In the spirit of games like QWOP, you control the character you're playing with various keys on your keyboard. These are fully customizable if you want to change them in your preferences. The object of Happy Wheels is to get your character through each level as quickly as possible while completing a variety of prompted tasks.

There are a variety of different levels in Happy Wheels where you can do anything from drive a race car to putter around on a segway. Controls are relatively easy, although it does take a few tries to figure out how to make your player move in the exact way you want him to. Every time you hit an obstacle in Happy Wheels, you'll be prompted with text to perform certain keyboard functions in order to move on.

Happy Wheels can be a bit gory, in a cartoon kind of way. For example, in one level when your character is transported back to prehistoric times, a non-playable character gets eaten by a dinosaur, at least partially. His limbs are left behind in a spray of pixellated blood you have to drive your segway through. It's nothing too graphic, but Happy Wheels might not be appropriate for younger children as a result. The game also sometimes freezes up, making your character's movements stick occasionally.

Happy Wheels is an utterly random (and a little bit gory) browser game that will provide considerable amusement.

Download Happy Wheels in Softonic

And the game's popularity shows no signs of abating - the developers claim they've had the game downloaded over half a million times so far and this has a lot to do with the fact that Pac the Man X is an incredibly accurate reproduction. Pac the Man X has more than 140 challenging levels and the most recent release features a new "Master" which sees you try the impossible task of navigating the mazes in total darkness.

In the normal mode, you can have 1 or 2 simultaneous players and you have 4 difficulty levels. There are tons of mazes though and the developers claim 50 have been created by them and another 90 created by other fans of the game courtesy of the bundled level editor. If you want to limber-up before you play for real, you can also practice on any of the mazes.

With excellent graphics and sound that hark back to the original, if you loved Pacman, you'll definitely get hooked on Pac the Man X.

Download Pac the Man X 1.1.3 in Softonic

This demo allows you to play three stages of the single player campaign, and a two player game. Each round is set in a globe, with a painted background. Using only up, down, left and right, players launch their ragdoll rubber ninjas at one another, trying to hit their opponent.

Sometimes you are armed with batons or sticks, other times not. The trick is basically to fling your limbs into the opponent with as much momentum as possible, while protecting your head. It's easy to pick up, but playing thoughtlessly doesn't work too well. It basically comes down to timing a little luck, to get a good point against your opponent. When you clash, time slows and the camera spins around the dueling Rubber Ninjas, which looks cool, though occasionally it is disorientating, and control gets confusing!

While it's a bit random, Rubber Ninjas is pretty good fun, and playing with a friend on the same computer is nice. Even if control is imprecise, it still feels good when you do something impressive, and the camera spins around as polygrams of 'blood' explode from your opponent. The graphics are nice and shiny, which at the very least make Rubber Ninjas pretty monitor eye candy.

Super simple, Rubber Ninjas doesn't have much depth but it has the advantage that anyone can pick it up and start enjoying it.

Download Rubber Ninjas Demo in Softonic

It's a second trip into Space for the annoyed avians, following on the heals of Angry Birds Space. Angry Birds Star Wars retains some of the Space physics of the previous release, and there are new special abilities, including the use of the force, and light saber-wielding.

Presentation

Fans of the original movie, A New Hope, will adore Angry Birds Star Wars. It follows the plot of the film, taking you to all the iconic locations, including Tatooine, Hoth, and the Pig Star (modeled on the Death Star). The Angry Birds are themed around the heroes such as Luke Skywalker, Obi Wan Kenobi and Han Solo, while the piggies dress up as stormtroopers, tuskan raiders and the like.

The locations and characters are gloriously recreated, and this, coupled with music from the original score, makes Angry Birds Star Wars the best presented version of the game series so far.

Gameplay

The basic gameplay in Angry Birds Star Wars is still the same as the original Angry Birds. You launch birds from a catapult at a structure in order to smash it and destroy the bad guys. Stars are earned based on how easily you achieve this, and progress to the next level.

