Macintosh

"This is for the games, and not a lot of good!"

If it wasn't obvious enough by the tagline, I will be reviewing the Macintosh in terms of GAMING QUALITY. Forget the computer itself, because the computer itself is wonderful. But the games are... not good.

There are a lot of computers out there, as well as a lot of gaming systems. A lot of computers, in terms of gaming quality, are really bad. The Macintosh is no exception. Simply, I just do not like the Macintosh's game library! A lot of the games can be found on the PC, and if you are buying for the games, you will soon be extremely let down. But don't get me wrong, the computer itself rocks. Buy this system for the computer if you're going to.

But what is so dreadfully wrong about the games? I'll just say this: they're mostly no good. I know that most of the games can be found on PC, but almost all of the games that aren't suffer from one thing: a complete lack of fun. Near all of the games that the Macintosh will offer you are educational, if they can't be collected on the PC. Educational games are almost always awful, and you can hardly buy un-educational Macintosh games anymore. Simply put, the games are awful.

Graphics: 6/10

Well, I have to say that I can't complain too much about the graphics here. It really depends on the game. Some games have perfect animation, and when the characters talk it really matches with their lips, and in that case it's good. If it's not that case, it's all bad. Some games just have rotten animation. The graphics in some games with animals and the like are sometimes so bad that you shortly want to puke. So overall, some of the graphics are good and some of them are very bad.

Music/Sound: 6/10

The music is really a mixed bag. The Learning Company has made some games on the Macintosh, and they are very good composers when it comes to music. That music really fits the locations of where you are and it is just totally good. But some of the music by lesser value companies is simply terrible. The sound is mostly exactly the same... as some characters have really good voices, some have voices that make you want to break your eardrums. The same applies to most other sounds.

Game Library: 3/10

Oh, how this will weigh the Macintosh down. You see, a lot of the games featured on the Macintosh are for little kids and they are educational. All the fun games you will soon grow way past their level. The educational games themselves are so many that you just cannot find any gold glimmering within them. The JumpStart series has a couple good entries (I remember playing the games when I was a young kid) but most of them were bad. The ClueFinders games, although educational, are perhaps the one good spot within the games that I have yet to find, and even they have age levels on them, so you won't want to play them at higher ages. Almost every single other game that the Macintosh has is either on PC (and probably better on the PC as well!) or just plain awful. It's really a shame, but the Macintosh doesn't have much quality inside it, I am afraid to say.

Overall: 4/10 (not average)

I am sorry for the computer that I grew up on and loved, but I have to give the Macintosh a 4/10. If I were rating it based upon the computer itself, I would have given it a at least an 8/10. The processor on it is awesome, the computer itself is wonderful and has a lot of great features and it also allows you to connect onto the Internet, but the games featured are rotten. Educational games are almost never good, so I'm not going to give the Macintosh a high score based on its games.

Overall, if you want a good gaming system, STAY AWAY FROM THE MACINTOSH. If you want a great computer, you've come to the right place because if you're buying the computer not for games, you won't regret it. If you happen to see it for a cheap price and aren't looking for games, I recommend the Macintosh.

Reviewer's Score: 4/10, Originally Posted: 11/03/03