MacHeist Bundle, have a smaller yet sweeter deal available for today (Thursday, Nov. 12th) only: six applications available free of charge when you register with their site.

The applications are:

• Shovebox by Wonder Warp Software, an app for quickly storing “text, images, URLs, and more.”
• Write Room by Hog Bay Software, a full-screen writing application designed to reduce distractions.
• Twitteriffic by IconFactory, the premium (ad-free) version of the popular Twitter client.
• TinyGrab, a screenshot utility.
• Hordes of Orcs by Freeverse Software, a tower defense game.
• Mariner Write by Mariner Software, a word processor with the ability to open Word documents.

As of this writing, the applications are free for the next 5 hours, which puts the expiration at about 11pm, EST.

Download the MacHeist nano bundle.

Full Story » | Written by Bill Stiteler for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

Not content with just one “weedy species” franchise in the form of The Sims, Electronic Arts now wants to take over your gaming garden with Spore. EA studio Maxis announced last week the open beta for Spore Islands on Facebook. Spore Islands invites Facebook users to experience the Spore universe in a new way by competing against each other in the “ultimate survival of the fittest game.”

Designed by Maxis and Wil Wright, Spore is a multi-genre single-player metaverse god game available for Windows and Macintosh, with variations available on the iPhone, Nintendo DS, Nintendo Wii and others. The Spore Islands version—set in a vibrant, playful 2D world—will follow the format of most Facebook games, in that it focuses on player-to-player interaction:

... users choose their own island to live on, create creatures and evolve them, invite friends to live on their island, and send their own creatures to friends’ islands, all in a quest to dominate as many islands as possible. In Spore Islands, much like in other Spore games, parts matter. Throughout the game, players can earn and purchase DNA points that they can use to modify their creature’s stats or customize their creature’s appearance with fun accessories such as hats, animations, holiday-themed items, and more. Players’ progress is tracked on both Global and a Friends-only leaderboards, which can be viewed by players and their friends, upping the ante in the race to the top of the food chain.

Caryl Shaw, senior producer of Spore Islands, doesn’t see this as another Farmville, however. “What sets Spore Islands apart from other social games is that it offers a different kind of social interactivity where a player’s gameplay experience is directly affected by the choices and decisions their friends make. It’s an ongoing game, so player’s creatures and islands will be active at all times, whether the player is logged into Facebook or not.”

So, I guess you won’t have to annoy your husband by taking over the computer to find the owner of a pink cow and water your eggplants every night when he needs to be doing his Appletell work, Tieraney.

To learn more about the Spore franchise, visit www.spore.com. Spore Islands can be played at Facebook.

Full Story » | Written by Kirk Hiner for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

No longer content to have relationship and bladder problems at home, The Sims are now set to take their issues around the world. EA’s The Sims Studio has announced that The Sims 3 World Adventures, has gone gold for the PC and Mac and will be available on November 17, 2009. The Sims 3 World Adventures is the first expansion pack to the #1 best-selling PC game of calendar 2009, according to NPD data.

And in what kind of crazy adventures can your Sims engage? Well…

They can run from mummies in Al Simhara, Egypt, fill the sky with fireworks purchased from locals in Shang Simla, China and master the art of nectar-making in France.

Nectar-making France…is that what the kids are calling it these days?

If so, we’ll get photographic evidence, as Sims can now take advantage of the brand new photography skill. They can then bring their treasures home to reminisce and share with other fake people. Players who register their copy of the PC/Mac version of the game online will receive exclusive extra game content with the Explorer’s Loot Set and 1,000 SimPoints to be used in The Sims 3 Store to customize their game with additional in-game items.

And what would an exotic vacation be without the Simlish musical stylings of Nelly Furtado and LeAnn Rimes? Why, it would be an epic fail, I tell you, so The Sims 3 World Adventures Expansion Pack has you covered there. It also features Matt + Kim, Fefe Dobson, Pixie Lott, Natalie Portman’s Shaved Head, Katie Melua, Esmee Denters, Young Punx!, Evan Taubenfeld, Madina Lake, and more. And I’m sure if you look hard enough, you can probably make your Sim characters look like Natalie Portman’s shaved head.

The Sims 3 World Adventures will be available for purchase on November 17 at retail and online through digital distribution. To pre-order the game visit www.thesims3.com. The game is rated T for Teen by the ESRB, and will require the full version of The Sims 3 to play. For complete PC and Mac system requirements, visit the official website.

Product [The Sims 3 World Adventures Expansion Pack]

Full Story » | Written by Kirk Hiner for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

War. What is it good for? For hammering online, apparently. Mythic Entertainment and Electronic Arts have announced that the critically acclaimed MMORPG, Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning (WAR), is now available for the Macintosh. The Mac version is available to new subscribers via digital download at. Current subscribers can download the Mac version free of charge.

Based on the popular tabletop war game from Games Workshop, Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning features revolutionary Realm vs. Realm conflict that will provide players with an engaging battleground for years to come.  WAR is available now for PC and Mac and rated “T” for Teen by the ESRB.

“We couldn’t be more excited to officially bring Warhammer Online and our intense Realm vs. Realm combat to Mac gamers,” said Jeff Hickman, Executive Producer of Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning. “We welcome Mac users to experience the thrill of WAR and take up arms with their PC brethren.”

Key features include:

• Realm vs. Realm (RvR) gameplay means you will never fight alone, but as part of an army of allied players sworn to defend your homeland and conquer enemy Realms. Your every action-every quest completed, every battle fought-contributes to the war effort and can turn the tide of battle, bringing victory to your Realm!
• Experience the camaraderie of fighting side-by-side with allied players against otherwise insurmountable odds in groundbreaking Public Quests. These cooperative PvE encounters unfold across multiple stages and allow solo players to experience the glory of RvR.
• Embark on the endless quest to complete the Tome of Knowledge and unlock Warhammer lore, detailed monster information, new abilities and rewards, and major story plotlines. The Tome is also the story of your life in the game, tracking your achievements to share and compare with others.
• Explore massive Living Cities that become more or less prosperous based on a Realm’s overall performance in the ongoing war. Navigate a maze of twisting streets, visit the local tavern, explore a dark under-city, and meet colorful personalities in a city full of adventure.
• Advanced guild features give unprecedented control to leaders and members, and make guilds an integral part of the war efforts. Guilds can create unique heraldry, capture and claim keeps, and earn Guild Tactics as they grow in power along with their members.

Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning is available on GameTreeOnline for $19.95. For more information about Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning and to download the free trial, visit www.warhammeronline.com.

Full Story » | Written by Kirk Hiner for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

Genre: Arcade/Action
Format: Download
Developer: Charlie’s Games
System Requirements: Mac OS X v10.4 or later, 2GHz Processor, 128MB Dedicated Graphics Card, 512MB RAM, 100MB Disk Space
Review Computer: 2.53GHz Macbook Pro, 4GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce 9400M with 256MB of DDR3 SDRAM
Network Feature: No
Processor Compatibility: Universal
Price: Any donation greater than $1
ESRB Rating: N/A
Availability: Out now
Demo: 15 levels

Bullet Candy Perfect is a 2D based shooter game with 3D graphics involved in the gameplay. It can be played on either a Windows or Mac machine, and the developer is only asking that you donate anything greater than $1 to help support it. This is pretty generous considering the amount of time I’m sure was put into it. In my experiences with Bullet Candy Perfect, it was extremely stable and reliable while still being easy to navigate and use. However, while the gameplay certainly had a lot of facets to it, it wasn’t exactly what I was expecting.

When first launched, the game takes about 10 seconds to load, which isn’t bad. It comes in a folder with various types of media that the game uses, so the actual .app file can’t be moved out of that folder, otherwise it crashes upon loading. From there, the user is greeted with a screen much like below. This screen allows the user to start a new game, check the scores of previous games (which are based on the name you enter once you get a game over), or change settings. The game does support joysticks (which I wasn’t able to test), but the default controls use the arrows or WASD on the keyboard to move and the mouse or trackpad to aim and fire.

When you start a game, you have three options from which to choose: normal, hard, or insane. Before you begin, though, I would recommend taking part in the tutorial. It does a great job of explaining the gameplay as well as how various power ups and weapon upgrades affect what you can do to the enemy and yourself. It has some helpful tips, too, and only takes about five minutes to complete.

The gameplay begins with the user as a ship in the middle of the screen (see the blue ship in the image below). You move the ship with the keyboard and aim/shoot with the mouse. The game consists of different “waves” of enemies which are basically just another name for levels as each wave brings on more enemies with more difficult weapons. In order to remain alive, the user must dodge the enemies’ weapons while at the same time killing them and gaining points. It is based off amount of lives, and these can be gained through points as well as items that can be collected during the play.

As explained in the tutorial, various power ups come on the screen through the gameplay. They are collected by simply maneuvering your ship over them. Some of them give your ship the ability to shoot three bullets at once, while others simply give you another life or invincibility for a set amount of time. There are also some collectable items that will give you hundreds of points, and if all are collected in a level, it will kill all the enemies present on the screen.

As far as enemies go, they come in all shapes and sizes. As expected, the earlier waves of enemies are more primitive and easier to battle. However, as the game progresses, they become more deadly and intelligent. Yet, this lead to one of my major gripes about the game. As I mentioned earlier, more enemies come with each wave. Therefore, once I got to some of the higher waves, there was quite a bit going on in the game. Between me trying to shoot the enemies and them trying to shoot me, there were bullets and explosions everywhere. At times, this made it very difficult to see what was going on. To see what I mean, look at the image below.

Lastly, the game records your game results based on the name you enter at the end. It then takes your gameplay data—such as number of points scored—and makes an interesting little graph to see your performance in the game over time. As you can see in the screenshot below, you can also collect achievements throughout the play of the game. Furthermore, you are able to share your scores online with users from around the world.

Another thing I didn’t like about the game is how it is managed as an application in OS X. When launched, the application can only be played fullscreen, covering up all the other windows. While I’m sure the developer did this on purpose to make the graphics work correctly, it would be nice to be able to play it a little less than fullscreen. This would allow the user to perhaps check an email between levels or something instead of having to exit the entire game. Furthermore, I found the game a little hard to play if you are using a laptop with a trackpad. Over time you can grow used to the controls this way, but it surely isn’t an easy as using a gamepad would be.

That said, there were some parts of the interface/gameplay that I did like. For instance, the soundtrack that goes along with the gameplay is rather well put together. Furthermore, although I mentioned all the graphics and explosions can be overwhelming earlier, they fit the futuristic style and appearance of the game very well. Also, I didn’t run into any bugs or errors during my use of the game.

Full Story » | Written by Josh Holat for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

Category: Strategy/Sim
Developer: 2k Games
Mac Port by: Aspyr Studios
Publisher: Aspyr
System Requirements: Mac OS X v10.4.11 or v10.5.6, 1.8GHz PowerPC G5 or Intel, 512MB memory, 2.5GB disk space, Radeon 9600 or GeForce FX 6600 with 128MB VRAM, DVD-ROM Drive, full version of Civilization 4
Review Computer: 2.2GHz 13” Macbook Pro, 2GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce 9400M with 256MB of DDR3 SDRAM
Network Feature: LAN or Internet
Processor Compatibility: Universal
Price: $34.99
Availability: Out now

If you’re a Civilization addict (like me), you’ll be happy to know that the Beyond the Sword (BTS) expansion gives you exactly what you want: more of Civ 4. There are new civs, new leaders, and new technologies (most of which are just refinements of previous techs). In fact, refinements is a good word for what BTS brings to Civ 4, most of them focused in the post-gunpowder era.

There are a lot of subtle changes in game play: forts now function as mini-cities, able to base aircraft and harvest resources. There are mini-events scattered throughout the game, and how you’re able to handle them will affect your territory and how you interact with other civs. Do you empty your coffers to send aid to another city after a hurricane (and improve your relationship)? Do you execute the traitor who’s been providing info, or use it to embarrass your opponent?

One of the larger changes is the addition of Corporations, which are handled like modern-day religions. After your civ has discovered the Corporation tech, you can consume resources to found a Corporation of the appropriate type (the Jewelry corp requires gems, the Oil corporation requires oil, etc.). Each corporation also requires a Great Person of the appropriate type (Engineers for mechanical-based corps, Merchants for the grain based corp). Once you’ve built the corporation’s headquarters, you can start franchises in other cities, which will bring your civ more gold as a “maintenance fee.” It’s an interesting tactic, draining your opponent’s gold reserves while providing additional benefits, but when I first heard of it I was expecting something more along the lines of the Economic Victory from Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri (a game desperately in need of revival). As it is, the Corporation comes into play so late in the game that it makes little difference in terms of the balance of power.

Another big change is the addition of the Apostolic Palace as a Great Wonder. It’s sort of a proto-United Nations that’s tied to the religion that builds it. Everyone who’s part of that religion gets to vote on its edicts (stop wars, cut off trade, etc.) but it only binds civs with that religion, and even then, rather than simply vote yes or no, you can vow to defy the resolution, effectively vetoing it (though be prepared to face the consequences).

If you’re not interested in building a civ from scratch, BTS has a new Advanced Start where you choose an era and then buy cities and techs. So if your favorite part of the game is the discovery of artillery, you can start then.