There are some 80 levels in Angry Birds Star Wars and getting through them will take you a long time, even though the first few levels on Tatooine are very easy. There are some fun bonus levels too, in which you can play as C3PO or R2D2.

The gameplay in Angry Birds Star Wars has been tweaked a bit from previous versions of the game. You can now use the force to slow down your bird in mid flight, or swipe your light saber to break objects, for example.

Verdict

Despite these interesting additional gameplay elements, there's no disguising that Angry Birds Star Wars plays very much the same as previous versions. While fans of the Angry Birds franchise will enjoy this, others will find the game repetitive, frustrating and tiresome.

There's no doubt that Angry Birds Star Wars is a lavishly-produced arcade game, which fans of both the game and the movie will fall in love with.

If you enjoyed Angry Birds Star Wars perhaps you'd like to see some of the other Angry Birds movie spin-offs we could expect in the future (according to us!)

Download Angry Birds Star Wars 1.4.0 in Softonic

]]> Download SuperTux 0.1.3 in Softonic

]]> Super Crate Box is a retro-styled indie game that aims to take you back to what was best about arcades back in the day. It's fast, endless, and urges you to play again to beat that high score.

Your goals in Super Crate Box are to not get killed, and to collect as many weapon crates as you can before that inevitably happens. The more crates you collect the more weapons, levels and playable characters you will unlock. Weapons can't be chosen - you get whatever the crate gives you. Super Crate Box gets really frantic, and it's tough to survive when the game serves you one of the weaker weapons.

You die the instant you touch an enemy, so games can be quite short. However, it's really moreish. The weapons you unlock, for instance, are brilliant. Super Crate Box's mini-gun is one of the most over-the-top guns you'll see in a video game, and is great (noisy) fun.

Super Crate Box achieves its aim of making a compelling game that's fast paced, exciting and cool. The great chip-tune soundtrack is the icing on this retro cake.

Download Super Crate Box in Softonic

]]> Shotgun FunFun is a shooter game for Mac that lets you aim at and attack a zombie horde as they come at you.

In Shotgun FunFun, you play a sniper out to protect the world from zombies. The game's interface is built on platforms and in many ways is reminiscent of other platform games like Donkey Kong.

Fight as Buck Morris against a zombie army of 100,000 in Shotgun FunFun. Buck goes on the hunt for reanimated corpses on platforms, stairs and other two dimensional elements. Shotgun FunFun lets you play in a full-screen version, which is pretty nice, although the graphics are a little rudimentary. The same goes for the sound, which generally just includes shotgun noises and nothing more.

Users aim at zombies with their touchpad or mouse. One click starts Buck on his shooting spree. Be careful though - if you run out of ammo or Buck loses too much energy, he'll end up imploding and you'll have to start over!

Shotgun FunFun is fun for a few rounds, but then begins to get a little boring. Unfortunately, you can't even save your scores from game to game and the poor graphics and sound effects really don't win it any prizes either.

Shotgun FunFun is a fun way to kill some time, and younger kids might find the graphics pretty amusing.

Download Shotgun FunFun 1.1 in Softonic

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Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Knight Academy is a superb RPG for Mac that challenges you to become a Jedi Knight in a swashbuckling adventure with great graphics, sound and plot. 10 years after its original release, developer Aspyr has finally brought it to the latest generation of Intel Macs.

Learn to use The Force

Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy is part of Jedi Knight series of games where you play the role of a new student eager to learn how to use The Force from Jedi Master Luke Skywalker. Throughout the game, you interact with famous Star Wars characters such Han Solo and C3PO in various classic Star Wars locations. You fight for good and freedom on the light side or follow the path of power and evil to the dark side.

First and third person perspectives

Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Knight Academy switches between first and third-person perspectives with both shooter-style gameplay and of course, Lightsabre combat. The really smart thing about Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Knight Academy is that the ending is really up to you. Depending on what you do and who you slay along the way, the ending will change.

