Making good on a promise first made to Cro-Mag Rally users last year, Mac game publisher Pangea Software has announced the release of a new beta version of its kart racing game Cro-Mag Rally that is compatible with Apple’s new Mac OS X. The new version, 2.0b1, is ready for download from Macgamefiles.com.
Cro-Mag Rally is a challenging and fun racing game that puts you in control of cavemen or cavewomen on a series of wild and wacky racing circuits spread throughout time. In the best tradition of kart-racing games from video game consoles, you can upgrade your kart or enhance your defenses with powerups strewn liberally around each track. You’ll compete against other racers as you try to navigate natural disasters and man-made hazards on each track. Cro-Mag Rally sports colorful cartoon-style graphics and a custom soundtrack.
Like all of Pangea’s titles, Cro-Mag Rally was developed on the Mac, for the Mac. And so far, it’s a Mac-exclusive title. In fact, it’s even bundled on newer shipping iMacs and Power Mac G4 Cubes, along with Pangea’s past releases Bugdom and Nanosaur. The game has been out since last fall, and Pangea boss Brian Greenstone promised when the game was still in development that when the time was right, it would be released for Mac OS X as well.
“We wanted to release the beta now since so many people have been asking us when we’ll have the fully OS X compatible version and they seemed impatient,” said Greenstone.
The game also sports an improvement while running under Mac OS 9, reports Greenstone. “This new version lets the user select any available video mode instead of just a few hard-coded ones as was in the previous versions of the game,” said Greenstone. “So now, you can play wide-screen on the new PowerBooks or on the Cinema Display.”
There are also a few issues that Mac OS X users should be aware of. The game has no networking support under Mac OS X at the moment; Mac OS X users can’t reconfigure the controls or use an external game controller (Cro-Mag Rally doesn’t yet support HID Manager); the objects in the game may have a ’tiled’ look because of a minor bug in OpenGL; users may notice flashing in between screens and levels; and 640×480 may be the only screen resolution choice. “The game is hard-wired at a refresh rate of 60hz, so be sure to select a resolution which you know your monitor can handle at 60hz,” said the documentation. Remember, folks, this new version has been released as a beta, so please judge the game accordingly.
Separate downloads are available for the update and demo versions; please visit Macgamefiles.com for details.