I’ve never been a big fan of mods, but BTS contains a wide array of alternate realities, fantasy scenarios, and real-world-what-if’s that impressed me. Situations like a failed Soviet state where the only route to nuclear power is to capture them and hope to crack their launch codes before the other factions wipe you out. Or a world where the god of eternal winter sends waves of attackers as you try to find the three pieces of a sword that can kill him. The most familiar is the Next War mod, which expands the end game of Civilization into the near future of Mecha, super tanks, and armies of cloned soldiers fighting their way to domed cities. Perhaps the most unusual mod (and one I enjoyed the most) was the Afterworld mod—a mission based game of cyborg tanks fighting zombies, it featured almost nothing of the Civ 4 mechanics (other than unit upgrades), but was still an engaging turn-based strategy game in and of itself.

If you’re a Civ addict, this is a no-brainer. You want, crave, need more Civ, with expanded technologies and new nations to conquer. Plus you get a slew of mods that amount to new games in and of themselves. If you’re not a Civ addict, the $35 price tag for a set of mods (some of which can be downloaded for free) and techs that are refinements of familiar ones might seem daunting.

But then, I’ve never met anyone who played Civilization who wasn’t an addict.

Full Story » | Written by Bill Stiteler for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

It’s been a fairly encouraging week for Mac gamers. Yesterday, we saw the release of Bullet Candy Perfect and The Secrets of Da Vinci: The Forbidden Manuscript. Today, Virtual Programming has announced X3: Terran Conflict for Mac OS X, the final chapter in the X Universe story. Although X2: The Threat and X3: Reunion are available for the Mac (X2 is PPC only), X3: Terran Conflict can be played as a standalone game. It features “stunning graphics and spine-tingling audio that make players feel as if they’re really exploring deep space. They’ll undertake dangerous missions, become economic powerhouses, and engage in conflicts ranging from dogfights between small spacecraft to massive battles involving fleets of ships.”

From the press release:

X3: Terran Conflict continues the X Universe’s story of human, alien, and machine races vying for power—players choose between several different characters, with their selection slightly altering the plot. The X Universe has made contact with the Solar System, but Earth is a much different place than it was centuries ago, when a calamity cut the planet off from a small group of humans.

While exploring the newly rediscovered Solar System and investigating the robotic Xenon race’s odd behavior, players undertake a wide variety of missions or simply chart their own course. They can trade resources with some races, while others may attack players on sight. As they accumulate wealth, players can not only upgrade their spacecraft and buy new ones but also build factories, trading stations, weapon platforms, and a headquarter. The game’s persistent universe spins around them the entire time, creating an open-ended experience that continues after the story ends.

Mark Hinton, Virtual Programming CEO, said of the expansive game, “Its rich storyline, immersive graphics, and dynamic audio create a compelling experience that draws players in and won’t let them go. We recommend reserving a healthy block of time to experience all it has to offer.”

X3: Terran Conflict is available now as a digital download, with retail availability today. The game retails for US$39.95, €34.95, and £29.95.

System requirements call for:

• Mac OS X: 10.5.7 or higher
• Intel CPU, 2.16 GHz or faster
• 1GB RAM
• GeForce 8600, Radeon X1600 or newer 256MB
• 7GB Hard Disk space
• Internet connection for product registration

Product [X3: Terran Conflict]

Full Story » | Written by Kirk Hiner for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

If Mythic Entertainment had a hammer, they’d hammer out war all over this Mac. Not sure how the Weavers would feel about that, but it’s good news for Mac gamers. Mythic Entertainment has announced that the critically acclaimed MMORPG, Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning (WAR), will be released for the Macintosh on October 28, 2009. WAR on Mac will be available to new subscribers via digital download at Gametreeonline.com for $19.95 and includes 30 days of game time. Current subscribers will be able to download the Mac client at no charge for use with existing accounts.

Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) based on Games Workshop’s Warhammer Fantasy setting. The game revolves around the continual worldwide conflict that the Warhammer Fantasy setting is known for, and the game is geared toward ongoing, constant war laced with dark humor.

Key features include:

• Realm vs. Realm (RvR) gameplay means you will never fight alone, but as part of an army of allied players sworn to defend your homeland and conquer enemy Realms. Your every action-every quest completed, every battle fought-contributes to the war effort and can turn the tide of battle, bringing victory to your Realm!
• Experience the camaraderie of fighting side-by-side with allied players against otherwise insurmountable odds in groundbreaking Public Quests. These cooperative PvE encounters unfold across multiple stages and allow solo players to experience the glory of RvR.
• Embark on the endless quest to complete the Tome of Knowledge and unlock Warhammer lore, detailed monster information, new abilities and rewards, and major story plotlines. The Tome is also the story of your life in the game, tracking your achievements to share and compare with others.
• Explore massive Living Cities that become more or less prosperous based on a Realm’s overall performance in the ongoing war. Navigate a maze of twisting streets, visit the local tavern, explore a dark under-city, and meet colorful personalities in a city full of adventure.
• Advanced guild features give unprecedented control to leaders and members, and make guilds an integral part of the war efforts. Guilds can create unique heraldry, capture and claim keeps, and earn Guild Tactics as they grow in power along with their members.

We’re incredibly excited to bring Warhammer Online and its enthralling Realm vs. Realm combat to the Mac community,” said Jeff Hickman, Executive Producer of Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning. “Come October 28th, the sides of Order and Destruction will be bolsters by a fresh recruit of Mac gamers experiencing for the first time exactly what we mean when we say that ‘WAR is everywhere!’ ”
The Mac version of WAR is currently being offered for beta testing and allows existing players to download the beta client to their Mac computers and play with their live game accounts. Players who do not have an existing live account, but are interested in playing WAR on the Mac, are able to participate in the beta by downloading a 10-day Mac beta trial.  Players who participate in the WAR Mac beta test will receive an exclusive title and trophy reward for their characters within the game.

To download the beta version of Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning for Mac or the 10-day beta trial, visit www.warhammeronline.com/mac.

Full Story » | Written by Kirk Hiner for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

Genre: Sim
Format: DVD
Developer: Lionhead Studios
Mac Port: Robosoft Technologies
Mac Publisher: Feral Interactive
System Requirements: Mac OS X v10.4, 1.6GHz PowerPC, 512MB RAM, 64MB video card, 8GB free hard disk space
Review Computer: 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo aluminum MacBook, 2GB DDR3 memory, NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics
Network Feature: No
Processor Compatibility: Universal
Price: $49.95
ESRB Rating: 16+
Availability: Out now
Official Website: www.feralinteractive.com/game/superstar

Here’s an instance where a late repackaging of a fairly old game (even by Mac release standards) really does improve upon the value of the original. Also, it gives gamers a second chance to pick up a game they may have previously missed. The game in question is The Movies. The packaging in question is The Movies: Superstar Edition.

Now, understand that if you own The Movies and the Stunts & Effects Expansion Pack, there’s nothing here to justify buying this release. You’ve already got what you need, so have fun. In fact, if you have The Movies but don’t have the expansion pack, you still shouldn’t buy this. Cheaper to just get the expansion.

Rather, this is a box for those who have neither, which is a shame, because this really is a fun, engaging, and surprisingly creative game. The Movies puts you in charge of a major motion picture studio, and pretty much everything else that goes along with it. Hire actors, fire actors and send them to rehab. Assign directors to movies. Research new filmmaking technologies. Decide where on the lot to plant a tree. Determine whether there’s more money to be made in comedies, in romances or in dressing vampires in baseball pants and letting them run around in the woods for half an hour.

The Movies is a sandbox game at its heart, meaning you start with a lot full of dirt and seek to build your empire. Build a set or two, get a director and a couple actors who’s strengths match the type of film you’re making, train some crew members, annnnnnd…cut! Your first movie’s done. Money starts to come in despite the bad reviews, and things start to grow.

As you move along, this becomes more and more difficult to manage. It’s a strategy sim, and that means micromanagement. Plenty of micromanagement. Getting the right actor for a part is easy, but keeping said actor happy is not. As the movies start to make money, actors’ demands increase. If their demands are met, they become unhappy, which translates to bad performances, which translates to poor box office. So, you give them makeovers, send them to rehab, whatever it takes. If they start to cost you more than they make you, you fire them and begin the search for the next young talent.

You have two choices here. You can try to win by pampering your actors, or you can drive them to self destruction. You won’t win that way, but it’s still fun. Chances are, you’ll want to advance, and that means you’ll have to manage finances, construction, and other such nonsense. There’s an audience for this kind of stuff. I get that. But I’d prefer if a game such as The Movies focus more on making movies and less on placement of the cafeteria.

It’s doubly annoying here, because what you’ll really want to do is just start making your own movies. Seriously, The Movies allows you to make your own movies that you can share on the Internet. Create an advanced script studio, and you’re presented with iMovie-like controls that allow you to drag storyboard elements into a timeline to create your own movie. Add dialogue, insert a soundtrack (from iTunes or GarageBand in the Macintosh version, or you can select from over 30 tracks of original music included specially for this package), edit it down (you can even use your iMovie transitions and effects), then export it to share with the YouTube world.

Creating your own movies is a fun experience once you get the hang of it, and it adds plenty of replay value to the game. You may eventually get bored with building your cinematic empire, but you can keep creating movies well after the heroes have ridden off into the sunset. Understand, though, that this will take work and training. Thankfully, the printed manual is very well written. Its pages actually reach into the double digits! Five times over! In addition, The Movies features in game tutorials to help you on your way. Play them. This is not a game to rush into or through. Take your time with it, don’t get turned off early by its complexity, and after a while, you may not want to play anything else.

And that’s why this is such great timing for this package. There is nothing else. As I mentioned early on, if you’ve already got The Movies, you don’t need this edition. But if you’ve never played it, now’s the time to give it a try. For $50, you get the full game, you get the complete Stunts & Effects Expansion Pack, and you get some bonus costumes, sets and music. More importantly, you get a great game that, quite honestly, can keep you entertained for years.

Full Story » | Written by Kirk Hiner for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

Note to city planners everywhere. If you name your community Happydale or Utopiatown or Sunnypeacefuleternityville, you’re setting yourself up for an ironic plunge into the depths of horror…especially if it’s an underwater community. Such as is the case with Rapture, the setting in the acclaimed game BioShock. Why bring this up here? Because Mac users will get the chance to explore this world (and make some pretty tough choices along the way) when Feral Interactive releases the Mac version on October 7th.

Developed by 2K Boston and 2K Australia, and originally published by 2K Games, BioShock creates a world filled with fascinating characters, intelligent enemies and complex moral choices that define the foundation of the game’s world.

Barely surviving a plane crash, the player lands in icy uncharted waters and discovers the undersea city of Rapture, a failed utopia whose citizens had embraced genetic engineering before descending into pure anarchy. Power and greed have run amok and the city has succumbed to civil war. To survive, gamers must turn everything they find into a weapon, use their powers of observation to piece together what happened and make the difficult decisions necessary in order to escape a paradise gone badly wrong.

With its rich story, meticulous attention to visual detail and tense action, BioShock delivers a perfect blend of storytelling and first-person action. The game is also renowned for its rich visual detail depicting a gorgeous Art Deco world set deep beneath the sea. 

“The look and feel of BioShock is breathtaking,” said Feral Interactive’s David Stephen. “Combined with the remarkable depth and sophistication of the storyline, as well as the pure adrenaline rush of playing, BioShock will set new benchmarks for Mac gaming.”

BioShock is currently available for preorder at Feral’s online store, and will retail in North America for US $49.95, £34.99 (inc. VAT) in the UK and €39.95 (inc. VAT) throughout Europe. BioShock is rated M for blood and gore, drug reference, intense violence, sexual themes, strong language, and probably for insulting your mom and kicking your dog, at the rate this is going.

Minimum system requirements:

• 1.8 GHz Intel Mac
• 1.5 GB RAM
• 128 MB graphics card
• DVD drive
• 8 GB of hard disk space
• Mac OS X v10.5.8 or later

The game does not support Intel GMA integrated video chipsets, but does run on the latest generation of MacBooks and Mac Minis.

Product [BioShock]

Full Story » | Written by Kirk Hiner for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

Genre: Arcade shooter/RPG
Format: Digital Download
Developer: Sigma Team
Mac Publisher: Virtual Programming
System Requirements: Intel Macintosh, Mac OS X v10.5, 512MB RAM, 3GB hard disk space, Internet connection for registration
Review Computer: 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo aluminum MacBook, 2GB DDR3 memory, NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics
Network Feature: Yes
Processor Compatibility: Intel only
Price: $19.95
ESRB Rating: M
Availability: Out now

Aside from perhaps Crazy Climber, Alien Shooter 2 may be the most accurately named title in the history of computer gaming. There are aliens, and you shoot them. Good Lord, are there a lot of aliens. You won’t be believe the number of aliens. You won’t believe the number that appear onscreen at a single time, and you won’t believe how many more are just an explosion away after you think you’ve finally finished a level. And, as I may have mentioned, you’ll have to shoot them. All.

