Whenever a Mac user smugly sings the praises of their computer and talks about how it's not as vulnerable to viruses, how smooth the OS X interface is, how great Macs are for video editing and how slick those annoying wireless mono-button mice are, the PC gamer will always have the retort: "Yeah... but you can't play games on it." It's a reasonable response, and one that is mostly pretty accurate. The PC has long been the gamers' platform of choice, engaging users in tweaking it, upgrading it, then firing it up like a spaceship and playing games how they should be played. The Mac, meanwhile, has been the platform slicksters' and the hipsters' platform. But with the rise of Steam and indie games in recent years, the landscape has been changing, and games have been increasingly accessible on the platform that was once so proud to call itself 'game-free'. While Apple seems to have all but given up on making the Mac supplant the PC as the ultimate gaming platform (an erstwhile ambition of Steve Jobs' in the late 90s), there is a growing number of developers and publishers porting their games over. Yes, games are now infecting the once-pure Mac, and here are the best of 'em.
10. The Binding Of Isaac: Rebirth
From the warped, wonderful minds that brought us Super Meat Boy comes this fiendishly addictive twin-stick shooter. You control Isaac, a toddler who needs to blast his way through several levels of horror in the basement of his own mother's house. Why's the poor kid locked in the basement? Because his monstrous mother believes she's doing God's work in trying to kill him, of course... Wandering the procedurally-generated rooms of the basement, you'll encounter horrendous, brilliantly-drawn creatures such as zombie-babies with their eyes gouged out, spiders and turds that squeal and slide around after you - among other equally charming creations. Each level contains one of a multitude of bosses, who will stop at nothing in their attempts to crush you, vomit on you, or cover you in their own feces. It sounds crass and, well, it is crass, but done so in style. The appeal is not only in the art style, but in the perma-death gameplay which is both suspenseful, and easy to jump into over and over again. The huge number of power-ups and random level generation makes each play-through different, and if you don't mind desecrating that Retina display on your Mac with Isaac's visceral visuals, then it's a must-play.
Gamer, Researcher of strange things.
I'm a writer-editor hybrid whose writings on video games, technology and movies can be found across the internet. I've even ventured into the realm of current affairs on occasion but, unable to face reality, have retreated into expatiating on things on screens instead.
