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| By Brad Cook The harsh Australian Outback is intimidating, but you’re determined to outwit, outplay, and outlast your opponents. |
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 The location and tribes are all here — down to the last detail.
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| The trials will test your mental and physical stamina, but you know that you will be the sole survivor at the end of the game. |
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The council has spoken.
It’s just a shame that the million bucks is virtual money. On the bright side, though, all you’ll need to recreate the rigors of the Outback is Survivor: The Interactive Game. Built for Mac OS X, Survivor is available now.
Music from Survivor (Play with QuickTime)
The tribal councils meeting place.
Play the Show
When you begin Survivor, you can choose one of the 32 actual Pulau or Tiga tribe members who appeared on the second season of the show, or you can create your own character (the players from the show’s other seasons will be available in expansion paks).
Select from many roles.
You determine how your character will be perceived by the other players — whether they’re controlled by the computer or human opponents — by allotting points between ten skills, including fishing, swimming and building (see the survival skills for the full list).
The game follows the same format as the TV show: you play 13 “episodes” (there are options for 7- and 3-episode “seasons” for shorter games), each of which is broken into five segments:
- Survival Period:You choose a task and carry it out. You also interact with other characters and build the relationships that will affect the tribal council voting.
- Reward Challenges: The tribes compete in a physical contest for something that will help the winner’s group, such as more food or a helpful tool, like fishing equipment.
- A second Survival Period: You still carry out your task but now get the chance to reassess your relationships with other characters.
- Immunity Challenge: Another physical competition. The winning tribe avoids the tribal council. When the tribes merge after the sixth episode, all players go to the tribal council, so the winner of the immunity challenge can’t be voted out of competition.
- Tribal Council: Someone is voted out and goes home, and the survivors head to the next episode.
One of Survivor’s exciting qualities is its multiplayer feature. You can play Survivor against your friends with the Mac-only online gaming service GameRanger. Multiplayer games begin after the tribes have merged, so the season is only seven episodes long, and everyone is at risk for elimination at the end of every episode. A chat function allows you to talk to your opponents either privately or in a group so that you can formulate strategies.
One of many challenges you will face.
Many Ways to Play
So how will you become the sole survivor? Will you forge an alliance with other players and conspire to vote the competition out one by one? Will you make yourself an expert in a critical skill that will make other players reluctant to vote for you? Will you simply make sure you win the immunity challenges?
How you play the game is up to you. You can find it at the online Apple Store, your Apple retail store near you, or an Apple authorized reseller. The council has spoken.
Want to get an advantage on the competition? Make sure you know everything about the skills in the game.   
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