Alien Shooter 2 (also known as Alien Shooter - Vengeance) is the sequel to the equally accurately named Alien Shooter, but never you mind about that. There’s no significant story you need to pick up on, you just need to be ready to kill stuff. Indeed, that’s how the game starts. After creating your character (which I’ll cover in a minute), you’re dropped outside an underground military base and basically told to blast your way in, kill whatever you see, and get down here to us so we can send you out to kill more stuff. And that’s what happens. To quote my good friend of Wallace, “There’s no use prevaricating about the bush.”

Before all of this, though, you get to select you character. Here’s where the RPG element of the alien shooting comes into play. You’re given a selection of male and female characters, each with certain skills preassigned. When you’ve made your selection, you can then assign another quality to him/her: skilled with big guns, skilled with energy weapons, quick learner, quick recovery, that sort of thing. It’s you’re typical RPG fare. You’re also given points you can assign to jack up certain skills. As you reach new levels throughout the game, you’re given more points to assign. It ends up being fairly organic, as it’s easy to see where you’re style of gameplay will help and hinder you. Plus, you can level up in mid-action, so it’s sometimes possible to assign your skills based on immediate (and by that, I mean immediate) need.

You’ll also discover numerous weapons along the way, as well as find cash you can use to buy new weapons. There are more than 50 types, although most of these are just variations of shotguns, energy rifles, etc. It’s unlikely you’ll use them all, as the RPG nature pushes you towards specializing in only a few, but it’s good to know they’re there. In addition to weapons you can carry, you’ll also find yourself manning turrets and shooting from the various vehicles scattered throughout the game.

The entire game is played from an isometric, top-down point of view. Rooms and corridors are revealed as you get there, giving the game a Fallout 2 sort of appearance, and that’s a wonderful thing. The graphics are detailed and the lighting is fantastic (although a bit out of whack at times), and this perspective offers the best take on the carnage. But it also presents some problems. The controls of Alien Shooter 2 pretty much require you to stick with the keyboard + mouse combo (a gamepad + mouse option is offered, but because I couldn’t get my Logitech gamepad to work with the game, I couldn’t test that awkward suggestion), so you’ll be moving with WASD and aiming/firing with the mouse. It plays very much like Robotron or Smash TV, but you’ll almost always be mashing two keys just to move in the diagonal direction of the hallways. That’s fine when exploring, but cumbersome in battle.

Another problem is that the hidden areas—which are sometimes required to complete secondary objectives—are randomly placed and difficult to find. They can be hidden behind walls that block your view, so there will be points in the game where you’re just running around looking for hidden rooms without any hints to guide you. It unnecessarily breaks up the gameplay.

And speaking of gameplay…well, live by intensity, die by intensity. Different game modes supply some depth, but gameplay remains the same through them all: relentless. That’s fine at first, but once the novelty of having 100 Starship Trooper style alien bugs charging you wears off, those alien bugs keep coming. Difficulty increases exponentially, so you really need to pay attention to how you’re leveling up and on what weapons you’re placing your skill points. Certain weapons are better at wiping out certain types of aliens, after all. There will be times when you’re sent out on a mission with some support, but by and large, you’re on your own here. It doesn’t make sense that an army trying to bring an alien infested base back up to operation would ever send someone out alone, but I guess that’s the game, right?

Where your comrades fail you (or you fail them, depending upon your locus of control), turrets and vehicles likely won’t. They offer much more firepower and protection, but they hurt the game in two ways. First, they’re even more awkward to control. And second, they bring the action to a screeching halt. When in them, it makes more sense to creep along, trigger some aliens, and stop to shoot them. Cleared of that wave, you creep along again, trigger some more, and stop to shoot them. These levels can be quite large, and playing the game this way can take a very long time.

Which brings me to my final complaint, and it’s the biggest of them all; you can’t save the game mid-level. This isn’t a problem early on when you’re finishing them in 10 minutes, but the first time you run out of lives after playing for nearly an hour, it’s difficult to get up the desire to go back and try it all again. This game needs checkpoints, and it needs them badly.

Yet, I’ll happily recommend this game to fans of arcade action titles for three reasons. First, at only $20, you’re paying a shareware price for an A-level game. It’s a great deal. Second, because you’ve never played anything like this on the Mac before. The battles are violent and insane, but in a cartoonish way. Again, I’ll compare it to the Starship Troopers movie in that regard. And third, what else are you going to be playing on the Mac? Another pie serving game? Spore? I don’t think so.

Yeah, go ahead and download Alien Shooter 2. I’ll beat you down relentlessly, but you likely deserve it.

Full Story » | Written by Kirk Hiner for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

Miss out on any Mac, iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPod gaming news this week?  Here’s a look at this week’s top Apple stories from our friends at Gamertell...

• Top 10 iPhone, iPod Touch games every gamer should try
• GamesCom 2009: A brief summation of Konami’s announcements
• Gamertell Review: Passport to Perfume for PC and Mac
• Gamertell Review: Acoustibuds earphone adapters
• Gaia Online hosts virtual summer camp, Camp Chaos

And don’t forget to check out our App Store updates.

Full Story » | Written by NEWS for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

Category: Game
Developer: Fractal Softworks
Minimum Requirements: iPhone OS 2.2.1
Compatibility: iPhone and iPod touch
File Size: 1.8 MB
Price: $0.99 (free “lite” version also available)
Availability: Now
Version Reviewed: 1.0

A hundred years from now, I’m sure there will be a series of academic papers, thick as a phone book, about the obsession in the early 20th century with making crystals disappear in games. Was it a protest against rampant materialism? An attempt to deal with the psychic fallout of the blood diamond conflicts?  But future academics will probably not hit on the real reason: shiny thing go bleep!

Crystal Clear is a fun and familiar game: match up two or more crystals and they disappear, causing more crystals to drop down. Repeat this process, gaining more points for creating long chains, until you run out of time. Ultimately a game of quick moves rather than strategy, the twist of Crystal Clear is that the matching gems don’t have to be right next to each other: you simply need to tap them at the same time to make them vanish, which means you’ll never get into the situation of have no moves to make. Which makes it a relatively stress-free game: the only challenge is figuring out how to get the most points by stringing the longest chain of crystals together—more crystals = more points, and you can only make two non-contiguous gems disappear at once.

Crystal Clear won’t challenge your higher brain functions, but as a pure exercise in speed, it’s a colorful bit of eye candy with pleasing sounds that makes for a great diversion on the bus or in the airport.

Buy Crystal Clear.

Download Crystal Clear Lite.

Full Story » | Written by Bill Stiteler for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

It’s a rare moment these days when I get to talk to about Mac games. As major Mac game publishers continue to fade into the ether or shift their focus to the iPhone, Mac gaming has found itself in a rut nearly as deep the one from which we barely escaped in the late 90s. But a few companies have recently thrown us a rope in the form of new product releases or major announcements. Do the names Warhammer, Sid Meier, and Star Wars mean anything to you?

On July 30th, Mythic Entertainment (an Electronic Arts Inc. studio) announced they’re bringing the critically acclaimed MMORPG, Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning to the Mac. The game is currently being offered in beta, and the final Mac version of WAR is scheduled for official release in the fall of 2009, when players on both Mac and PC will be able to battle and quest together on the same servers.

The beta of the Mac version of Warhammer Online will allow current players to download a client to their Mac computers and play with their live game accounts. Players who do not have an existing live account, but are interested in playing WAR on the Mac, will be able to participate in the beta version of WAR on Mac by downloading a 10-day beta trial account.  As part of the WAR Mac beta event, players who participate will receive an exclusive title and trophy reward for their characters within the game.

The beta version of WAR for Mac and a 10-day beta trial is available now.

Not available now in final or beta form is LucasArts’ Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, coming to PC and Mac gamers this fall from Aspyr. Proving yet again why it’s sometimes good to get games late, Star Wars The Force Unleashed: Ultimate Sith Edition combines the original Star Wars The Force Unleashed videogame with three new levels set in iconic Star Wars locales, along with a host of new costumes and character models. This special edition of the game will show players the deepest, darkest side of the Force in a story that puts them on a collision course with Luke Skywalker himself. Oooh. I’m soooooo scared.

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed completely re-imagines the scope and scale of the Force and casts players as Darth Vader’s “Secret Apprentice,” unveiling new revelations about the Star Wars galaxy seen through the eyes of this mysterious new character, who is armed with unprecedented powers. Originally released on multiple platforms in September 2008, the game quickly became the fastest-selling Star Wars game ever, and has since sold six million units worldwide.

The three additional single player missions are set in a jedi temple on Coruscant, on Tatooine (including Jabba the Hutt’s palace), and on Hoth. New character models include Luke Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, C-3PO, and some people I’ve never heard of from the new movies.

Want your Mac gaming now, not in the fall? Aspyr also announced that Sid Meier’s Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword for has shipped to North American retail outlets. Beyond the Sword is the second expansion pack for the enormously popular Sid Meier’s Civilization IV franchise, focusing on the late-game time periods and delivering 12 challenging and decidedly different scenarios. It also includes a variety of new units that will offer even more ways for players to expand their civilization’s power as they strive for world domination.

With a massive increase of ten civilizations, 64 buildings, 16 leaders, five wonders, six technologies, corporations, brand new espionage system and expanded trade routes, Sid Meier’s Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword is a must-have expansion pack to the greatest strategy franchise of all time.

New features also include advanced starts, unstoppable corporations, and zombies. Yes, zombies. Don’t believe me, Check it out.

You also need to check this out: Alien Shooter 2. Remember how floored you were when you first saw all those bugs attacking that Tarzan guy in Starship Troopers? Prepare to be floored again. Alien Shooter 2 (Alien Shooter - Vengeance) is a large-scale sequel to the first part of Alien Shooter (which never made it to the Mac, I don’t believe). Imagine the intensity and action of Robotron or Smash TV combined with the look and RPG elements of Fallout 2, and you’ve got Alien Shooter 2. The game features more than 50 types of weapons, 20 types of useful gadgets (from flashlights to battle drones), and 3 game modes. Most importantly, it has an unbelievable number of aliens to waste; Up to 10,000 per level, with up to 100 on screen at a time. You have to see it to believe it.

And finally, are you still playing The Sims? Neither am I. But if you know anyone who is, Electronic Arts has announced that The Sims 3 World Adventures, the first expansion pack to The Sims 3, is in development and will ship to retailers worldwide the week of November 16, 2009.

Players can take their Sims on new journeys to famous real-world inspired destinations around the globe for the first time ever and seek out new adventures. While exploring the landmarks of an exotic city, there is no telling what the Sims will find. From mastering martial arts in Shang Simla, China, discovering rich culture and famous landmarks on a romantic getaway to Champs Les Sims, France or exploring the depths of ancient tombs in Al Simhara, Egypt, players can take their Sims on a journey that will change their Sims’ lives. Players can accept challenges to search for secret treasures, learn new skills and chase down new personal opportunities, meet new Sims with unique personalities, share their culture and bring them home, discover new styles on their travels, and share everything they encounter on their adventures with the world through personal photographs, movies, and stories. Additionally, players will receive 1,000 SimPoints to be used online in The Sims 3 Store for the PC/MAC versions of the game. Exclusive online content, available only for the expansion pack at launch, will be revealed soon.

Creepy animations of people clapping can be found at www.thesims3.com.

So, does all of this signal a renaissance in Mac gaming? If so, it won’t be the first, and won’t be the last. Consoles and portable gaming devices continue to eat away at both Mac and PC game sales, and that won’t end any time soon. But Mac gamers can take heart in that it looks as if 2009 will end much better than it started, and hopefully some good sales here will lead to more big announcements.

Who knows…maybe then, Rome: Total War will finally be released.

Full Story » | Written by Kirk Hiner for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

Frictional Games has announced a re-release of their Penumbra Series for Mac and Linux. All three Penumbra games—Overture, Black Plague and the Requiem expansion—will be available tomorrow as a single download with a single installer. Even better, on launch weekend (July 17th-19th), Mac and Linux users can get all three games for $5.

During the launch weekend of Friday the 17th to Sunday the 19th the Penumbra Collection for Mac & Linux will sell for a mere USD 5! Windows users recently had the same offer available to them and due to numerous inquires from Mac & Linux gamers we hope that this offer will achieve full cross-platform horror enjoyment. After the launch weekend the Penumbra Collection will sell for USD 20.

The Penumbra Collection will be available in the Frictional Games Store for Mac & linux. In addition the Mac version will also be available from the Mac Game Store, Mac Games Arcade and the recently launched Gamer’s Gate for Mac. All stores are participating in the USD 5 weekend launch!

I reviewed Penumbra: Overture back at Applelinks, and, based on that experience alone, can say that this is an amazing deal that will surely satisfy fans of adventure and horror games. Aside from great puzzles and scares, Penumbra features a unique physics interaction system, detailed story and dreadful environments. Its approach to the survival horror genre has received numerous awards and critical acclaim. Visit www.penumbragame.com for more information, media and demos.

Full Story » | Written by Kirk Hiner for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

There’s both good and bad to be found here. Good, in that a ambitious fellow named applemctom put together a rather impressive video of The History of Mac Games. Bad, in that it’s only 2 minutes and 12 seconds long. But the guy pretty much nails it, at least to the best of my memory. Mario Teaches Typing 2 isn’t mentioned, but “... one of Apple’s biggest failures ever” is. Care to hazard a guess?

