Thinking about heading to the App Store and grabbing a cheap first person shooter or two? There are quite a few options to choose from – and you don’t wanna buy anything that’s going to turn out to be a waste of money, right? Search no longer – here’s a list of our top picks for Mac-friendly shooters.
Modern Combat Domination
Modern Combat is more or less a ripoff of Call of Duty, but it’s still pretty addictive nonetheless. The graphics are as stunning as the physics are realistic, which isn’t something you find in a lot of shooters. I could have swore that I only paid $5 for it in the App Store a few months ago, but either I’m wrong or the price recently went up. Even at $12.99 though, you get a lot of bang for your buck. I really dig the whole online experience – which is quite different from the basic Quake or Call of Duty setup. The game seeks out a match at random – based on game-type, map and time limit. There are only three or four maps I think, but they’re pretty big and well designed – I haven’t gotten bored with them yet.
Modern Combat: Domination is a multiplayer shooter that delivers instant fun and realism and is designed to provide a constant challenge. Square off in 16-player battles in 6 different modes including classics like Capture the Flag and never-before-seen modes like Extraction or Escort. Rise through the ranks by completing missions and eliminating adversaries so you can unlock new equipment and improve your ability to rule the leaderboards!
You can pick up Modern Combat from the App Store.
Quake 3 Arena
No, you didn’t read that wrong – and I didn’t mean Quake Wars or even Quake 4 either. Q3 Arena has to be one of the most perfect first person shooters ever made, and it’s essentially what set off the whole deathmatch, arena-based trend in PC gaming. The graphics are unbelievable for something that was released in ’99 – they’re actually not too shabby by todays standards, either! You can even further improve upon the game’s already decent visuals by grabbing Kpax’s HD texture pack from ioQuake3. Even though the game came out before the new millennium, there are still hundreds of servers online and a ton of people are still super addicted to it.
I’m usually on the Vogon servers, which haven’t been showing up on the list lately, but you can connect by typing in “/connect uk.vogon.vg” for the deathmatch server, or “/connect ctf.vogon.vg” for CTF.
Rocket jump!
I’d really like to keep rambling on about how much I love Quake 3, but I guess there are some other titles to get to…
This is probably the most pirated game ever, but you should just give up the 13 bucks to legally purchase it. 
Duke Nukem Forever
Most of you have probably already had your fun with this one, but what can I say… I’m a sucker for the Duke Nukem series. This is really the first modern, higher quality take on the game – but it still maintains that classic Nukem feel. The only thing that really bugs me is the zoom feature when in combat… Everyone’s used to the popular Call of Duty style where you can (more realistically) aim right down the barrel, but Forever literally just zooms in – a lot like Quake actually.
The Alien invaders are stealing Earth’s women, especially the hot ones! And they drank Duke’s beer. This. Won’t. Stand. As Duke battles his way through waves of aliens, the once beautiful gambling haven and Duke Nukem franchise chains are crumbling before his eyes. Time to bring the pain!
Damn I’m good
You can get Duke Nukem Forever for 20 bucks in the App Store - just make sure you’re running an up-to-date system with decent specs.
Call of Duty 4 – Modern Warfare
I know, I know… This definitely isn’t the most up-to-date version of COD out there, but its the only new(er) version available for your Mac, unless you want to get the PC version and patch it with Wine, but that’s a whole other can of worms. Nonetheless, COD 4 is still fun as hell, and it has some of the best graphics as far as Mac shooters go. I was actually surprised at how smooth it runs on my MacBook – even with the settings maxed out I’ve never had the slightest problems.
What more can I say? You know Duty – point and shoot if you’re online, or point and shoot during a mission in campaign mode. Simple, and to the point.
Featuring a tense storyline, filled with plot twists, Call of Duty 4 thrusts players into battle like never before. With amazing special effects, including rim-lighting, depth of field, texture streaming and character self-shadowing, players are enlisted into one of the most photo-realistic gaming experiences imaginable.
You can get COD 4 – Modern Warfare for $40 in the Mac App Store – like Nukem, this is a high quality game, so make sure your specs are up to par.
That about wraps it up for this installment. Make sure to stay tuned for more gaming news and tips for your Mac!
