10 Great Games for Mac You Should Be Playing Right Now

Posted 08/18/2011 at 4:15pm | by Mitch Dyer

Games, games, games. The more you play, the more you enjoy, the better you feel. Mac gaming hasn't always been a priority for game publishers, but with digital distribution platforms like Steam and the Mac App Store, the world's made it easier to buy a game, download it and then play it right away. So if you're ready for it, from free to five bucks to full-priced must-plays, here are 10 top-shelf games every Mac gamer should be playing right now.

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10 Great Games for Mac You Should Be Playing Right Now

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Team Fortress 2
Valve' s fabulous, objective-based multiplayer shooter recently went free-to-play on Steam. Each character class has its own unique abilities that serve the game's encouraging co-op nature; offense is as important as support, and everyone has a role to play. Doing well unlocks new weapons and items with their own benefits and disadvantages to suit your preferred play style…or you can just buy it.
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Braid
Braid is brief and divisive, either beloved for its transcendence or loathed for its narcissism. This is a masterpiece and a work of art disguised a pretty platformer with time-travel-based puzzles. It enforces an atypical line of thinking and like Portal, it makes the player feel like they're outsmarting the game by warping their understanding of a situation.
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Get Frozen Synapse
Frozen Synapse separates itself from the herd of predictable tactics titles by fusing real-time and turn-based strategy. Players take turns together, navigating small squads of soldiers around randomly generated environments, taking cover or destroying buildings as necessary. The submitted turns play out simultaneously, with the A.I. reacting dynamically to each other. It's a smart game that's rarely predictable.
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Civilization V
Arguably the best of the Civilization series, Civ V is the terrific amalgamation of Sid Meier's outstanding strategy series, and its improved combat gives it a leg up over its predecessor. The freedom to rule the world how you please has rarely been better than this. Exploration, allegiances and war abound, Civ V is an incredible must-play. Don't be surprised when six hours just utterly vanish.
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Trine
Trine is beautiful, has great puzzles, and the fast-paced 2D platforming is a fun variable during combat. The real hook here, though, is the characters, individually able of solving problems in their own way. Each character has its own advantages and disadvantages, so swapping between them, or bringing a co-op pal along for the ride, switches up the gameplay every few seconds.
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Machinarium
The gorgeous world of Machinarium is one truly worth exploring. This is an engaging adventure game with an adorable, inquisitive, problem-solving star. Our robot hero's extendable height and helpful imagination lend the game's elegant and devious puzzles that are always perfectly solvable. The demo does a dangerously good job of selling the heart and soul of Machinarium, and its art, tone and ease of entry make it hard to resist.
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VVVVV /b>
Kooky name, sure, but VVVVVV is some of the most fun you'll have with an old-school platformer on Mac. Plus, it's only five bucks. Rescuing your space-bros from their 8-bit prisons is immensely enjoyable, and the little hero dude is all smiles all the time. It's a challenging game that challenges your understanding of environments and physics.

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BioShock
Trailers always sold BioShock as a shooter, but it's far more than that. It's equal parts adventure and RPG, with plenty of conflict thrown in. The underwater setting of Rapture is one of gaming's greatest, and exploring it thoroughly is really the only way to understand why. Even if you don't take to the high-brow philosophy or firefights with destructive divers, see it through for the eerie undertones of its failed utopian society.

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Anomaly: Warzone Earth
We can't get enough of tower defense on our Mac devices, can we? Anomaly: Warzone Earth inverts the idea behind the genre and put the player in the opposite role. Building a sufficient army to take down the defenders, as it turns out, requires just as much careful thinking as the other side. The world here has an awesome look, too. The sweet sci-fi scenery and simple, stellar strategy make for a great combo.

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Amnesia
Amnesia's atmosphere outweighs the action entirely -- the game has literally no combat, and you're actively discouraged from actually looking at an enemy. Terrified running comprises the majority of most enemy encounters. Your sole means of self-defense is dousing your lantern so freaky monsters can't see you. The thrill of Amnesia is the unexpected jolts of paralyzing fear you'll discover during your exploration.

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Machinarium
RPGs
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Comments

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Danny Debner

August 18, 2011 at 5:54pm

Y U NO HAVE MINECRAFT?!

jiubreyn

August 22, 2011 at 4:20pm

I agree, Minecraft is pretty awesome. Lost many hours to that game. :) That said, Team Fortress is awesome. Free to play on Steam. Prepare to lose many hours to that game as well. :ob

CCardarelli

August 19, 2011 at 8:53am

U mad?

10 Great Games for Mac You Should Be Playing Right Now

10 Great Games for Mac You Should Be Playing Right Now

10 Great Games for Mac You Should Be Playing Right Now

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10 Great Games for Mac You Should Be Playing Right Now

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