The big games in the Mac pantheon are covered—Myst, Marathon, etc.—but I was happier to see games such as Maelstrom and The Syndicate get nods (the latter by company name only, however). I’d love to see Tom expand this and go into a little more detail on some of the games (the early adventure games, how Tomb Raider II pretty much saved Mac gaming, etc.), but it’s a fun watch as it is, and it’s sure to hit older Mac gamers such as me with a heavy dose of nostalgia.

How about you? Any games you think deserve to be mentioned?

Full Story » | Written by Kirk Hiner for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

Genre: Action/Adventure
Format: DVD
Developer: Traveller’s Tales
Mac Port: Robosoft Technologies
Mac Publisher: Feral Interactive
Minimum System Requirements: 1.8GHz Intel Mac, Mac OS X v10.4.10, 512MB RAM, 128MB VRAM, 5GB hard disc space, DVD drive, mouse
Review Computer: 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo aluminum MacBook, 2GB DDR3 memory, NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics
Network Feature: No
Processor Compatibility: Intel only
Price: $40
ESRB Rating: E 10+
Availability: Out now
Demo: 574MB BitTorrent

Something you should know about me is that I’ve never been a tremendous fan of either LEGO or Batman. LEGO, because they were always too expensive to get the good kits. Batman, because he was always not Flash Gordon. I mean, I liked the TV show and pretty much all the movies that weren’t attached to Joel Schumacher (yes, that includes Batman Returns, but I never really got excited about any of them.

That’s okay with something like this, though, because the LEGO games are always less about the characters and more about the LEGO. Yes, there are some traits that separate Batman from Star Wars and Indiana Jones, but, by and large, the game is still just about running around and knocking things over. You solve some puzzles, you punch some bad guys, and you never die.

But that doesn’t mean LEGO Batman is just a retread. Although the mechanics and graphics are basically the same as the others in the LEGO series, there’s enough differentiation to make it worthwhile. You’ve got a whole slew of Batman characters to play with and fight against. The characters are fun here, like in the old TV show where even the bad guys were joyful. Yes, there’s gunplay and plenty of fighting, but it feels like you’re out there with ping pong ball guns. What’s better, you get to control the bad guys. You’re not stuck with just Batman, Robin and Batgirl throughout the whole game, you get to play as the Joker, the Riddler, Bane, Poison Ivy, and many others from the rogues gallery of super-villains. After doing so, it’s not hard to see why so many citizens of Gotham turn to a life of crime; it’s just more fun.

You can play through the game by yourself or with a friend, and both are rewarding experiences. Batman and Robin will work together with special moves that are pretty fun to execute, but two-player action can get annoying if you’re not working in close proximity of each other; the viewpoint pans out a bit too far to see what’s going on, and you can get trapped in corners. Although you spend a good deal of your time as the Dynamic Duo, it never becomes too old because the developers included plenty of special suits for you to find and use. With these, Robin can climb walls, Batman can blow up buildings, etc. Although they’re mostly used for solving specific puzzles, they will prove quite useful in combat, too.

And speaking of combat…let’s not. I mean, yeah, there are special moves and button mashing and such, but the fact that you can never really die means the combat is just filler; it’s something to pass the time as you work through the puzzles to reach the conclusion. Thankfully, that’s fun enough, because this is an original story. Unlike the Star Wars and Indy games that follow plot lines of actual movies, LEGO Batman tells its own story, and I certainly prefer that. It does so with Danny Elfman’s soundtrack from the Burton films, though, so it feels a little like that. Gotham is more colorful than in Burton’s vision, but still oddly flat and drab. The characters themselves seem to be pulled from the campier moments in Batman’s history.

Another reason this all comes together well is because the developers seem to really be into it. Considering it’s LEGO and Batman, this could have easily been brushed off as a shovelware project for the kids. Rather, there’s an attention to detail that lifts the game far above the realm of children’s entertainment. The cut scenes are as high in quality as any I’ve seen on the Mac, and the story—although laugh-out-loud funny at moments—takes itself just seriously enough to keep you entertained. These may be LEGO toys, but they’ve got quite a bit of character in those little plastic faces. It won’t be long before you stop seeing them as toys and start seeing them as people who really need to figure out how to get up to that rope to get across to the costume to get over that wall.

So, who’s LEGO Batman for? Well, not for older gamers seeking a challenge, that’s for sure, although even that crowd could find enjoyment in this pleasant romp. Batman fans will dig it, provided their idea of the Caped Crusader can reach past Christian Bale’s iteration. Fans of the LEGO series will also enjoy this. Not much has changed here stylistically or mechanically, and I’ll leave that up to you as to whether that’s a good thing. Personally, I think the LEGO formula still works, so slipping in different franchises and different stories is enough…for now. Once we get to the point where they’re making LEGO Twilight or LEGO John and Kate Plus Eight, it’s time to box them up and store them up high in the closet.

Full Story » | Written by Kirk Hiner for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

Genre: Action/puzzle
Format: Digital Download
Developer: Greenhouse
Minimum System Requirements: 1.0GHz processor, 512MB RAM, Mac OS X v10.4 with latest updates, 185MB hard disc space, Internet connection, keyboard
Review Computer: 2GHz 17” Intel Core 2 Duo iMac, 1GB RAM, 256MB ATI Radeon 1600
Processor Compatibility: Universal
Price: $14.95
Availability: Out now

Braid is a puzzle game based around warping time in various ways in order to collect puzzle pieces and save a princess. In the beginning, you start with one world, and you must collect puzzle pieces to unlock more. The controls consist of simply using spacebar to jump and the arrow keys to move (with the down arrow later being used to slow time). Furthermore, the Shift key is used to go back in time. Throughout the levels, you will encounter vicious rabbits, little creatures, wide jumps, and some moving platforms, among other things. Using your time shifting abilities, you’ll notice that only certain items are affected by shifting time, so you must solve the puzzle accordingly.

The design of this game is very unique. Although the gameplay is pretty simple, the graphics are beautiful. It is obvious that the creator put a lot of effort into making the game look good. For example, the main character you use through the game is very detailed and neat looking. Also, all of the other objects in the game have interesting characteristics, such as shining and glowing. Even the background has a neat effect as it moves towards you. Beneath the visual design is the soundtrack that plays in the background, and the ambient sounds are very fitting for the game. It all comes together to make the experience that much more enjoyable.

I haven’t yet been able to fully finish all of the puzzles, but I did manage to unlock about five or so worlds and get a hang for what the game is like.  According to their website, Braid is a “non-linear story” in which “... the game doesn’t force you to solve puzzles in order to proceed. If you can’t figure something out, just play onward and return to that puzzle later.”  I certainly agree with this approach, as it seems as if the puzzle pieces in some levels are near impossible to get with your current abilities. However, later in the story, the player will get certain powers that will eventually allow you to get the beforehand impossible pieces. While this can be a little frustrating, it is certainly interesting.

Speaking of time warping, let’s talk about that and how it plays into the game. There is no dying in this game, as the developer wanted to make the game in which the user focuses on solving the puzzles, not replaying hard missions to try to defeat a boss one hundred times.  Furthermore, when you hold Shift to reverse time, only certain elements of the game are affected. This means you can use your time warping abilities to figure out which pieces aren’t affected, and perhaps solve puzzles that way. Although there are no set guidelines on how it works, the user must figure out how he/she can manipulate it to best fit the current need. It is very challenging to figure out, but fun nonetheless.

I can definitely see how Braid could be very frustrating at first—it took me a little while to get the jist of what the game was all about.  However, once you get over the fact that you will have to leave some pieces behind, Braid becomes somewhat fascinating.  Unlike usual gameplay with loads of action and plot, you are sort of left by yourself to figure out the worlds and how to best use your abilities to get the pieces. There is no doubt that it makes you think instead of just tearing level after level.

Braid is different in a decent way.  It is nice to see game developers think outside the box and create a more involved game that will take some time to finish.  However, in my opinion, games should be somewhat more exciting.  This game certainly had its exciting moments, but most of the time the user was just left to figure something out.  While I believe this is what the developers had in mind, I think they didn’t quite nail the combination 100%. They were close enough, though, for me to encourage you to try our Braid.

Full Story » | Written by Josh Holat for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

These are dark days for Mac gamers. Despite our surge of growth in the PC market, we haven’t seen similar growth in the number of top tier games coming to our beloved system. In fact, it’s quite the opposite, as many stalwart Mac developers—such as Freeverse and Pangea—spend less time creating Mac games (if any time at all), moving instead to the iPhone. So, what to do? By a PC? Heavens no. You get a console. And to learn which system is for you, look towards Gamertell’s E3 coverage.

For those who don’t know, E3 (the Electronic Entertainment Expo) is an annual trade show for the computer and video games industry. It’s to computer and video gamers what Macworld is to Mac users…well, until Apple decided Macworld was no longer important, anyway. In fact, there will likely be some Mac/iPhone game announcements made at E3, although it’s doubtful anyone will care. The main draw, of course, are the press conferences from Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft, where the big games and the big technology will be announced and shown off.

The event is going on right now, with Microsoft’s press conferences starting at 10:25 a.m. PDT, and Nintendo and Sony to follow along tomorrow. If you want to listen in (and seriously, you should), you can follow the announcements over at our sister site, Gamertell:

• Microsoft E3 Press Conference - June 1, 10:25 a.m. PDT (1:25 p.m. PDT)
• Nintendo E3 Press Conference - June 2, 9 a.m. PDT (12:00 p.m. EDT)
• Sony E3 Press Conference - June 2, 12 p.m. PDT (3:00 p.m. EDT)

Full Story » | Written by Kirk Hiner for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

Last month, I launched a new Appletell series about games we’d love to see on the iPhone. My first article focused on LittleWing Co. Ltd. and their history of outstanding pinball games for the Mac. LittleWing and pinball seem a perfect match for the iPhone, after all. Good news, everyone; I received an e-mail this weekend from the good folks at LittleWing, and it seems they agree.

From the e-mail:

Yes, as soon as we finish the development of Loony Labyrinth full hung version, we are starting the development of Crystal Caliburn iPhone version.

“Full hung version” of Loony Labyrinth? I asked for details:

It is not a simple update but a new title in which we put lots of elements we could not inplement due to the machine power and technology in the original Loony. We added a new story of Theseus who lives in the current world as an ordinary dreamy young man. The new story should bring much more excitement.

In simple words, it will be a rock’n'roll science fiction pinball. Fujita [the developer] is applying Ypsilon [the gaming engine] for layered graphics with dramatic effects in high speed display. I’m planning to create crisp graphics which combines good parts of American comics and Japanese manga.

So, that’s double the pinball goodness for Mac and iPhone owners. Obviously, there’s no word yet of a potential release date, but we’ll be checking in with them often and will post updates here at Appletell. We’re also looking forward to announcements of other LittleWing pinball games being ported over to the iPhone and iPod touch. Their later games take advantage of a more complex engine, but if Cystal Caliburn is heading our way, it’s hopefully not too much to expect that an iPhone version of Loony Labyrinth isn’t far behind.

Products [Crystal Caliburn and Loony Labyrinth]

Full Story » | Written by Kirk Hiner for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

Today’s the last day for entries into Appletell’s pirate game giveaway, in which we’re awarding one winner copies of Freeverse’s Jack Keane and Coladia’s Destination Treasure Island. But is that all? Of course that’s not all. We’ve decided to throw in two Mac OS X games of your choice from the Appletell review vaults. Which games? Well, you’ve got to find the treasure chest before you can open it up.

Entries are being accepted on the giveaway page, where you’ll also find the rules and regulations, along with details on Jack Keane and Destination Treasure Island. The winner will be announced early this week.

Enter now.

Products [Jack Keane and Destination: Treasure Island]

Full Story » | Written by Kirk Hiner for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

Genre: Real Time Strategy
Format: DVD
Developer: Lionhead Studio
Mac Publisher: Feral Interactive
System Requirements: 1.8GHz Processor, 512MB RAM, 128 MB graphics card, OS X 10.4.8, 5.1GB hard disc space, DVD drive, Mouse (multi-button recommended)
Review Computer: 2GHz 17” Intel Core 2 Duo iMac, 1GB RAM, 256MB ATI Radeon 1600
Processor Compatibility: Universal
Price: $50
Availability: Out now

I hated the original Black and White. I found it to be a God game where you were the servant of the people, with confusing controls that were focused solely on rubbing cow tummies.

Something has changed with Black and White 2 (BW2), and it’s probably me, because the game remains unchanged; you play a God who has to guide his people to dominance, either by military conquest (Evil and “black”) or by building a civilization so resplendant that your enemies will join you willinging (Good and “white”).

You are faceless, floating above the islands where the game is played, represented only by the hand that allows you to interact with the land, the people, and your Creature. You have two spiritual advisors—an angel and a devil—who try to influence you, but cannot lie.

