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Ten for X Games Review by: Gary Coyne Provides: A collection of ten
shareware/professional games for OS X
As with the Utilities collection, Aladdin went to a bunch of game developers and asked for games to add to this CD with the stipulation that the game could be configured so that by registering the game with Aladdin, the owner would share all the same rights for the game as if it was registered with the original developer. Thus, upgrades and new versions for owners of any game from the Ten for X Games CD are the same as if you had bought the games from the developers. As you look through the list of games, you might be curious as to why, with the Cribbage, Bridge, and Poker games, there were no basic solitaire game. The reason was rather amusing: As the requests for games went out, no word was ever heard from the solitaire game developers. Then, just as the CD was going off for printing, they heard back from one developer with the response "Hey, my partner's back from vacation, sure--we'd love to have our game on your CD." It's a safe bet that game will show up on the "Another Ten for X Game" CD. My biggest complaint with Ten for X Games is the exact same one as with Ten for X Utilities: Aladdin should have worked with the developers to create consistency with the instructions and guidelines. As it is, you will find good instructions and bad instructions. You will find them written in HTML and PDF. In some, the instructions are well written and in others the instructions consist of a picture that identifies what you will find in the game. And there should be beta testers of game instructions just as there are beta testers of game software. Please. One installation recomendation: When you install these games, they will be placed in a folder called "Ten for X Games v. 1.0.x" in the Applications folder. You do not need to create a folder for the installation. If you have a Games folder, simply move the items to that folder after you have installed the Ten for X Games. A glitch with OS X and/or the installer will give ownership of the Ten for X Games folder to root and you will not be able to move or delete any of the items contained therein. This is the Ten for X Games package:
First off, just like the Utilities CD, either Aladdin can't count or a programmer's ten is sort of like a baker's dozen. However, 5 games came from Freeverse Software, 2 came from Pangea Software, and 2 came from Slovis Software. So, with the last 4 games from 4 other developers, there are 13 games from 7 developers. As you look over this list, you're sure to notice that there is something there for everyone, and that there is a slant toward youth. But I don't state that in a negative way as I found many of the games a lot of fun. Also, let me pre-state, I am not a gamer. Prior to this, Myst and its sequels are the only games I've really spent much time with. My thirteen year old son is amused as to how much time I spend on the computer and how little time of that is spent on games. That said, too many of these games take over the whole computer so that you can't really take a break back and forth with real work. So, this time my "real work" was spent playing games. However, as I am not a gamer, this report is a family effort. My son Andy, a 13 year old, is the family expert--he taught my wife and I a lot. My wife, Mara, likes to play games while watching TV. As such, she likes mindless games like Shaghai. But beware, she is very good in these games. So, here's my (our) report.
3D Bridge Deluxe: My parents played Bridge; I never did. I cannot in any way comment upon the quality of Bridge play here. The view of the game is from your perspective. That is, you see your hand and you see your partner across the table, and to the left and right you see your opponents. These people may be real people, cartoon people, or animals. After that, you are on your own. Andy and Mara also didn't try this game. Airburst : This is a game of (up to) four players floating in the clouds, on a saucer attached to many balloons. As you move your controller keys, a crescent of round things swings around your floating thingy warding off strange flying things. If you are not able to deflect the flying things from hitting you, they pop the balloons that keep you in the air. And, when you lose all your balloons, you fall. This was the only game I really didn't care for as it just didn't appeal to me. Andy found it unexpectedly addicting while Mara was mixed on it. Burning Monkey Puzzle Lab: Consider this Tetris by Generation X. The kind of game that you can listen to TV while playing, you dare not look away or the pieces fall into horrible places. There are a variety of different "flavors" of games contained within this, but it is somewhat obscure exactly how they differ. If you happen to have a job where it is important to fit things together, you can claim that playing this is "working." All of us found this fun, particularly Mara. Classic Cribbage: Cribbage is one of those card games that your Aunt or Uncle plays (played). The rules are fairly simple, but the game is not. There are three levels for your opponent: The Dumb Bot who plays like anyone who's never played before--I beat this one, the Good Bot who plays like he knows what he's doing, and The God Bot, who not only knows what he/she is doing, he or she knows your cards. It doesn't get any more challenging than that. Yes, you can learn how to play cribbage with this before your next visit to your Aunt or Uncle. WingNuts: During the startup, you think this is going to be a flight simulation game--it isn't. It's a basic 2D "shoot 'em" game with you flying a jet plane and going against early by-planes, blimps, helicopters, ships, you name it. Aside from an IMPOSSIBLE turning radius, your jet manages to survive explosive flak and an occasional crash rather well--as long as your shields last. In this game, the best place to look for how to play the game is within the help files in the game. Once I learned how to refuel and get more shields by strafing the parachutes, I started getting many more points. Andy was so disappointed that it wasn't a flight simulator game he gave up on it. Mara never tried it. I liked it. DeepTrouble: As opposed to the last game which is action in 2D, this is action in 3D. You are controlling a sub and go up, down, left, and right. As it's a sub under water (well, duh), things move slowly. This is not a fast action game. It was too slow for Andy, but great for me. I had