A raging wind blows clouds across a cold purple sky, sending a bitter chill down your spine. You lean against a damp wall. Around the corner, you spot twelve guards standing in formation near the bridge. Several marksmen dot the horizon. Your three clips, two grenades, and small medpack must be enough to get you to the other side of the ravine… and to safety. Surprise will be your most powerful weapon. With your heart racing, you step out into the clear and pull the trigger.

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Action games place you in the thick of combat. You must move fast in order to survive; outflank your enemies as you carefully cross dangerous ground, and you’ll advance to the next level. The games can offer spectacular visuals and non-stop action that promise to get your adrenaline pumping, all from the keyboard of your Mac.

Heart-pounding mayhem

Action games generally fall into two broad categories: first-person, which offers you a view of the game through the main character’s eyes; and third-person, where you observe the main character from a remote viewpoint. First-person and third-person titles have some elements in common, but each offers a unique gaming experience.

First-person titles place you in the shoes of the character you control. You experience the game through their eyes, wandering down dark corridors, not knowing what might be lurking around the next corner. Your objective is simply to make it through each level alive, vanquishing horde after horde of vicious enemies using an assortment of powerful weaponry. Grenade launchers make quick work of a crowd, while the careful use of a sniper rifle may allow you to slip into an enemy complex unnoticed. New titles often vary gameplay by providing mission objectives for each level. You may have to locate and activate a power generator in order to use a transporter, or perhaps destroy a central computer to knock out enemy shields.

Third-person titles allow you to control the hero from a remote viewpoint. Since you can see the entire character and his immediate surroundings, exploration and navigation of the environment often play a much more significant role in these games. Aside from tackling nasty enemies, you’ll have to walk, jump, and swing your way across unforgiving terrain; falling into an abyss becomes an ever-present risk. Many third-person titles also wander into the territory of adventure games, requiring you to carry an inventory of handy items and solve complex puzzles. In order to open a secret door, for example, you might need to fill a flask with water and place it on a sacred altar.

We should point out that third-person titles also include arcade style games, such as SketchFighter 4000 Alpha, Armado, WingNuts 2: Raina’s Revenge, Pangea Arcade, and Diner Dash Party Pack. However, these games typically put you in control of a vehicle, as opposed to a character, or they sport simple controls and gameplay, shifting the emphasis from complex missions to basic survival.

First-person and third-person titles share some key elements. A health gauge allows you to monitor your remaining strength; take too many hits, and you’re down for the count. Armor, ammunition, and additional weapons can often be found by exploring the environment. Many games are also structured around key battles with large and powerful enemies, typically referred to as “bosses.” Defeat the boss, and you earn the right to progress to the next segment of the game.

An Explosive New Chapter

George Lucas’ Star Wars prequels attempted to cast Anakin Skywalker as a more sympathetic figure as he fell from grace and became Darth Vader. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed: Ultimate Sith Edition carries that thread forward with what project lead Haden Blackman calls “the loneliness of evil.” He tells us: “I wanted players to walk away seeing Vader as both evil and tragic.”

To that end, The Force Unleashed places you in the role of Starkiller, Darth Vader’s secret apprentice and a hedge against the possibility that the Emperor could do away with his top lieutenant, fearing him too broken to truly follow the Dark side. Travel the galaxy undertaking missions for Vader and using your Force powers in over-the-top, visceral ways, such as pulling starships out of the sky or charging your lightsaber with Force lightning for a deadly attack.

The Ultimate Sith Edition adds three bonus levels, two of which imagine a “What if?” scenario in which Starkiller takes Vader’s place and does the Emperor’s bidding. You travel to the well-known planets Tatooine and Hoth as you meet characters from the original films and attempt to eliminate Obi Wan Kenobi and Luke Skywalker.

Welcome to Rapture

BioShock, on the other hand, features a world you’ve never seen before, yet it’s one that could also have come from a movie. In this intriguing first-person shooter, you explore Rapture, an underwater city that was supposed to be a utopia but instead has fallen into disarray. “I wanted to put people in a world filled with big ideas and people who had a vision for how life should be lived,” Ken Levine, lead designer and head writer, tells us. “How that vision is sort of realized in really positive ways and how it falls apart.”

You soon find yourself fighting Splicers, who used to be ordinary citizens but went mad after becoming dependent on a genetic substance called ADAM. It allows them to unleash firestorms, zap enemies with electrical bolts, and summon other types of deadly attacks, but you have access to ADAM too. You also have a few other tricks up your sleeve, including the ability to upgrade your weapons and opportunities for researching your opponents so you can fight them more effectively.

But the real kicker comes when you learn the true identity of the supposed ally named Atlas and discover the meaning behind the words “Would you kindly.” Now that’s cinematic gameplay.