Though the game keeps score of how black or white you are based on your actions, your ultimate goal is to conquer each island (level). But how you go about that is up to you. Certain actions—like building a military—are evil (though necessary), while others are good—like building a temple—even though by building a temple you can eventually have access to miracles you can use to crush your enemies. And conquest is always what you’re after. So good and evil, whatever your score, are relative.

So, you build cities, you assign your people jobs (farmers, miners, breeders to build populations, military to fight), and you train your creature, one the big game mechanics. You train your Creature to enforce your will. When it takes an action on its own—building, fighting, or terrorizing your population—you can encourage it (by rubbing up and down) or punish it (by striking side-to-side), and it’ll eventually learn what actions to take on its own. So, eventually, you’ll build a nurturer or a warrior.

As I say, your ultimate goal is to build your civilzation to the detriment of others; you can build your city to such a grand level that enemy citizens will abandon their towns to join you. Or you can take the quicker, easier route and send your armies to take over their towns.

In the end, though, it’s all the same; another civilzation is erased, your Creature becomes more powerful, and you have more miracles. Whatever path you choose, your enemies will have armies and Creatures, so you’ll have to defend yourself. But are you defending yourself by placing armies along a wall, or by wiping out a city before they have a chance to build an army?  The game just assigns a score.

Whatever reservations I had about the game original have been eliminated in the sequel. While you have to choose what tools you want to use to conquer, it’s a challenging, quick-paced RTS that gives you many (far more than two) paths to victory. Played on a modern system, you’ll whip across the landscapes, dragging your armies and Creature across continents, and buying and building wonders to make your city the wonder of the land

Full Story » | Written by Bill Stiteler for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

Pirates are bad. They steal. They kill people. They’ve got horrible hygiene. It’s just not a pleasant thing. But that hasn’t stopped Hollywood and the gaming industry from glamorizing them, and why should it? I’m guessing sword fighting skeletons would be nasty in real life, too, but that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be included in every movie ever made. And although we’ve got no skeletons for you, we do have some pirate games we’d like to give away.

You’ve got to hurry, though. The contest closes Sunday night, May 24th, and thus will end your chance to win a copy of Freeverse’s “Jack Keane” and Coladia’s “Destination: Treasure Island.” Both games contain all the adventure, humor, puzzle solving and system load times you’d expect out of a good pirate story. And although we can make no promises, there’s still the chance another game may be found inside our little treasure chest.

Details on the contest—including rules and how to enter—can be found at the link below. It’s all very simple, so check it out. We currently don’t have many entrants, so your chances of winning are looking pretty good.

Enter now.

Products [Jack Keane and Destination: Treasure Island]

Full Story » | Written by Kirk Hiner for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

Theatrical pirates have sure made a comeback, huh? No longer relegated to goofy musicals and crazy notions like the idea that Geena Davis could ever be a respected ship captain, pirates are now back where they should be: the subject of big budget action movies and sexy Halloween costumes for the ladies. Even better, they’re now the subject of an Appletell giveaway.

From now through May 24th, we’ll be running a contest in which Mac gamers can win Freeverse’s adventure Jack Keane and a download of Coladia’s puzzle/adventure Destination: Treasure Island. We may have even more treasure to throw in if we can just remember where it’s buried.

Jack Keane

Colonial England. Under a certain amount of… duress… Jack takes on a job which will not only cause him a great deal of trouble, but also bring to light the answer to a mystery out of his distant past. A lack of money leads Jack to accept a charter to take a British secret agent to mysterious Tooth Island. When Jack’s ship shatters on the mysterious island’s cliffs on arrival and the secret agent quickly becomes a meal for a monster in the jungle, Jack is soon left to cope with the situation on his own.

Players assume the role of our hapless, swashbuckling adventurer and accompany him in his travels across 15 locations throughout London, Capetown, and Tooth Island. Spectacular graphics, including dynamic lighting, realistic water, and particle effects, highlight your adventures.

Destination: Treasure Island

Four years have passed since the end of the adventure recounted in Robert Louis Stevenson’s novel.

Jim Hawkins has become an upstanding adventurous young man, attentive to those around him.

Imagine his surprise when, one morning, he sees a parrot enter his bedroom window : none other than Captain Flint, Long John’s own companion. The bird brings him a message from his master.
In the message the old pirate announces that he has buried a marvelous treasure on the secret isle where he retired : Emerald Island.

Jim is going to have to hurry though. Pirates, old enemies of Long John, are on his trail.

To enter, simply be sure you’re registered with Appletell, sign in, read the Dabbledoo, LLC Giveaway Rules, then comment below on what your pirate name would be if you were, you know, a pirate and had a name appropriate to your profession. Winners will be chosen at random from all registered entries, so the comments are just for fun. Feel free to use a pirate accent, but it won’t help. We’ll be accepting entries through May 24th, and will announce the winner later that week.

Check the game links before for more information (including system requirements) of the games to be awarded.

Products [Jack Keane and Destination: Treasure Island]

Full Story » | Written by Kirk Hiner for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

Hey, remember MacSoft? I think I do, too. They were this kick-butt Mac gaming company, and then they fell in with the Destineer crowd, and then suddenly stopped hanging around with us. Well, they’re now back at the door, but is it with the Unreal Tournament 3 game they promised Mac gamers back in 2007? No. It’s with games you likely already have in your closet anyway. This month, MacSoft is bringing Scrabble, Monopoly Here & Now Edition, and Game of Life: Pathway to Success to the Mac as part of their Board Game Trio 2.

Scrabble

Play against one of eight challenging computer opponents or take on your friends and family in four different game modes. Innovative and helpful features like Best Play, Hints, and The Official Scrabble
Players Dictionary allow Scrabble fans of all skill levels to join in the fun.

Monopoly Here & Now Edition

Gone are the days of low rent and paltry fines. In the Monopoly Here & Now Edition, the cost of living just increased 10,000-fold—and so could your fortunes. So, grab your laptop token and jet around the
board getting ready to make your millions in the 21st century real estate market.

Game of Life: Pathway to Success

Follow the path to success in a contemporary spin on a classic family favorite in The Game of Life: Path to Success! Advance from college to marriage and beyond and take care of everyone under your roof as you build your Life! Collect tokens at a fast and frenzied pace when you succeed at meeting the increasing demands of friends, family, and new characters who enter your life throughout the 50 levels gameplay. The Game of Life “peg people” have never been this animated - or this demanding! Featuring all your favorite aspects of the classic board game, amazing 3D graphics, and all-new game play, Life has never been as fun—or as fast—as The Game of Life: Path to Success.

System requirements vary slightly, but to play all three games you’ll need a Macintosh computer with any G4/G5 or Intel processor and Mac OS X v10.4.11 or higher. The bundle will retail for $34.99, and should be shipping very soon. Look for it everywhere that Mac gamers can be found looking for the halcyon days of Mac gaming.

Full Story » | Written by Kirk Hiner for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

Category: Adventure/puzzle game
Seller: Cyan Worlds, Inc.
Requirements: iPhone 2.2.1 software update
Compatibility: iPhone and iPod touch
File Size: 727MB
Version Reviewed: 1.0
Price: $5.99
Age Rating: 9+ (infrequent/mild cartoon or fantasy violence

This has to be the easiest $6 you’ll ever spend in the App Store. Anybody who remembers the days of the Macintosh clones, Motorola 86xx processors, or the dreaded Performa will likely remember playing this game when it first came out. And what a great memory; Myst was one of the first games that truly showcased the power of then-new CD-ROM technology. By packing in stunning visual graphics, an immersive soundtrack, and video footage, an entire world came alive in vibrant detail (contrast it with the flat graphics on game consoles of the period, if you weren’t born yet, to see the difference). And just imagine if you could actually touch that world…oh, wait! Now you can!

Gameplay

Gamplay is handled via a simple interface; you touch the objects on the screen. Movement along paths is as simple as tapping where you want to go, and turning is achieved by swiping in the direction you want to turn.

Since the graphics are all pre-rendered, there is a transition as you move from place to place, rather than live movement. This is part of what makes the game feel old fashioned, but when it first came out, the quality of the graphics was truly stunning. Luckily, the transition speed between scenes is variable, and the hardware is actually up to the task of rendering them (unlike the low-end Performa machines many of us originally played this on). You are free to wander the worlds of Myst, called Ages, and encouraged to explore puzzles and contraptions you discover along the way.

Manipulating objects also comes quite naturally; most items can be manipulated or explored by touching them to activate.

Some items require the use of more complex gestures to manipulate them, such as dragging to pull, rotate, or engage some machinery. Unlike the PC version, though, this feels much more natural. Physically moving a lever with your finger, rather than clicking to drag it, actually makes this an engaging refresh of the game, rather than a rehash for a new platform.

Improvements

First and foremost are the graphics. Cyan claims that the graphics in the iPhone game are actually better than they were in the original. Seeing as the iPhone/iPod Touch have integrated graphics acceleration, while many Macs from the early 90’s lacked GPUs altogether, this is not entirely unbelievable. Visually, the game does benefit from the pre-rendered graphics, though it is at the expense of more immersive/expansive gameplay. This is an odd tradeoff, but you eventually do get used to it. Another great improvement is the integrated hints guide, which is available from the standard preferences screen. There is a persistent “i” in the lower right hand corner, which calls up the preferences, bookmarks, and hints screen.

Also new in the iPhone version of the game is auto-save. Many’s the time a Myst gamer lost several hours of gameplay due to a crash/freeze/other catastropher. The gameplay is so immersive that you quickly forget about the little things like saving. And if you’re playing on an iPhone, there’s almost a 100% chance you will eventually be interrupted by a phone call. Hats off to Cyan Worlds for this improvement!

Requirements and Resources

Nostalgia comes at a bit of a price (though not in dollar terms—six bucks is a steal for this game). Here are some of the game’s requirements:

• Space: This game is a whopping 727 megabyte download, and it requires an even bigger 1.5 gigabytes for installation. You may not be able to keep it on your iPhone/iPod all the time, and you may have to delete some content to get it there in the first place. Though this would be a great opportunity for an AppleTV tie-in: use an iPod as a control and have the graphics on a beautiful HDTV. Listen up, Apple!
• Headphones: The sound is an integral part of the experience, and, like built-in computer speakers of the early 90s, the integrated iPhone/iPod touch speaker does not cut it. Headphones are a must.
• Getting Started Guide: For users who may be new to the Myst franchise altogether, check out Cyan World’s Guide. It provides a nice overview, although the game is simple enough to learn through trial and error.
• YouTube Previews: Check out a couple of videos of real time play, courtesy of TouchArcade and AppVee.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some Ages to discover…again. I can’t put Myst down; I’m as hooked as I was when it first came out.

Full Story » | Written by Aaron Kraus for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

Category: Platformer
Format: Download
Developer: P. Industries
Minimum System Requirements: Mac OS X v10.4, 1.6GHz Intel or PowerPC G4 or G5 processor, 1GB RAM, 4GB available hard drive space
Price: $16.95
Availability: Now
Version Reviewed: 1.0
Official Website: www.p-industries.com

I’m no gamer. I was never very good at it. I’ve only ever owned about 10 games for PC or, the Mac, and they’ve generally been more “fun” titles; The Sims 2, for example. I prefer games that I can play for a little while, then move on to something else. Thankfully, Moog vs. The Aliens is one of those fun games. There’s no voice connection to millions of other players, and there are no sniper skills required. All you need to enjoy Moog vs The Aliens, is a few spare minutes and the opportunity to relax and have fun.

Moog, the main character, has the task of hunting for food. But if that job wasn’t difficult enough, a few aliens and other animals have decided they’d like to kill him before he kills anything to take home for food. I’m sure we’ve all been in a similar position, but, if not, Moog vs. The Aliens gives you a great opportunity to explore a bizarre world of rabbits armed with chainsaws and aliens attacking you from their ship. As you progress through the game, your opponents become more challenging. The levels offer enough variety to prevent you from getting bored, but the principal gameplay stays largely the same throughout.

To navigate through the map, you can run left and right and jump upwards, using the arrow keys and spacebar. It’s easy enough to jump over the crazy rabbits, and you’ll need to jump onto the rocks to get a clear shot at the flying saucers overhead.  As you go through the game, you’ll collect different weapons you can interchange where you feel the need. It’s basic arcade-style controls for this game. That’s a good thing, though; there are hardly any key controls to remember, apart from the obvious ones. But a little more control over the character, Moog, would be useful. He faces the way you’re moving, and won’t turn around until you move in that direction. Some of the weapons allow you to aim your shots either up or down, but this option has no effect with the first weapon: a bow and arrow.

The graphics for Moog vs. The Aliens aren’t world class, unfortunately. If you’re looking for a title to show off you’re brand new 52” display, this is not it. Its preferred resolution is 640 x 480—smaller than the majority of displays. The graphics are similar to Play-Station 1 titles, and its also the type of game you’d find for a first generation console. The graphics can look pixelated at times, but not so much that it becomes an annoyance. Remember that Moog vs. The Aliens didn’t have a full design team or the tools available to Electronic Arts, for example. But for a simple, fun game, the graphics work fine—you can easily just play the game and not worry about how it really looks. Pop up menus use the same design as pop up menus from within OS X. It’s likely that the same section of code was used—a feature to keep applications looking uniform with the operating system from which they’re built. However, with Moog vs. The Aliens, the game is played full screen. There’s no dock or menu bar visible, so it looks quite weird when the main menu looks the same as the rest of the game, but the load menu and other pop up notifications appear in the same design as OS X. It would be nice to see the entire menu system of the game looking uniform within itself in future updates.

