Ace of Spades for Mac combines Minecraft-style gameplay with team death-match online multiplayer competition. Join or create a server, choose the green or red team and get fighting!

Work in progress

Still under development, Ace of Spades really does look a lot like Minecraft, with its pixellated blocky style. But the team combat gives it a very different feel. Building and digging in Ace of Spades is more about making walls and trenches for the battle. The newbie guide even warns you not to be too creative, as your 'buildings will be destroyed'!

Gameplay

There are three guns: a rifle, machine gun and shot gun. You area also equipped with grenades and a spade for digging. You can talk to your team mates in secret to coordinate tactics. Despite the simplistic shooting and graphics, the gameplay is really satisfying. Digging and building adds an interesting dynamic to the game, and some of the servers have really well-designed levels to battle over.

Getting started

Ace of Spades does have its problems. Changing your player name is awkward, and battles can seemingly go on without end. However, these issues will no doubt be ironed out as the game develops. Where Ace of Spades isn't very user friendly, there is at least an extensive Wiki where you can find answers, as well as the newbie guide.

Ace of Spades is a fun release in what is becoming 'the Minecraft genre'. It's free to play, so get involved!

Download Ace of Spades Preview 0.75 in Softonic

The basic idea of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is two teams, terrorists and counter-terrorists fighting each other in a variety of maps, with a secondary objective, such as hostage rescue. There are classic game modes, where you fight in rounds of short games. Death is permanent in each game, so if you die, you sit out until the next game. There is no XP (experience points) upgrading like in Battlefield etc, making this a purely skill based game.

There are also two new modes, Arms Race and Demolition. The former introduces re-spawning to Counter-Strike, so loses the tension of classic modes, in favor of Call of Duty feeling fast-paced gaming. The permanent death modes are much better though, as the need to stay alive is what gives Counter-Strike: Global Offensive it's unique and highly addictive flavor.

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is still a hardcore FPS. It's highly competitive, and the classic maps mean that experienced players have a big advantage. New players can expect lots of quick deaths, but being able to watch other players when you're dead means you can quickly pick up on tactics and learn the maps. Despite the toughness, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive feels much fairer than many modern games where you can feel out-gunned by players with more XP than you.

While the basic gameplay is the Counter-Strike we've been playing for 12 years, the graphics have had a welcome polish, there are some new maps, and the old ones have been slightly tweaked. Jumping into a game is really simple, and the new scoreboard is excellent, as is the improved HUD (Heads-up display).

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is a great update of a classic game. If you're willing to put the effort into building your skills, it's possibly the most rewarding multiplayer FPS game you can play.

Download Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS: GO) in Softonic

With its cartoon style graphics, Team Fortress 2 looks good for a three year old game. These visuals have another great advantage over more realistic styles - you can see very clearly what's going on, and other players don't blend into scenery at a distance. Graphics are so clear that you can even easily distinguish character classes from a distance, helping you to decide how to act.

There are nine classes in Team Fortress 2. In Offense you have Scout, Soldier and Pyro. Defense has the Demoman, Heavy and Engineer classes, while the Support group features Medic, Sniper and the Spy. There is great variety between them all, and they are all great fun to learn. There are four types of Team Fortress 2 game - capture the flag, control point, payload and arenas. Each type gives you different objectives and feels, which adds to the huge amount of content this free to play title has on offer.

Gameplay is fast, the controls are tight and accurate, and there are a ton of customizations to play around with. The cartoon violence in Team Fortress 2 makes it a much lighter experience than more macho titles like Call of Duty, while it's still really competitive and skill based.

Team Fortress 2 is extremely popular, and deservedly so. Now it's free and cross platform, there's no excuse not to get involved!

Download Team Fortress 2.1.0 in Softonic

Penguins Arena is an enjoyable first person shooter (FPS) with good game play.

In this playful FPS, as a penguin fighting for his tribe's supremacy over the world, you'll have to eliminate all the other penguins, throwing snowballs at them to push them off the island and into the shark ridden waters. Each level is a different island with hills, ice walls and holes.

The game play is pretty intuitive. You use your keyboard to move around and jump and the mouse to shoot. You'll see all the action from the penguin's perspective, which really immerses you in the game. To survive you'll not only have to dodge the other penguins' snowballs but also pick up the bonuses that get scattered around. As you'll advance through the game more weapons , such as bombs, claws or clownfishes will also be available.

The only weak point to the game is the multiplayer mode. When we actually could manage to find other players to fight against, the game crashed, in what seemed to be a memory issue.

An original plot, great game play and lots of bonuses make for a perfect arcade success. It's a shame online play doesn't work well.

Download Penguins Arena 1.3 in Softonic