great delight looking around, grazing over the objects that give you extra fuel, shields, and more torpedoes, but eventually I came to a point that I had killed everything, and really didn't understand why I wasn't progressing further in the game. In other words, this is a game that you still have to read the instructions--you can't just hack your way through. This game was too slow for Andy, and to complex for Mara. Jinni Zeala™ Pinball: It's a pinball game. It acts like a pinball game, sounds like a pinball game, you can tilt to the right or left just like a pinball game, and if you tilt too much you lose your turn, just like a pinball game. After umpteen billions of dollars in research and technology, you too can have a pinball game on your computer just like the kind they used long before computers were ever a dream in someone's eye. This is a fun game and even better that you can turn all the songs and pinball noises off. We all liked it. My only complaint is that you can't vary the size of pinball machine--you have to change your screen's resolution. AstroSquid: So you've got this squid, no, make that an AstroSquid, that "swims" in a left to right direction and you can move it up, down, forward, and back (by using the arrow keys), and if you press the space bar, you can shoot unlimited bullets, phasars, photons, lasers, and any number of strange things at all the debris that the squid encounters. You get points as you attack things and there are the various energy items, and various armaments that you collect along the way to vary your attack capabilities. Mara and I enjoyed this thing a lot in a mindless way, but the game is somewhat limited. As you advance through each level, if you die, you always start at the same basic level and that level always has the same obstacles and things to encounter. As such this game becomes somewhat tedious after time. But until then its fun. Andy couldn't get past the thought of squids. Kids... BugDom 2: Using a different story line from the first BugDom (found in all of those candy colored iMacs), you again are looking at a world of giant grass and bugs (but new ones such as Sam the Snail and Sally the Chipmunk with personalities but annoying voices). Although the story line is different (and Andy thought it was very immature), the general scheme is the same where you will be battling things and working with your friends to overcome adversity. As opposed to the first version where you entered an "Exit" log to complete a level, here you must complete a variety of tasks. As the instructions are somewhat ambiguous as to what these tasks might be, you are on your own to figure them out. This is a low-level action game, so don't worry about getting your blood pressure up before going to bed. Andy thought the first Bugdom was a much better game. Cro-Mag Rally: Hot ass fun. Imagine you are driving a "Fred Flinstone" kind of car and you can go fast, very fast. And the normal laws of physics mostly don't apply (like tipping over), or intentionally don't apply like setting friction to zero. You watch as your driver, who looks like he's on enough drugs to not care what he's going through, plows up and down the straight-aways, the embankments, and any people who wander onto the track. My only complaint was that when I backed up (like when you plow into a rock), your perspective changes and it was easy to suddenly be going in the wrong direction. Also, the default keyboard setup was the Up arrow goes forward, Down arrow backward and the Left and Right arrows do their respective thing. I found pressing the Up arrow while tapping on the Left and Right arrows somewhat uncomfortable after a time. Once I changed the key positions, things were better. This was Andy's favorite of the set and it was irrelevant to Mara. Video Poker 5000: Rather disappointing from some of the other Poker games I've seen. You start the game with $100 and can bet $1 at a time, up to $5 per bet. After you bet, you click on the Deal button. You click on the cards you want to keep and then click the Draw button again. You can only bet before you are dealt your hand and there are no variations on what types of Poker games you can play. As there is limited user input, it's like playing solitaire for money, virtual money. Andy and Mara don't play Poker, so they avoided this like the Bridge game. Bommo Sweeper X: This is the great analytical game of the group. Bommo Sweeper is the game "mine field." It has 3 levels of difficulty, 7 levels of size (more mines to deal with) and a few visual variations. To play the game you click in a square. If you don't blow up immediately, you will either encounter a blank area (which opens up all the adjoining blank areas) or you will see a 1, 2, or 3. That means that the square you clicked on has 1, 2, or 3 adjoining squares with a bomb in it. As you click away you try to determine where the bombs are. Guess wrong and you start the game up all over again. There is a clock running which you can ignore. One of the family favorites. Geneforge: One of the first role playing games for the Mac was "Transylvania." With this game you typed which direction your character moved as he wandered around a castle getting silver bullets and a revolver before he met up with the Wear Wolf and the cross before he met up with the vampire, etc. etc. Geneforge makes Transylvania as medieval as my old Mac 512 is to my G4. But in many ways, the game is the same: you wander, pick up things, use them, explore. Andy's biggest complaint is that battles are all turn based: you hit them, they hit you, you hit them, they hit you, etc. This is billed as a fantasy game with a science fiction twist, but as it's role playing either way, I didn't find any real significance to this "twist." This is an enjoyable game that is also satisfying if you want to go exploring but don't care if you find anything or not. The graphics are cool as they expand as you look around. If you don't explore, you are surrounded by blackness.
Despite the games aiming for a more youth oriented market, there was something here for everyone and as such it's a great family bargain. And, just like the Utilities Ten for X, you can let a game sit for as long as you want before you "get to it" because you own it. Available @ The Think Different Store
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Cool Mac Gear• iPod 1G-2G • iPod 3G • iPod 4G • iPod Mini • PowerBook-iBook • Keyboard Skins • Garageband
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After Aladdin's success with