At $16.95, you may feel it’s slightly overpriced. The majority of games for Mac OS X seem overpriced because a lot of them were written for Windows XP/Vista, and so the extra charge comes from the changes required to allow it to run on Mac OS X, too. A quick scan on the Apple Store for games shows Moog vs, The Aliens would be the second cheapest title available. But it wouldn’t be so far down the list of titles that I’d play. It’s no competition for the top titles for OS X, but its a fun game nonetheless. The concept and base for a good game is all there, bt’s a little scratched around the edges and has a list of improvements to make in order to be brilliant. But it’s a fun title to play when you have a few minutes spare.

I’m sure this won’t be the last title we’ll see from P. Industries, and I’m looking forward to more games to play. While I wait, I think I’ll play through another few levels of Moog vs The Aliens.

Full Story » | Written by Ed Parry for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

If you’re a design geek like me, one of the fun memes that’s been running around is to take albums, books, and now, video games, and redesign them in the style of The Criterion Collection. Criterion, known for their top-notch restoration and presentation of the work of history’s greatest filmmakers (and, er, Michael Bay), is also know for the quality of their keep cases. Using start imagery (which may or may not actually come from the movie) and juxtaposing it with text, Criterion designs do a wonderful job of capturing the mood of the film.

The users at Select Button have created box art for video games (some classic, some modern) using this approach. Above is my attempt using my favorite game, Sid Meier’s Civilization, using public domain art from Wikimedia Commons. The artwork from the Select Button crew is even better:

Check out the full slate of covers, and why not give it a try yourself? What games do you think deserve the Criterion treatment?

Full Story » | Written by Bill Stiteler for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

Genre: Adventure
Format: Download
Developer: Kheops Studio
Mac Publisher: Coladia Games
System Requirements: Mac OS X v10.4, 1.6GHz Intel or PowerPC G5 processor, 512MB RAM, 2GB hard drive space
Review Computer: 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo MacBook, 2GB RAM, 256MB NVIDIA GeForce 9400M
Network Feature: No
Processor Compatibility: Universal
Price: $39.90
ESRB Rating: E 10+
Availability: Out now
Official Website: www.coladiagames.com

I’ve never read Treasure Island. I should, though, right? Having been an English major and all? Having once been admonished for it by “the Queen’s bookseller” when Walking Haunted London? Or was that Robinson Crusoe? Regardless, I thought you all should know that, since I obviously won’t take character or story accuracy into account when reviewing a game that features many elements of Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic book.

Also, I don’t know how to tie any knot other than that which I use to lace my shoes. More on that in a bit.

Destination Treasure Island is set four years after the end of Treasure Island. The game mainly involves Jim Hawkins, who is coerced back into action after Captain Flint—Long John Silver’s parrot—gives him a message from Long John himself. Seems there’s a treasure buried on Emerald Island, and it’s all Jim’s if he can unravel the clues to find it. But of course, there are other pirates who’d like to claim that booty…

Destination Treasure Island is a point and click adventure game; clicking on hot spots warps you to certain areas where you can spin 360° to search for other things upon which you can click. Certain items get added to your inventory, and other items can be manipulated by items in your inventory. That, then, makes up the bulk of the puzzles; find an item with which you can interact, then figure out with what you need it to interact. Certain inventory items can be combined, others can just be used outright. It’s computer adventure gaming at its most basic, or most classic, depending upon your point of view.

But the good folks at Kheops Studio always like to give you a little more, and here, they give you knots. Plenty of knots. A good bulk of the puzzles will require you to tie knots, but they do this in a roundabout sort of way. Rather than actually teach you how to tie the knots, you’re presented with an image of what a certain step in the process looks like, then given options of how to reach that point. The bad news is that there’s not much to really learn here, which is a fringe benefit of some of the other titles. The good news is that they end up just being visual puzzles, fitting nicely into the game without bogging it down in Boy Scout lessons.

In fact, most of the puzzles are well integrated into the game, and only a big one at the end seems tossed in just to stump you. In fact, you’ll likely spend more time finding the puzzles or gathering the elements needed to complete them than in actually working on them.  But that’s okay…that’s what Destination Treasure Island aims to be, and it therefore succeeds.

Actually, it does so for a couple of reasons. First, the acting is a bit above par for games of this type. You’ll likely recognize some of the voices here from other Kheops games, but they just seem to fit in better. The actor playing Jim Hawkins here also played Arok in Secret of the Lost Cavern. His wide-eyed, energetic delivery is largely the same, but is more well suited to this character than to a caveman. Also, the actor playing the parrot manages to be both comical and lifelike (within the reality of the game), which is surprisingly difficult to pull off. This is especially important considering that so many of clues are revealed through the songs the parrot sings to you.

And the graphics are outstanding. Yes, the nodal approach to adventure games largely results in static areas, but there is motion and fluidity to the 360° environments that makes them feel real, even if you are just warping from place to place.

In addition, the audio is better implemented here than in Secret of the Lost Cavern. Ambient noises don’t pop in and out as much, and the music adds a sense of whimsy to the game that, although probably not appropriate for a game about pirates, does lend itself to the sunny island locale.

This leaves Destination Treasure Island with only two flaws, which some may find considerable. First, the game is short. A good puzzle solver with a day to kill could get through it one sitting (although I wouldn’t recommend it). The rest of us can complete it in a week. This would be fine, except for problem two: the game is too expensive. For a download of this type, I’m surprised we have to pay more than $29.95. It’s especially harsh considering the PC version currently sells for $19.99.

Regardless, I had fun with Destination Treasure Island, as I imagine most adventure gamers will. It’s very well done, there’s just not enough of it for what you’re paying. In researching the game, I see that Kheops has numerous other adventure games that could be heading our way. Cleopatra: A Queen’s Destiny has already been announced for the Mac, and Coladia also has an “unannounced project” in the works. Destination Treasure Island may not be in the upper echelon of adventure games I’ve played, but it’s enough to have me looking forward to seeing what Coladia will be sending our way next.

In the meantime, I think I have a book to read.

Full Story » | Written by Kirk Hiner for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

Genre: Adventure
Format: DVD-ROM
Developer/Publisher: Presto
System Requirements: Mac OS X 10.3.9, PowerPC or Intel processor, 640x480 display with thousands of colors, DVD-ROM drive
Review Computer: 2.4GHz 13” Intel Core 2 Duo white Macbook, 2GB RAM,
Network Feature: None
Processor Compatibility: Universal
Availability: TBA

Time travel. Imagine that you had a magical device which could take you back to ancient eras, forgotten times…times as far back as the 1990s, when new technology—the CD-ROM—allowed game makers to add video to their point-and-click adventures, a move which was supposed to add an unheralded level of realism to video games, but usually just ended up embarassing the actors who had to recite ridiculous dialogue in front of a green screen.

One exception was the Journeyman Project, a series of games about Time Agents who explored history, but who more often got caught up in adventures which (all together now) threatened to destroy time itself!

Presto Entertainment, the publisher of the original Journeyman series, is making a 10th anniversary of the final published game (Legacy of Time) available on DVD-ROM for OS X. For old school gamers, it’ll feel like coming home. For new gamers, they’ll be up to their necks in backstory, bemused by the “cutting edge” technology of the 90s, and likely entertained by a really good point and click adventure.

All right, enough of the nostalgia: how’s the game?

Legacy Time drops you, head first, into the continuing story of Gage Blackwood, Agent 5 of the Temporal Security Protectorate. Turns out that after his last adventure, Gage had his memory wiped, which makes it really convenient for the other characters to explain things to him (and players, like me, who don’t know the game’s back story). Turns out the rogue Agent 3 has been mucking about with time, and when she creates a time rift, it’s your job to bring her in.

Which you do rather quickly. Huh. Because what’s really going on is an even bigger plot involving two alien races who have visited Earth’s ancient history and destroying our most advanced civilizations: El Dorado, Shangri-La, and, of course, Atlantis. All video games created in the 1990s had to involve Atlantis. It was a law. You can look it up.

You travel through the different zones of time by using the prototype Chameleon suit, which not only features a wise-cracking virtual-reality assistant who guides you through the adventure, but also allows you to imitate the appearance of other characters—part of the challenge of the game. If you appear as a blind beggar, the boatman will turn you away, and the bridge guard has a very different reaction to the holy Lama than to the Khan who punched him in the face. But then again, you can never tell what a character might reveal to a different person, and part of the fun is figuring out which persona you have to adapt to get the next vital clue to the adventure.

Legacy is a point-and-click adventure in the Myst mold, which means you won’t be blasting aliens with four-button combos so much as you’ll be figuring out where you can find gold leaf to melt in the kiln so you can create a fake token to give to the temple guard. The focus is on exploration, interaction, and clicking on every damn thing in the room to see if you can add it to your inventory. Dialogue is handled in the same way; once you start talking to someone, you’re given a series of set responses. Guess the right response and you’ll advance the conversation (and the plot). Guess wrong and you’ll have to start over. Of course, it also matters who they think they’re talking to; the High Priest gets a very different reaction than an agent for the Underground.

The game itself is relatively straightforward, the puzzles make sense and integrate well with the game, rather than insane leaps of logic. (“Ah yes, coat the umbrella with cat hair and give it to the zombie. Of course.”) There’s also an element of edu-tainment in Legacy that was nostalgic: in addition to talking to people from lost civilizations, you learn what life was like for the ancient South Americans, farming crops on tiered steppes or getting an intro to Buddhism in Shangri-la.

The video elements…how best to describe these? The acting isn’t bad, which is high praise coming out of that era. Seeing an actor standing in front of an obviously computer-generated background was nostalgic, as was clicking on an object and waiting to see if an animated sequence would start. There’s a lot of pixelation in the video, mostly as halos that surround the actors as they move, which is the only problem with the images—though they don’t quite match up to the high-def games you’ll see today, the scope of some of the images (especially in El Dorado and Shangri-La, which take place on mountains) is impressive. This video problem is apparently why the game has not been fully released, as Presto is working to resolve a bug with Quicktime 7.6.

If you’re a fan of classic home computer gaming, point and click adventures, or have someone (like a child) who could immerse themselves in a compelling science fiction story with educational elements, then Journeyman 3: Legacy of Time is a game well worth looking for on the 10th Anniversary DVD (once it’s released). And best of all, you don’t have to worry about swapping out your CD-ROMs.

Full Story » | Written by Bill Stiteler for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

Macintosh and iPhone/iPod updates and announcements for April 3, 2009:

Macintosh

• Coladia has announced a special Adventure Pack promotion from April 3rd to April 8th. The Adventure Pack contains two great point and click adventure games Secret of the Lost Cavern and Destination: Treasure Island. Secret of the Lost Cavern plunges the player into an inspiring adventure that takes place during the Paleolithic period. Destination: Treasure Island is an adventure recounted in Robert Louis Stevenson’s novel. Free demo versions are available for download.
• Urban Design Limited has announced the release and immediate availability of Mail-Grab. Mail-Grab simplifies sending emails to multiple recipients from Apple Mail. In a few easy steps, Mail-Grab extracts email addresses from your Mail Application, narrows the set by applying filters, and then uses the addresses to get Mail to generate your batch emails for you.
• Macgamestore.com has announced the availability of two new games, County Fair and Flower Shop: Big City Break for the Mac through its web site and digital download service, Mac Games Arcade. The game were developed by TikGames. County Fair combines resource Management for setting prices, hiring staff and selecting the hottest new rides and attractions and more. With Flower Shop, help Meg turn a small flower shop into a blooming success.
• St. Clair Software has announced the immediate availability of Default Folder X 4.2. This release adds OpenMeta tagging, as well as improving the compatibility and feature set of our award-winning utility for enhancing Open and Save dialogs. Awarded Macworld Magazine’s Editors’ Choice Award for Best System Enhancement Utility, Default Folder X makes Open and Save dialogs “work the way they should.” It enhances the file dialogs in all Mac OS X applications, making them work as quickly as you do.

iPhone/iPod

• Bark Machine, a free dog training app for the iPhone and iPod Touch, has rocketed to Top 10 app status in the Utilities category on iTunes. Users around the world have quickly made Bark Machine & Dog Tricks one of the most downloaded pet tutorial apps on iTunes. The app features photographs and instructional text that were supervised by certified professional dog trainers.
• IvySkin has announced the Glider-Pro leather case for iPhone and iPod touch. Old School hand-made case meets a patent pending gliding design. With its solid chrome tab, removing the iPhone when you need to is as easy as 1-2-3. Simply pull on the chrome tab, and the iPhone glides out. This pulley system allows you to access the iPhone instantly. The patent pending Glider-Pro technology is the most innovative leather case in the market.