Out of Many Princes, One

Jordan Mechner’s Prince of Persia was one of the earliest hit action games during the 1980s, and his iconic character was updated for the modern era with the Sands of Time trilogy, which culminates with The Two Thrones (TransGaming). The Prince returns to his home city of Babylon with Kaileena, the Empress of Time, but an attack on his ship tells him that his trials are not over. After Kaileena is captured by mysterious forces, the Prince must rely on nothing more than his acrobatic skills to defeat his enemies and free her.

While the original Prince of Persia was a simple tale about rescuing a maiden from danger, The Two Thrones features a more complex story, one in which the Sands of Time corrupt our hero, creating an alter ego known as the Dark Prince. While the Dark Prince has unique abilities, the good Prince carries his Dagger of Time, which allows him to travel up to 10 seconds into the past and undo mistakes.

The Prince is actually no one and everyone, a character who is never the same from one game universe to the next. Now that the Sands of Time trilogy is complete, a new Prince of Persia (TransGaming) has embarked on a non-linear adventure in an open-ended world, allowing you to experience the story in a unique way. This Prince is joined by Elika, a new companion whose acrobatic abilities equal his own, resulting in dazzling displays of two-pronged combo attacks.

For the Kids

While those titles are definitely aimed at mature gamers, the action genre also provides plenty of fare for the whole family. For LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy (Feral Interactive), developer Giant Entertainment followed up its wildly successful LEGO Star Wars: The Video Game (Aspyr Media) by following the stories in “Star Wars,” “The Empire Strikes Back,” and “Return of the Jedi.”

Not only do you get to control LEGO-fied versions of Han Solo, Luke Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Darth Vader, and the rest of the cast, but you can also now ride on Banthas, Tauntauns, and other creatures, as well as drive small vehicles. In addition, the spaceship levels are no longer on rails, which means you get to fly an X-Wing fighter across the surface of the Death Star or maneuver the Millennium Falcon through an asteroid field without having to follow a predetermined path.

The LEGO universe has proven so popular that it has given rise to two more bricked-out releases: LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures and LEGO Batman (Feral Interactive). The former takes everyone’s favorite fedora-bedecked hero through the stories of his first three movies. Take control of not just Indy but also more than 80 other characters as you whip, swing, punch, shoot, and assemble your way through 18 levels full of enough puzzles to challenge even the most seasoned archeologist.

LEGO Batman takes that gameplay to new heights, introducing the caped crusader’s manually targetable Batarang, specialized costumes for the dynamic duo, and unique fighting moves for all of the 40-plus heroes and villains in the game. After you’re done stopping The Joker, The Riddler, Penguin, and others from Batman’s rogues gallery, switch to the bad guys’ point-of-view for the second half of the game’s 30 missions.

The kid-friendly action continues in the penultimate chapter of the Harry Potter saga. The Half-Blood Prince is the mysterious author of a potions book that earns Harry a luck potion on his first day of class. Meanwhile, our favorite boy wizard must deal with new Defense Against the Dark Arts instructor Severus Snape and process new facts he learns about Voldemort’s past. As you guide Harry through the story, you’ll solve puzzles, play potion-making mini-games, engage in wizard duels, and assume the role of seeker during Quidditch matches. “Everything we do is approved by [J.K. Rowling], so we and our players know it’s real,” says executive producer Jonathan Bunney.

UP: The Video Game is also based on a movie, in this case Pixar’s latest story that kids and adults can appreciate. Elderly widower Carl Fredericksen and eight-year-old Wilderness Explorer Russell must work together to survive the vertiginous tepui mountains of South America. They encounter a prehistoric flightless bird named Kevin, try to avoid famous explorer Charles Muntz and his pack of talking dogs, and use their unique skills to get themselves out of tight situations. “We tried to capture the essence of UP’s most exciting film moments and offer an experience that happens between those big moments in the film,” explains senior producer Brian Wiklem.

Necessary gear

Action titles are the most graphically ambitious games on the market. Since these games recreate three-dimensional environments, they demand faster processors, more memory, and capable graphics accelerators to deliver smooth frame rates. A new Mac mini or MacBook, are ideal systems for novice gamers. Pro gamers looking for optimal performance should consider the iMac or Mac Pro (with quad-core processors and advanced graphic card options). Please inspect the box of any title that appeals to you to ensure that it will run on your Macintosh.

A call to arms

Action games allow us to experience heated combat and heavy weaponry from the safe havens of our home offices. The titles require a quick mind (and even quicker fingers) in order to overcome wave after wave of unfeeling enemies. Pick one up today for a real adrenaline rush!