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When the initial thrill of Escape Velocity was over, the third-party and mod programmers went to work. Ambrosia officially released the Escape Velocity: Overdrive expansion pack while mod-community programmers worked late into the night to customize the game. Want to play as the Millennium Falcon or the Borg mother ship? Modification packs exist to allow for anything players can imagine in addition to entirely new missions, quests and alien races throughout the game, all available for easy download at little to no cost. Escape Velocity proved just how truly addicting and fun a shareware game could be for thousands of users. The transition from an obedient little shuttle galactic overlord in just a matter of hours is amazingly fun. The graphics and sound stand the test of time and the gameplay makes the hours fly by. The next upgrade, dominated planet or contact with that weird alien race is just around the corner, Escape Velocity delivering everything is rabid fan base asked for and more. Solarian II Space Invaders with a sense of humor, Solarian II pushed the edge of graphics and sound available on a shareware Mac game in 1990. The premise is simple. Players fight alien swarms in a space ship as they descend from above. Shields, items and weapons are available throughout the game, the potential for upgrading the ship drawing players’ attention.Solarian II’s sense of humor pervades throughout the game in one of a kind and makes the game the legend it is. Weird noises, commentary on your playing abilities and fun music abounds. Solarian II basically took the idea of Space Invaders and embedded it with a sense of humor all its own into a supposedly "serious" arcade classic.
Shields and weapons make all the difference in Solarian II. Each power-up increases the chances of survival, the player having to resort to special weapons frequently as the levels go by. If an enemy unit dives in and can’t be dodged, prepare to activate the shields as a means of destroying the enemy and returning the rest of the fleet. While the player starts off with a simple laser cannon, the potential for upgrades is unbelievable, each new weapon adding to the joy of the game. Ben Haller’s efforts are definitely appreciated, even if few people went on to pay the registration fee and Stick Figure Software didn’t make the profits it hoped for. Nontheless, the Mac community still has a terrific game to play. Burning Monkey Solitaire For most people, Solitaire is either a way of life on their computers or something so boring it makes their old pet rocks appear fun and exciting. There hasn’t been much activity on the solitaire video game front, Apple never bothering to go the Windows route and bundle a solitaire game since the days of the PowerBook 5300/Performas and packaging Eric’s Ultimate Soliatire.Freeverse’s Burning Monkey Solitaire changed the rules of what solitaire could be on the Macintosh, the game combining a great solitaire game with a sense of humor that can’t be resisted. In this case, the solitaire game is almost secondary to the game’s amazing graphics, weird jokes, inane sense of humor and amusing easter eggs that hook the user in and don’t let go.
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