Full Story » | Written by Kirk Hiner for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

Genre: Adventure
Format: Download or DVD
Developer: Deck 13
Mac Publisher: Freeverse
System Requirements: Mac OS X v10.3.9, 1.4GHz PowerPC or Intel processor, 512MB RAM, 64MB video RAM (Intel GMA 950 chipset supported), 1GB hard disk space
Review Computer: 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo aluminum MacBook, 2GB DDR3 memory, NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics
Network Feature: No
Processor Compatibility: Universal
Price: $39.95
ESRB Rating: T
Availability: Out now
Version Reviewed: 1.0 (Unibody and Nvidia-MacBook/MacBook Pro owners should download the update (496K .zip).)

If I may borrow a phrase from fellow reviewer and retired puppeteer Bill Stiteler, “More like this, please.”

It’s hard for me to not get nostalgic about the halcyon days of adventure gaming whenever I work through a new one, but I won’t do that here. No title dropping, no wistful memories of study hours lost back in college. You don’t want to hear that, and considering the surprisingly large number of recent adventure games available on the Mac, nostalgia no longer really servers its purpose. We’ve got adventure games now. Good ones, so let’s talk about those. More specifically, let’s talk about Jack Keane.

Jack is a pirate, or at least what modern entertainment wants us to believe pirates were. Handsome fellows. Noble. With healthy teeth. Seems that only bad guy pirates are allowed to actually look like pirates these days. The rest have to look like Bruce Campbell.

For lack of money, Jack accepts an assignment in which he must transport a British secret agent to Tooth Island. That’s not the adventure, though, as that ends quite abruptly (and in comical fashion). The game quickly becomes more about Jack getting his payment for transporting the agent, and just gets weirder from there. Throughout a good portion of the game, you’ll have a hard time figuring out what’s the plot and what’s a subplot, but that’s part of the fun. You encounter dozens of characters that help or hinder (or help and) your progress, but you can rest assured that most of it comes together in the end.

The gameplay puts a shiny polish on the tried and true point and click method of discovery. You’ll move Jack and Amanda around by…oh, yeah. Amanda. Although you spend the bulk of the game controlling Jack, there are also portions where you’re in charge of Amanda, an American gun for hire who’s been employed by the mysterious Dr. T., the game’s villain. Don’t worry, though. Amanda’s attractive, so you know she’s a good guy.

Anyway, you control Jack and Amanda by clicking the screen to move them, or by clicking on objects to have them interact. If you can talk to someone, the cursor becomes a mouth. If you can manipulate an object, the cursor becomes gears. If you can pick that object up, the cursor becomes hands. It’s all quite intuitive, although I often found myself clicking on something when I should’ve been right clicking. Many objects you find will have to be combined before they can be used, and the bulk of the puzzles are built around that; what do you use on what, and where do you find it?

Considering there are over 250 objects that can be used throughout the game, inventory management could have been a bear. But the developers were smart enough to keep the inventory at a decent number at all times, and objects that are no longer of use disappear when you’re done with them.

As with all adventure games, there’s a lot of reading to be done, there are many cut-scenes, and plenty of the game involves seemingly aimless exploration and trial and error. Not sure how to get that monkey to stop pedaling the stationary bike that powers the electric fence? Keep clicking on your inventory. Eventually, something’s going to work. If not, keep clicking on the environment until you find something that will. Unlike in the past, you never really die in Jack Keane, so there’s no penalty for being random as opposed to thinking through a puzzle. And that’s fine, because quite a few of the puzzles are random. Logic doesn’t always work in the pirate world apparently, and that’s part of the joke. Combining objects that make no sense to you will make no sense to Jack, either, but he’ll acknowledge it with a shrug and use what you give him to progress.

The game does bog down at times. The plot often slows too much in an effort to create some over-the-top puzzles, and there are times where it seems the writers were trying too hard to be funny. There are some laugh-out-moments, but a lot of the comedy felt forced. In a game such as this, if the joke isn’t there, it’s best to just move on. In addition, the voice acting isn’t all that great. It’s passable, but it often felt as if the actors had recorded their lines out of order with no knowledge of how they related to what anyone else was saying. To be fair, though, this may be due to some choppy editing that killed any possible flow of conversation. The whole thing felt fairly disjointed in that regard.

The graphics are dated, but that’s kind of the point. Visually, Jack Keane is as colorful and appealing as the adventure games to which it’s paying homage. However, there are also many clipping problems in which Jack’s feat will disappear into the ground, and such. At one point, he was completely submerged under the roof of a house after jumping off a chimney. I was able to control him just fine, but it does show that the game needed some more QA before being released. The audio could have used some more work, too; quite often, the ambient sound effects pop on and off as if the game has no idea where your character is. Babbling brooks and forest sounds are either right in your face or barely noticeable, with no transition between audio levels.

It would be easier to overlook these few gripes if the price were lower. $40 is a bit much, especially considering most adventure/puzzle games go for $20. Jack Keane is able to distance itself from the competition via its fully animated characters/environments and its wealth of puzzles, but not enough to justify spending twice as much.

That being said, I had a lot of fun with Jack Keane. I’d like to think this has more to do with the quality of the game than with any sense of nostalgia, but I imagine that’s not the case. Those who never got into adventure games or who have never actually played one will likely grow tired of Jake Keane within a matter of moments. But if you prefer your games to be story driven or like your puzzle logic to border on the absurd, then Jake Keane is a fun, entertaining romp worth the few technical glitches and slow moments along the way.

Full Story » | Written by Kirk Hiner for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

Format: Download (342MB)
Developer: Slitherine
Mac Publisher: Freeverse
System Requirements: Mac OS X v10.4, 1.4 GHz processor, 343 MB disk space, 512 MB RAM
Review Computer: 2GHz 17” Intel Core 2 Duo iMac, 1GB RAM, 256MB ATI Radeon 1600
Network Feature: LAN or Internet
Processor Compatibility: Universal
Price: $49.95
Availability: Out now
Demo: Mac OS X (342.2MB .dmg)

Before computer games, even before role-playing games, there were war games, where players could reenact battles—historical or otherwise—by moving miniatures or cardboard chits along a 3D terrain or board map. Commander: Napoleon at War is an almost direct translation of these war games; there’s little flash in terms of graphics—the entire focus of the game is on the creation, management, and movement of military units.

If you’ve ever played a board-based war game, Commander: Napoleon at War (CNaW) will be immediately familiar: a map of Europe and Russia (and part of the New World) laid out in hexagons. Units are represented by 2D icons. Practically nothing is animated; click on a unit and the hexes it can move to will be highlighted. They move by sliding along the map. Units can attack when they’re next to an opponent, you’ll see a ratio in the unit’s info box showing their relative strength (1:1 means the units are equal, 8:1 means that the defender is going to be pummeled). As for the battles themselves, blink and you’ll miss ‘em; each unit gets a small red flash with a number in it showing how much strength they’ve lost, and that’s it.

You build units by controlling territory: cities and resources (like horse farms for cavalry, for instance). At the beginning of every turn, your resources are subtracted from your upkeep, and what remains are available for building your army. Once their construction is finished, you can drop them onto the map near one of your cities or ports.

And that, in a nutshell, is it. CNaW isn’t a “god game.” You’re not focused on building your cities, and scientific research is limited to upgrading soliders.  The beginning, middle, and end is advancing your units and taking over enemy cities. CNaW makes no effort to use graphics to put you “in the game;” you’ll have to provide your own imagination as you slowly build your army and advance on enemy capitals while defending your sea lanes from enemy frigates and privateers.

Play-wise, the game can either be intensely fascinating or deadly dull. If you enjoy board games like Axis and Allies or Risk and want a game with a relatively simple set of mechanics, then CNaW can give you that, and you don’t have to worry about loosing the pieces or about the dice rolling off the table. With Commander, it’s all about the strategy, because although the idea behind the game isn’t complex (build units, deploy units, combat), you’ll have to plan ahead and learn the subtleties. In the single player game, it’s you versus an alliance of England and Russia, and invading either one won’t be a piece of cake, let alone both. Technological advances come slowly, and while infantry units are cheap to build, you may end up marching them halfway across the continent. Will they reach the front in time?

For people who love war games, especially from this historical era, Commander: Napoleon at War is a great game. The computer takes care of managing all the numbers, leaving you free to manage and plan your conquest. But if the thought of moving an army, unit by unit and carefully arranging it to assault the defenders of Berlin leaves you cold, you’ll want to pass this one by. As for myself, it gave me a warm sense of nostalgia of nights spent peering over green Styrofoam hills, and snapping a thread to verify that I could see the enemy Dragoons coming up over the rise.

Full Story » | Written by Bill Stiteler for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

This week’s biggest announcement was obviously Apple’s preview of iPhone OS 3.0. It has all of the things we’ve been wanting on the iPhone. Well, except multitasking, bluetooth keyboards, video, new hardware… Okay, so if there’s one thing I’m relatively sure about, it’s that we’ll never be happy. iPhone OS 3.0 does represent a large step forward for the iPhone, so I think we’ll all be excited to get our hands on it in June.

That said, other things happened. I had quite the experience with my new iPod shuffle, and Kirk has another old, hard-to-find Mac game that he wants you to dust off. And of course, our iPhone Podium stand winner! If you didn’t win, don’t worry, we still have one more to give away this week. You’ll have to listen to find out how to enter. And as always, our 20% off discount code (appletell) still works for Podium stands. Even if Apple wants them to change their name. So check out the Appletellcast that has automatically been downloaded in iTunes, because you already subscribed in iTunes, didn’t you?

• iPhone OS 3.0: Everything you need to know…so far
• New iPhone models referenced in OS 3.0 beta
• Developer manages to Tether with iPhone OS 3.0 over USB and BT
• Appletell unboxing: The new iPod shuffle
• Free Apps roundup for March 20th, 2009
• @Appletell Who want’s an iPhone Podium Stand?  Last one!

Full Story » | Written by Jake Gaecke for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

Product: Contoured keyboard control for gamers
Developer: Logitech
Requirements: Mac OS X v10.4 or PC with Pentium processor (or compatible) and Windows XP or Vista, 256MB RAM, 20MB hard disk space, CD-ROM and USB port. GamePanel LCD requires software that supports Logitech GamePanel technology.
Retail Price: $79.99

I’ve been sitting on this review for a while now. This isn’t the fault of the G13, which is a fantastic piece of equipment, but because I’m a Mac gamer. And as those on both sides of the computer gaming fence know, there’s just…well, it doesn’t make much sense to be testing an advanced gameboard with titles such as Diner Dash.

In other words, if you’re a casual gamer, you can stop reading now. This is for those who worry about frame rates and polygons. It’s for people like me who enjoy hard core games, and who understand that our console systems can’t always provide us with the control we need. Wii Remote aside, you just still can’t beat WASD + mouse for first person shooters…especially if the WASD is being mapped to a G13.

The first thing you’ll notice about the G13 are all of the buttons. There are 22 programmable keys, plus a programmable four direction mini-joystick and two mouse-like buttons. And because the G13 offers three game modes, you can program up to 87 buttons per game. This ends up not being practical, though, because memorizing assignments for 87 keys is pretty unrealistic, and because some of the upper keys are just too far out of reach to be of much use. Also, the keys are a bit too close together, but your opinion there will vary depending upon what you’re used to. A nice touch is that four of the keys (those Logitech feels are the equivalent of WASD, I’m guessing) contain concave ridging so you’ll always know you’re at the right spot. Oddly, though, these are at the top of the keypad, which will force gamers to relearn the common procedure of hitting the number keys above WASD to select weapons and such.

If you find yourself in need of all 87 possible macros, the backlit keys do change color with each of the three settings, so a simple glance will always let you know what commands you currently have at your fingertips. Increasing the geek factor, you have the ability to control the color of the backlighting via software. Very cool.

The keys are laid out in a comfortable concave fashion that slopes down from a nice rest for your palm. A textured, rubberized area behind that for your wrist makes this one of the most comfortable gaming devices I’ve ever used. In fact, I liked the feel so much that I considered programming it for general use with programs such as Photoshop CS4, where I’m generally not messing with the keyboard aside from selecting tools.

Just past the keys, Logitech has built in a 160x43 LCD screen that can keep you up to date with information such as health and ammo, and can relay in game comments from other players…provided you’re playing a game that supports it, of course. This wasn’t of much use to me, as I usually had no idea what it was trying to tell me. Gamers more serious than I will probably make sense of it, though. Positioning also comes into play with this. In my set-up, checking the LCD on the G13 pulled my attention too far from the monitor, and that’s just never good when playing games.

So, that’s the set up. Let’s talk about programmability. The G13 has enough memory to allow for storage of only three ready-to-play profiles. If you tend to work your way through just a couple games at a time, that’s not a problem. But I review games, so I’m constantly switching back and forth. In addition, there are a couple games I always like to have ready for quick gaming sessions. This means I have to frequently remove and restore gaming profiles. It’s not a terribly frustrating process, but being able to store five to ten profiles would be a welcome change.

To the right, you’ll see a list of the Mac profiles currently supported by the G13 (obviously, there are too many PC games to mention here). It’s kind of an odd collection, really, but you can program the system to work with your games of choice. As I mentioned earlier, it’s not a painful task, although it does take some time. Even if your game’s profile is already supported, you’re still likely to want to tinker with it.

