The graphics, while certainly not PGR3 or Gran Turismo 4 quality, are completely adequate for the game and allow Redline to run on — as the Ambrosia Software Web site states — "almost any Mac."
My PowerMac G5 handled it with ease and my MacBook with integrated graphics card didn't have any problems either. This meant I was able to run Redline in windowed mode and switch between it and iChat conversations or web browsing with ease. When in windowed mode the game automatically pauses itself when you switch to another program, or click outside it's frame.
There is no damage modeling so car crashes sadly, so you won't end up with scraped bumpers, dented sides or broken headlights. Again, this is one of the trade-offs for low system requirements.
Another small touch that separates Redline from other Mac racing games is it's integration with iTunes. When iTunes is open and playing a song, a small semi-transparent text block along the bottom of the screen will display the song title and artist when the song first starts. Afterwards, you're notified the same way when the next song starts. It's a nice feature that won't convince anyone to either buy or not-buy Redline but makes the game play experience that much better and immersive.
As racing game go, Redline is an above average one that shows quite a bit of potential for future versions. It's lack of depth and limited amount of tracks are disappointing, but the game's multiplayer is great fun and the Challenges mode is almost perfect. Hopefully Redline will continue to evolve and potentially become a staple of Mac racing games.
Redline is not rated by the ESRB. It retails for $25.00 and can be downloaded from the Ambrosia Software Web site. It is available as a Universal Binary and the minimum system requirements are Mac OS X 10.2 or later, 300 MB of free HD Space, 16 MB of Video RAM, 512 MB' of system memory and an 800MHz CPU or faster
Article comments
1 - Ken Edwards
Congrats! Your article has been chosen for this week's Editors' Picks.
2 - Kevin Kohout
I actually like to play this game.