Top 10 Best FPS Games for Mac OS X

FPS Games for MAC OS X

The Mac may not be regarded by many (or even anyone, really) as a gaming platform, but just because it's good for graphics, music creation and just about any creative endeavor doesn't mean games don't exist for the platform.

On the contrary, even without booting to Windows, the games available for the OS X are quite numerous and thanks to both Apple's own App Store and Valve's Steam, Mac owners can now turn their Mac into a gaming computer—albeit one with a limited library of good games.

With that in mind, we've compiled a list of first person shooters, or FPS titles that run natively on the Mac OS X. You can pick any of these games up through Valve's Steam platform or through the App Store. We'd recommend the former, if only to keep all your games in one place. Picking them up on Steam will also allow you to install and play those games on the PC without having to buy them twice. 

#10 The Darkness 2

The Darkness 2 takes place after the events of the first game, but you won't have to play that to get the most out of the sequel. You once again take on the role of mafia boss Jackie Estacado, a man cursed (or blessed) with The Darkness, an ancient evil which has manifested itself in the bodies of brutal tyrants throughout history. 

Jackie finds himself embroiled in a mob war, and a war against a mysterious group of men who want to capture The Darkness for their own nefarious plans. 

Through his power, Jackie Estacado can summon up The Darkness to kill his opponents while equipping two guns at the same time. It's a bit like having four arms all at once. 

In addition to the game's single player campaign, players can also participate in the game's cooperative multiplayer missions called "Vendettas". 

#9 Doom 3

Doom 3 is id Software’s reboot of the sci-fi FPS franchise, which originally made many of us fear what was around the next corner. The game eschews the stories of the previous games, while taking a more narrative approach which incorporates NPCs who provide information, missions and items. 

Doom 3 also doesn’t slouch when it comes to the horror  elements,  playing with light and darkness to create a spooky and uncertain atmosphere, with disturbing sounds and visuals making things all the more unsettling.

#8 Serious Sam 3: BFE

Serious Sam 3: BFE: is a FPS developed by Croteam in which you play as Sam “Serious” Stone, who must fight the villain Mental’s army in Egypt. This instalment is, in fact, a prequel to Serious Sam: The First Encounter, depicting events before Sam famously travels to the past. But who’s counting? 

This prequel, in the spirit of the rest of the series, is more about being mental than serious, as Sam bombs, shoots and melees his way through the grotesque hordes that make up his arch-nemesis’s army.

#7 Left 4 Dead 2

Left 4 Dead 2, Valve’s co-op FPS that changed the face of zombie survival, is an award-winning game that places its emphasis on teamwork and tactical cleverness, allowing players to come away with their own emergent stories. 

The game’s five original campaigns, players must work together to reach safehouses, survive onslaughts, and reach other goals without succumbing to the wrath of the “infected,” each of whom have their own special, nefarious abilities.

#6 Counter-Strike: Global Offensive

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is Valve's latest take on the Counter-Strike series. The game promises to bring back the competitive and well-balanced gameplay of classic CS and combine it with high quality graphics and all the conveniences of a built-in matchmaking system and a host of gameplay modes and a varied range of content that are sure to keep players occupied for a lot longer than any of the game's predecessors. 

Not strictly for the hardcore only, Global Offensive allows newcomers to learn the ropes and play amongst others possessing similar skills thanks to its intelligent matchmaking system. 

#5 Call of Duty: Modern Warfare

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare is a 2007 wartime FPS which takes a left turn from the rest of the series in that it offers the player modern wartime themes, settings and equipment. 

The Infinity Ward-developed shooter also introduces a number of new gameplay features, with perhaps the most notable being the “killstreak.” The “killstreak” feature in the multiplayer area of the game, which tallies the amount of kills a player achieves without dying.

#4 Team Fortress 2

Team Fortress 2 was originally a part of "The Orange Box", which contained one of the Half-Life 2 Episodes, and Portal. It's been years since its release, but the game's has done nothing but increase in popularity over time thanks to the addition of many new gameplay modes and an item and trading system.

Now completely free to play, players in Team Fortress 2 can equip a variety of outfits, hats, and weapons—most of which are acquired through play. Those with less patience can even buy the items with real money or trade for items with other players. 

The game's latest update, titled "Mann vs Machine" adds an all new gameplay mode that's reminiscent of both Gears of War 2's Horde Mode and Tower Defense. Players can choose from one of the game's classes and develop a strategy to defend the base against oncoming waves of evil robots. 

#3 BioShock

Look Mister Bubbles, Bioshock is available on the Mac so you won’t even need a Windows-based PC to play the game! Hailed by critics as one of the most intelligently written games ever made, Bioshock is a first person shooter set in the intricately designed underwater city of Rapture.

Set in an alternate 1968, Rapture is an Ayn Randian utopia gone wrong. With a provocative storyline replete with an interesting cast of characters, players must venture through the depths of the city to discover precisely why the whole place went to hell and find a way back to the surface.

The game is beautiful, frightening, and involving in every way.

#2 Portal 2

Portal 2 is the FPS physics game that brings a beautiful finale to the Valve series, which began with a shorter game from the mind of Kim Swift and followed up with a comic book to tide people over. 

Portal 2 offers all-new puzzles, a slew of intriguing new gameplay mechanics (many of them goo-based) and a co-op mode in which you and a friend solve test chambers as bots Atlas and P-Body. And, oh yeah, singing turrets.

#1 Half-Life 2 and its Episodic Sequels

In Half-Life 2 and its episodic sequels,  you take on the role of Gordon Freeman, a physicist who finds himself in the unenviable position of being the savior of humankind. 

Along with members of the human resistance, Gordon Freeman must take the fight to the enemy—an alien race known as the Combine. Since the events of the first Half-Life, The Combine have since enslaved humanity and the first step to stopping them is by finding a way to topple one of their bases on Earth—the Citadel in City 17. 

Half-Life 2 is regarded as one of the most important modern videogame franchises thanks to its revolutionary narrative and groundbreaking designs.