A long time ago, I bought a cheap computer just to run PC games. I used to go to Hastings and WalMart to look for cheap PC games. As I own an Intel Mac machine now, I don’t have to rely on the old game-only machine or PC emulators like Virtual PC or VMware Fusion. I can just switch to Windows XP that is installed on the Windows partition of this iMac 2.8 GHz and run PC games. But does it run all PC games out there?
 Screenshot 01: Source – MacHouse |
 Screenshot 02: Source – MacHouse |
If you have watched the QuickTime game play videos that we have recently made available, you are probably aware that our iMac 2.8 GHz has been able to run several PC games including Call of Duty Modern Warfare, Sid Meier’s Pirates!, Age of Empires III: Asian Dynasties and Unreal Tournament 3. In fact, we have tested several more PC games on this machine. The following is a list of PC games which run on our iMac 2.8 GHz.
 Screenshot 03: Source – MacHouse |
 Screenshot 04: Source – MacHouse |
The oldest game in the list is Age of Mythology. It was first published by Microsoft Game Studios on November 1, 2002. I’ve played only the Mac version of Age of Mythology through GameRanger. But I can tell you that Age of Mythology has given me the best multiplayer game experience. I can’t believe Mythology is almost 6 years old.
The newest game in the list is Sins of a Solar Empire. It was released from Stardock on February 4, 2008. I have only made sure that it’s playable on our Intel Mac machine. I haven’t really touched it. So I have no clue as to what kind of game it is though it sort of reminds me of Homeworld 2. I can be wrong.
 Screenshot 05: Source – MacHouse Scene from Sins of a Solar Empire |
 Screenshot 06: Source – MacHouse Scene from Crysis |
Far Cry and Crysis, which are shown at the top of the list above, are popular 1st-person shooting and adventure games that are developed by Crytek. Far Cry debuted more than four years ago (It was published on March 23, 2004.) while Crysis is not even 1 year old (It was published on November 13, 2007.). According to GameSpot, Crysis is the 2nd most top-rated PC game of all time only after Diablo. Again, I haven’t played Crysis extensively. I can only tell you that it’s somewhat, of course, similar to Far Cry.
Far Cry… I’ve finished about one third of its single-player game. The story goes as follows. A guy named Jack wakes up and finds himself in a cave on a remote island. As he explores the cave, he finds a cellular phone, through which he gets instructions from a mysterious guy as to how to find his wife or whoever she is. By and large, it’s kind of similar to Half-Life. It’s not exactly the type of games that I enjoy playing. But I’m sure many PC gamers have enjoyed playing Far Cry.
There are two big games that are yet to come to Macs. One is Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. The other game is Unreal Tournament 3. The PC versions of these games both debuted last November.
If you are a Call of Duty series fan and look forward to playing Call of Duty 4 on your Mac, I can tell you that this game is somewhat disappointing as far as at least its single-player game is concerned. I think I finished all single-player campaigns after playing on and off for a total of less than 24 hours. I thought I just finished Act I. But no… It was the end of the entire single-player campaigns. In the meantime, we can give Call of Duty 4 the best graphics award game of the year. The graphics are very beautiful and realistic. The AI movements of some friendly units are realistic as well. But… Many single-player missions are kind of boring. I like Call of Duty 2 much better.
 Screenshot 07: Source – MacHouse Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare |
 Screenshot 08: Source – MacHouse Scene from Unreal Tournament 3 |
How about Unreal Tournament 3? I’m not exactly an Unreal Tournament fan. But I like this game better than Unreal Tournament 2003 & 2004. No. 1, you will get to drive several different vehicles. No. 2, some enemy units are cool. I was playing one death-match map in Act IV. I think it’s Market District. I thought I played the same map before. Wait, no, it’s not the same. Suddenly, a spacecraft appears and drops a gigantic alien robot, which kind of looks like the one from Steven Spielberg’s 2005 movie War of the Worlds.
There are three more games in the list above that I haven’t mentioned. I wanted to play The Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle-Earth so badly because The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King has given me the best single-player experience. What an incredible game… I played all the campaigns twice. I wouldn’t mind my playing The Return of the King all over again. Too Bad… Battle for Middle-Earth is totally different. I played it just for a few hours. And I don’t think I will play it again.
I can’t think of anything similar to World in Conflict. Probably, it’s somewhat similar to Command & Conquer series although you don’t collect resources to build military compounds in World in Conflict. This game is also one of the top-rated games at GameSpot, which has given 9.5 out of 10. It was first released from Sierra Entertainment for PC on September 18, 2007. So it’s nearly one year old.
 Screenshot 09: Source – MacHouse Scene from World in Conflict |
 Screenshot 10: Source – MacHouse Scene from The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion |
The last game to mention is The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. This game debuted for the Windows platform on March 20, 2006. So it’s more than two years old. It has also gained high ratings at GameSpot. What kind of game is it? It’s a roll-playing game.
The brief story of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion goes as follows. You find yourself in a prison cell. Then, followed by several guards, Emperor Uriel Septim comes to your cell to enter a secret passage. You will get to follow them, and Emperor will be killed by assassins. Before his death, he asks you to find his son.
Well, so far, it’s not fun to play. But it’s just the beginning. (I stopped playing after entering a castle.) I’m sure the game will become more appealing.
Notes
- These games have been tested with iMac 2.8 GHz with 256 MB VRAM through Boot Camp 2.0. If you are using MacBook, MacBook Air, MacBook Pro or Mac mini, you shouldn’t expect that the same games shown in the list above will run on your machine. Some games are said not to perform well with Intel GMA graphics processors.
- All these games are run under Windows XP SP3. And we cannot guarantee that they will run on Windows Vista or other Windows OS versions.
- We have tested only the single-player game for all the titles in the list. There is no guarantee that the multiplayer game will properly run.