Although the G13 is aimed directly at those playing games such as Call of Duty 4 and World of Warcraft, I found it just a useful for games such as Neverwinter Nights. I’ve never liked the placement of the camera keys, and have to slide my keyboard way out of position to use them. Now, I can map all of that to the G13 and not have to rearrange my desk or place my hands in awkward positions just to play the game.

More importantly, the G13 makes gaming possible on laptop computers. The lack of a full keyboard on my MacBook pretty much kills most games, especially the tiny arrow keys. With the G13, I get better control than I did with the full Apple keyboard of my previous iMac, so I’m back up and running better than ever.

That being said, the G13 Advanced Keyboard comes in at a hefty $80.00, so you’d have to be really into gaming in order to even consider it. If you’re a gamer with a laptop, the G13 is a necessity. If you’ve got a full keyboard, it’s simply a luxury. I can’t imagine the G13 will ever really improve your gaming performance, but it will certainly make it more comfortable, and that could make it worth the price if…you know…those Diner Dash sessions are running three hours or more.

Full Story » | Written by Kirk Hiner for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

This week, it’s all about the iPod shuffle. Well, not all about the shuffle, but hey, it’s the biggest news this week. We also have a suggestion for you on an old game to pick up. Then, there’s the free stuff. We’re giving away another Podium iPhone stand, an Xbox 360, and some iPhone 3G cases. If you haven’t already, be sure to subscribe to us in iTunes so that you can have the Appletellcast downloaded automatically every week.

Here are the links to relevant stories for this week’s Appletellcast.

• Apple grasps at gimmicky straws for the new iPod shuffle, improves little by Adam Fisher-Cox.
• iPod shuffle 3G: A suggestion for Apple by Aaron Kraus.
• New iPod Shuffle controls; bad for users, great for headphone manufacturers by Kirk Hiner.
• iTunes 8.1 released by Kirk Hiner.
• iPhone OS 3.0 on the way by Ed Parry.
• @JakeGaecke - Just in case you’d want to enter the Podium iPhone stand giveaway for a chance to win a Podium stand for free!

If you subscribe to the Podcast, the new episode will be automatically delivered to your iTunes account. If you’re not subscribed and can’t see it in iTunes, you can instead download Appletellcast directly.

Full Story » | Written by Jake Gaecke for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

Genre: Real Time Strategy
Format: Download (55 MB)
Developer: Introversion
Mac Publisher: Ambrosia
System Requirements: Mac OS X v10.4.11, G5 or Intel based Mac, 63MB disk space
Review Computer: 2GHz 17” Intel Core 2 Duo iMac, 1GB RAM, 256MB ATI Radeon 1600
Network Feature: LAN or Internet
Processor Compatibility: Universal
Price: $20
Availability: Out now

Multiwinia is a multi-player version of Darwinia, where players take command of digital stick figures and have them battle it out on vector graphic islands. Though the amount of control you have over them is limited—after all, they can’t even bend their arms—don’t mistake Multiwinia for a simplistic game; at first you’ll be running around the map just trying to beat the computer on Easy Mode.

Starting off with at least one base to generate new Darwinians (the glowing figures that make up your army), you have two basic commands you can give them via your “officers:” Darwinians that you promote by right clicking them. Officers can make Darwinians around them follow a more-or-less straight line to a rally area…at which point they’ll just mill about unless you give them another command (promote another officer) or unless there’s an obvious task—like taking control of another generator or other objects in the game (more on that in a moment).

The other command you can give is to form a platoon of Darwinians and have your officer march them. Darwinians come equiped with little lasers that they can use to attack the other armies, but only if the enemy is in front of them: you’ll have to keep an eye on your formations to make sure they don’t get flanked. What’s more, they’ll advance to the point you tell them to and then stop dead, holding their ground even if they’re overwhelmed or if a goal is just ahead. Hey, they’re 2D; how smart do you expect them to be?

That, in essence, is Multiwinia: you set up systems that your soldiers will follow slavishly until you tell them to stop or they’re wiped out. Since you and your opponents all start with the same number of Darwinians, it’s your strategy that will determine who comes out on top. Do you go for the goal and ignore everything else, or let them wander away from the base while you attack their generator?

But that’s not really all there is to the game: Multiwinia features various modes of play: Domination (wipe our your enemy), King of the Hill (capture command points to win), Capture the Statue (drag huge monoliths back to your base for points), Assault (take or defend a position against oncoming hordes), Blitzkreig (destroy multiple enemies), and Rocket Riot (an interesting variation: protect an escape rocket in order to get out of the war zone). There are, of course, multiple maps to play each game on, and what would a video game be without Power Ups.

Every so often a crate will drop from the sky, and the first team to capture and “open” the box (and the more troops you have on the box, the faster it opens), will get a random bonus, all of which are particularly lethal: from simple troop upgrades to vehicles (such as the armored troop character) to another which harvests recently killed Darwinians and respawns them at your base. Some of them are particularly freaky; how’d you like to drop a giant hill of killer ants right next to your enemy’s generator, or a killer forest that attacks anyone who enters it. If that’s not enough for you, you might get to cause a meteor storm or a full-on nuclear strike.

Despite its simple graphic style—a throwback to the days of Tron right down to the “Recognizer”—Multiwinia’s simple, glowing shapes are oddly beautiful and downright hypnotic at times, making it all to easy to distract you from the explosive battles going on. As the name spells out, it’s a strictly multiplayer game, ditching the puzzle-combat structure of the original for straight-out battles. After practicing against the computer to learn just how complicated a real time strategy game made of stick men can be, you can play your friends online.

What Multiwinia lacks in graphic “wow” factor (unless you grew up in the era of WarGames), it more that makes up for as a fun RTS with a simple interface and surprisingly depth of play.

Full Story » | Written by Bill Stiteler for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

Normally, this is the kind of thing I’d reserve for the software round-up, but since Feral Interactive is one of the few remaining publishers with their defibrillator on the chest of Macintosh gaming, I figure someone should be there to yell, “Clear!” This week, they’ve announced a new demo download area to make it easier to try out their games, and they’ve stocked it with some choice titles. For those ready to buy, they’ve also announced Family Fun Pack 3.

The download site allows consumers to download via BitTorrent or via a direct download. If a direct download isn’t available yet, it’s likely a brand new demo, and they’ll provide a direct link in the near future. In the meantime, BitTorrent will have to do, but Feral does provide a quick guide to using BitTorrent for those not familiar with the technology.

The following seven demos are now available:

• Colin McRae Rally Mac - Multiplayer Demo Universal (NEW)
• Black and White 2 Demo Intel (NEW)
• ToCA DTM V8 Demo Intel
• ToCA Honda Civic Demo Intel
• LEGO Indiana Jones Demo Intel
• LEGO Star Wars II Demo Universal
• Ford Racing 2 Demo Universal

The demo server can be accessed at downloads.feralinteractive.com.

If demos aren’t enough to satisfy your Mac gaming needs (and they aren’t…trust me), Feral’s Family Fun Pack 3 may do the trick.

Family Fun Pack 3 comprises four top Mac titles:

• Lego Star Wars II, one of the best-selling Mac games of 2008-9, lets players battle their way through the original Star Wars trilogy in a galaxy that combines the creative joy of LEGO with the epic story from Star Wars.
• Ford Racing 2 features the best Ford cars since 1949, from legends like the 1956 F-100 pickup and the 1968 Mustang GT to future classics like the super car slaying Ford GT.
• Bionicle is based on LEGOʼs best-selling toy of the same name and combines action, adventure, elemental powers, enemies and heroes as players live out the legend of the Toa in the imaginary and magical island of Mata Nui.
• ChessMaster 9000 is the worldʼs most popular chess program and is ideally suited to players of all levels as teacher, mentor and ultimate opponent.

Family Fun Pack 3 is currently available for pre-order from Feral’s online store for US $49.95, £39.99 (inc VAT) in the UK and €49.95 (inc VAT) throughout Europe.

All for games require a minimum 1.6GHz PowerPC or Intel-based Mac, 512MB RAM, 64MB graphics card, DVD drive, 3GB of hard disk space and Mac OS X v10.4 or later. All four games will run on Intel-based MacBooks and Intel-based Mac minis.

Full Story » | Written by Kirk Hiner for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

Genre: Sports sim/racing
Format: DVD
Developer: Codemasters
Mac Port: Robosoft
Mac Publisher: Feral Interactive
System Requirements: Mac OS X v10.4.8, 1.8GHz Intel processor, 512MB RAM, 128MB graphics card, 8.5GB hard disk space, DVD player
Review Computer: 2.4GHz 24” Intel Core 2 Duo iMac, 2GB RAM, 256MB ATI Radeon HD 2600
Network Feature: LAN or Internet (GameRanger)
Processor Compatibility: Intel only
Price: $49.99
ESRB Rating: Everyone 10+
Availability: Out now
Official Website: www.codemasters.co.uk/tocaracedriver3/

Screen captures via Apple.com.

Racing games have gotten hard—I mean really hard—and ToCA Race Driver 3 is apparently so hard that the first Appletell reviewer who had this game couldn’t quite get the hang of it, and had to turn it back over to me. But this is not necessarily a bad thing. ToCA 3 was the first racing game he’d tried out in a while, and he just wasn’t prepared for the level of detail and control provided these days. I’ve got more experience with modern racing games, so I came prepared, and ToCA 3 still managed to impress.

Understand, first of all, that I’m not the least bit interested in racing. To me, watching a car try to go faster than other cars is about as entertaining as watching an apple try to brown faster than other apples. But I do like a good Macintosh game, and ToCA offers enough variety to keep even a guy like me coming back for more. I don’t know what it is about the Europeans that they can make racing seem so much more interesting than it can ever be here in America. I suppose next they’re going to tell me that the popularity of soccer is justified if it’s being played anywhere outside of the U.S.?

The first thing you should know is that ToCA 3 plays it straight, for the most part. You’re not smashing into other cars (on purpose, anyway) or using Bond-like gadgetry for additional speed. No turtle shells or squid. The variety instead comes from the ability to race on 80 unique tracks with 70 licensed vehicles…including lawn mowers. Yes, lawn mowers (Honda only, though, no Bolens like my dad used to have). ToCA Race Driver 3 really is based on the premise that if something can move, it will want to move faster than anything else.

There are a couple of problems with racing games this complex, and ToCA 3 manages to address a few of them. To begin with, the game gives you Rick, a fellow who offers tips and criticisms of your performance both during and after the races. He’s quite helpful in pushing you past the learning curve faster than if you were left to your own devices. In fact, the very first race you run—a single lap around the track—is done specifically to let Rick know your current skill level. It’s nice to not feel so alone out there.

If Rick’s not enough to get you over the hump, there’s a fairly robust cheat menu that’s very easy to access; just select Bonus in the options menu and choose the cheat you’d like to unlock. Even if you don’t need them, some are pretty fun and should be done just for the bang of it.

When you think you’re ready for a real race (and you won’t be), you can select from four different modes:

1. World Tour allows you to set up a career racing in any discipline, unlocking new cars and tracks along the way. This is where you’ll get the most variety out of the game, and it’s where I spent most of my time.
2. Pro-Career lets you focus on a single discipline. Within it, you can “...play through each championship in a realistic manner with full race rules, calendars, flags, etc.” This one’s great once you’ve determined there’s a certain style of racing you particularly enjoy.
3. Simulation mode let’s you do pretty much whatever you want. Set up your own championship, run a time trial, practice your disciplines, etc.
4. Multiplayer racing allows you to go up against up to 11 other racers over a LAN or the Internet via GameRanger. I kind of suck at multiplayer gaming, so I was too embarrassed to try this out. You’re on your own.

I won’t go into detail on the various circuits and disciplines available. Too many to cover here, but you can get the info at the Feral site by clicking the appropriate link in the submenu. The vehicle categories bear mentioning, however, as you can select from classics (prestigious vehicles from the last 80 years!), GT, oval (Indy and stock cars), touring, off-road (Big Foot monster trucks!), open-wheel (my favorite), TMS, and Honda. Why Honda gets its own category, I don’t know, but I drive a Honda, so I’ll take that with pride.

The racing itself is fantastic once you get good at it. I always praise the ability of Robosoft to port games over to the Mac, and they’ve really outdone themselves this time. Not only is ToCA probably the best looking Mac-compatible racing game I’ve ever played, but it also performs the best. The combination of realistic lighting and smoke/dirt effects combined with awesome sound effects makes for a wonderful racing experience. Even the cut scenes look great.

And, of course, between races, you’re given myriad options for customizing your car. This kind of thing turns me off, as I’d rather my racing games not feel like RGPs where I have to level up my character between races. But, yeah, I get that it’s important to die-hard racing fans, so I’ll just deal with it.

ToCA Race Driver 3 is, without a doubt, my favorite racing game since Bump ‘n’ Jump on the Intellivision, and I’m glad this one ended up back on my desk. The racing options/styles are so deep and graphics/performance so great that I imagine I’ll be playing this one for some time to come. Racing fans are going to be thrilled with it, and even those who have no interest in auto racing could get a kick out of it if they can get past the learning curve.

And if not…well, you can always stick with lawn mower racing.

Full Story » | Written by Kirk Hiner for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »