BioShock Infinite is the Mac game of the year
BioShock Infinite, one of the most critically acclaimed games of all time, has come to the Mac via the Mac App Store. Originally released for the PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 in March, its mix of jaw-dropping graphics, first-person shooter action, story and social commentary regarding racism, American exceptionalism and religious fundamentalism has led many to call it the best game of this decade so far and earned it over 85 prestigious awards.
The game is the third installment in the BioShock series, but players don't need any knowledge of the first two installments as BioShock Infinite stands on its own with new characters and storyline. You play as Pinkerton agent Booker DeWitt, who is sent to the floating city of Columbia to find a mysterious woman named Elizabeth who has quantum powers. Though the city of Columbia floats in the sky, the game takes place in 1912. Yet many critics have noted that the themes in the game reflect the political, religious, plutocratic and populist divides in America running up to the 2012 elections.
Besides typical weapons like guns, other items include a hook that allows you to zip around and between buildings on Columbia's rail system known as the Skyline, telekinetic powers and gangs of murderous crows (trust me, it makes sense in the game).
As for how the game runs on the Mac, it's not much different than playing it on a PlayStation or Xbox, provided you have a fast enough computer. Any iMac, MacBook, MacBook Pro or MacBook Air bought in the last few years should handle the game just fine. The official system requirements are a Mac running OS X 10.8.3 or later, 2.2 GHz CPU speed, 4 GB of RAM, 512 MB of video RAM and 30GB of free disk space. The game itself is a 17.9 GB download. The minimum video card requirements are a Radeon HD 3870 or a GeForce 640M graphics card.
If your Mac meets the minimum requirements, buy this game. I'm not even a big first-person shooter fan, but I've been only playing the game for a day and its story is so compelling that it's sucked me right in. Aspyr has done an outstanding job porting BioShock Infinite to the Mac, which looks and runs beautifully on a machine like the latest MacBook Pro with Retina display. Best of all, like any game bought from the Mac App Store, no CD or authentication is required, so you can just download and launch and you're in the game with very little load time. The game is also Game Center-compatible.
BioShock Infinite is US$39.99.