Optimized for MacBook Pros

There had been some usability issues with Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Knight Academy even on MacBook Pros due to problems with the graphics card but Aspyr now seem to have fixed the problem, and the game runs very smoothly including on Retina Macs. If you still experience problems, however, set the game to the lowest graphics setting and you should be OK. Unfortunately, there's no gamepad support yet though.

Superb graphics and sound

The graphics and sound in Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Knight Academy are generally excellent. The game is fully licensed from Lucas Arts so all of the characters you'd expect from a Star Wars epic are present and named correctly. The dynamic plot also makes Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Knight Academy something a bit different than you're average RPG.

A must for Star Wars fans

Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Knight Academy is a must for all Star Wars fans. Remember that if you've already bought on Windows via Steam, you get the Mac version for free.

Download Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Knight Academy in Softonic

]]> Lemmings is one of those classic video games that everyone has played at least once. If you haven't (shame on you) then here is a quick recap of what it's about. Your goal is to guide a group of lemmings through highly dangerous levels without getting any of them killed. Unfortunately, lemmings tend to be a little dumb and unaware of dangers surrounding them. However, you can give each of them a specific task so that the whole group manages it through levels.

The graphics in Lemmings are the same as 10 years ago, however you will probably overlook them if you are a true Lemmings fan. The gameplay is very easy to get accustomed to, and you can easily handle Lemmings with your keyboard.

One of the things Lemmings is truly infamous for is its difficulty level. As you progress through the game, and particularly near the end, you will be confronted with very very difficult obstacles. Either this will have put you off or you will rejoice at the complexity. In the end, Lemmings is really a puzzle game, which requires patience, planning and a whole lot of luck.

Get those Lemmings past the obstacles, whatever it takes!

Download Lemmings 1.4.2a in Softonic

]]> Cave Story is a 2D adventure platform game, a little like the original Caslevania and Metroid series from Nintendo, but released much later, in 2004. The work of a single Japanese programmer, Pixel, it stands out as a great game in its own right as well as an incredible achievement for one person!

Cave Story starts with your character waking up with no memory, in a cave. The story is revealed as you progress through the game, which involves a mix of shooting, jumping, and talking to characters you meet. Like a role-playing game, you level up as you gain experience, which improves your health and increases the power of your weaponry as you find it.

You'll soon learn the basics of the story once the first cave has been completed, and it quickly becomes engrossing. The retro graphics are really cute, and the sound is very atmospheric. The controls are fairly simple, and configurable to your own tastes.

Cave Story is big for an indie, and will take several hours to play through, and even more if you want to find all of the story endings. It it quite challenging by today's standards, and players have to be very careful to regularly use the save rooms dotted around the game, or risk getting annoyed! There are cut scenes and conversations you must have, and its impossible to skip through them, so repetition isn't all that fun.

The Mac version requires a patch to run in English, as it was originally in Japanese. See below for instructions.

Although the saving is a pain, and the difficulty level is quite high, Cave Story is a fantastic platform adventure game. It's as good as any 2D game, and should be on everyone's list of must-play games.

Download Cave Story 0.0.7.0 in Softonic

]]> Bad Piggies is a spin-off of the popular Angry Birds game. This time the pigs take center stage in a physics-based puzzle game that plays out very differently to Angry Birds.

The swines in Bad Piggies are on the hunt for eggs again. This time they're on a desert island and must construct vehicles to help them negotiate the mountains, caves and other hostile terrain. It's your job to help the piggies piece together their makeshift craft to guide them through each level.

There are 60 levels in Bad Piggies, set in the same format as Angry Birds (i.e. you need to complete a level and try to get three stars in order to progress to the next). At the start of each level you're given various materials with which to construct a vehicle. These objects include crates, wheels, umbrellas, fans, and TNT.

The idea of Bad Piggies is to make the construction at the top of the hill, then release the vehicle towards the goal line. As it flies down the hill you can use the objects you attached to help manipulate the craft and guide the pigs to the stars and ultimately to the goal.

Bad Piggies is a completely different challenge to Angry Birds. The hit-and-miss approach of the catapults has gone and instead Bad Piggies requires more mechanical thinking. This in turn makes the game less appealing for some. You can no longer just turn on the game and start wildly flinging your fingers around.

Bad Piggies is more of a labored process of working out what materials you have and how to join them together to deal with the obstacles facing you and collect all the stars. Some would argue that the satisfaction you get out of Bad Piggies doesn't warrant all this brain energy.

Graphically, Bad Piggies is bright and colorful and in keeping with the Angry Birds style. There are fun cut scenes featuring the hapless piggies, and the music is chirpy and catchy.

Bad Piggies is a challenging physics-based puzzle game, though it's often complex tasks may put some people off.

Download Bad Piggies 1.1.0 in Softonic

]]> >Retro platform games are nothing new, but with VVVVVV, developer Terry Cavanagh has created a game that is truly special, and that easily stands alongside any of the early gaming greats.

There is a story to VVVVVV - you're a space captain, who has lost his crew in an accident. Teleported to a strange space craft, you must find your crew and escape. Unlike most platformers, there's no jump button. Instead, by pressing V (or another action button), gravity is reversed. In this way you can avoid spikes and other dangerous things in your way. What makes VVVVVV so great is that this unusual mechanic is explored to an almost cruel extent.

Much like Valve's Portal, gravity is the key to puzzles in VVVVVV. It's a lot of fun learning a new way of thinking your way through a platform game, and the puzzles are combined with the need for some pretty fast reactions. Death is common, but lives are unlimited and there are checkpoints in most rooms. While some of the rooms are almost malicious in their design, it's really rewarding to complete them.

To accompany the fast-paced puzzle platform action, there's an absolutely great soundtrack by Souleye bleepy 'chiptune' music that will keep you tapping no matter how hard it gets! And VVVVVVV does get hard, which may put some players off. However, the game is always fair - when you fail it's your fault! Check out the two-level demo, and see if you're up to the challenge! This updated VVVVVV release features ten new levels created by other developers, including the legendary creator of Minecraft, and also a level creator.

VVVVVV is a tour de force of innovative platforming, with a cool look and great soundtrack. An early contender for game of 2010!

Download VVVVVV Demo 2.0 in Softonic

]]> BOOM is a remake of the classic Bomberman which brings the feel of 8-bit console gaming to the Mac.

The developer describes BOOM as “Bomberman meets Doom”. Your mission is to infiltrate eight alien-infested areas, each one divided in 10 sub-zones. You then have to eliminate all enemies using your bombs and finally, in time-honored arcade style, beat the Big Boss alien.

As you might expect, the graphics in BOOM are very basic, as are the sound effects and soundtrack. There's plenty to keep you going with 80 different levels plus 10 different enemy characters of varying intelligence and weaponry.

BOOM is a lot of a fun to begin with although it soon becomes a bit tedious long before you've reached the latter levels.

Download BOOM 2.0.6 in Softonic

]]> N-Ball is a crazy physics-based 2D platform. In this game you control N-Ball, a kind of ever burning plasma ball, through 40 levels full of platforms, ropes, swings, vehicles and lots of other wierd structures.

And with the editor you can also create your own levels or play those made by your friends! A bit tricky at first but lots of fun once you get the hang of it!

Download N-Ball 2.2 in Softonic

]]> Most people may know this sort of game as Arkanoid, even though Breakout came out first in the 70s for Atari. LBreakout is an alternative to the game, with its own set of bonuses and levels.

A perfect time waster, the game is about destroying the bricks at the top of the screen by hitting a ball with your paddle. LBreakout features 30 different levels, with all sorts of brick shapes, which get more complex as you move up the game.

Arkanoid and Breakout fans know that bonuses are a huge part of the game, in fact they're usually one of the main attractions of arcade games.

LBreakout features its own set, which includes extra balls, plasma weapons, speed-downs, longer paddles, metal balls and extra lifes. These ensure that the game stays exciting throughout.

On the downside the game is no longer maintained by the developer, so don't expect any new feature or for any bug to be fixed. While LBreakout features a level editor, it's not that straightforward creating your own.

We recommend sticking to the 30 levels provided in the game.

A fun time waster to have on your Mac if you're a fan of classic arcade games like Arkanoid.

Download LBreakout 010315 in Softonic

]]> Ever sometimes fancy a quick game of Pacman without going online?

If so, you will love Pacman for Dashboard, an ultra-faithful clone of the Namco original which plays as a dashboard widget. The accuracy and closeness of Pacman for Dashboard to the real thing is superb. Both the sound effects and graphics are spot-on and it feels very much like the original.

The controls are simple - use the arrow keys to guide Pacman around, P to Pause the game, Q or Esc to Quit and M to Mute and L to change to low quality setting (which doesn't seem to make much difference). The only drawback is that the widget is quite small and can be quite a strain on the eyes if you play it for a long time. There's also no way to access a High Score table from the menu.

Pacman for Dashboard is one of the best Pacman clones you will ever play on the Mac.

Download Pacman for Dashboard 2.0 in Softonic

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Sky Gamblers is a realistic multiplayer combat game that features great graphics and sound and exhilarating gameplay. Sky Gamblers is high on realism with bump mapping, atmospheric scattering, volumetric clouds and even the glare of the sun on your cockpit.

Combat modes include Dogfight Missions, Survival, Free for All, Team Deathmatch, Capture the Flag, and Defend the Base, with more promised by the developer in the future. Sky Gamblers is best however when played in multiplayer mode where you can can head to head with a friend in a bid to be Top Gun.

Download Sky Gamblers: Air Supremacy 1.5.0 in Softonic

]]> If you're a fan of helicopter games then Helix will probably appeal to you. It's is a side-scrolling animated helicopter game featuring four worlds and over 100 levels of flying fun.

Your task is to rescue some stranded 'dolls' that have been captured by aliens and abducted. You have to save them with your helicopter Helix by beaming them up safely Star Trek-style, before you run out of power. Your main enemy is actually gravity, although there is the odd ghost and ghoul thrown in to spice things up.

Along the way, you can collect power-ups and diamonds, of which a tally of is kept at the top of the screen. Your energy bar is the top-right corner. You are only given three lives, which isn't much, so it can be a bit frustrating at first. There's also no way to pause the program. Helix does have a pumping soundtrack and it's actually one of the best features of this otherwise mediocre game.

Helix will undoubtedly appeal to helicopter fans, although it does feel like a rather dated arcade game.

Download Helix 1.3.2 in Softonic

]]> If you like nothing better than a good old game of pinball, then Pinball HD is one of the most realistic simulators you can play on Mac.

Pinball HD not only features ultra realistic graphics and sound but each of the three tables has a different theme i.e. Wild West, The Deep and Jungle Style. The movement of the ball and flippers is extremely realistic and there's plenty of bonus flips and features to keep you interested for a while.

You can even change the camera angle from a dynamic "flying-table" view to the traditional static, "full table" view. There's also what's called a "Stereoscopic imaging option" which requires 3D glasses to give the game a 3D effect.

The developers have noted that some users have had problems starting the game with the plunger but this can be resolved by going to System Preferences, Keyboard, and setting the Key Repeat option to "Fast" and the Delay Until Repeat option to "Slow". There's also no hi-score table but this will surely be added in future updates.

Pinball HD is an extremely realistic and fun pinball simulator for Macs.

Download Pinball HD 1.3 in Softonic

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