For as long as I can remember, Mac users have always been treated like the 3rd world when it comes to gaming. But the tables are turning and with the release of FIFA 12 for Mac a big step has been taken towards Mac's no longer being the joke of the PC gaming world. I was ecstatic to find out EA teamed up with TransGaming to port FIFA 12 for Windows onto the Mac. For those who are unaware, this year FIFA 12 for Windows was exactly the same as the consoles, with the exception of better graphics thanks to more advanced PC hardware. I decided to do a review focusing on the differences between the Windows and Mac versions of the game to see if BootbCamp is no longer necessary for FIFA fans who own a Mac.

INSTALLATION

After downloading the game, you go through a normal Mac installation process. Mount the DMG, run through the installer and your done. The game is now in your applications folder ready to be played. Set your graphics settings and your ready to go. You would not have a clue this was a Windows port, it runs just like anything else on the Mac, which was great.

PERFORMANCE

I tried the game out on two machines, my 27'' iMac with a 6970M 2GB card, the best available on any Mac, and my 2010 Macbook Air 13'', hardly a powerhouse when it comes to intensive tasks. Unsurprisingly, the game ran pretty smoothly on my iMac, however stuttering does occur every once in a while which is annoying since the game runs perfectly on Windows. Hopefully that is addressed by a patch. Things were much different on the Macbook Air, which could barely run the game at all. Windowed mode taking up the whole screen on low settings was playable, but that was about it. (On that note, Windowed mode isn't available at all on Windows for this game). Strangely full screen at the same settings was much slower then windowed mode taking up all but the menu bar. I wouldn't recommend this game for Macbook Air owners, but any other Mac model from 2010 onwards should run the game no worries.

WINDOWS COMPATIBILITY

This came as a welcome surprise; online game modes are compatible with Windows players. This is excellent because of the small user base this game on Mac has, so to be able to play against Windows users and have my online progress saved over my account is a great, but also an almost essential addition in order to be able to regularly find online games.

Origin is the client needed to run EA games on Windows, and it has received its fair share of criticism, with some people left unable to play purchased games thanks to broken updates, especially with FIFA 12. Since Origin isn't available for Mac, it isn't needed to play this game, unlike the Windows version. That's a big win, no need to load another application and have it run in the background while playing the game, and also no need to worry about the issues Origin (still in beta) is facing at the moment.

MISSING FEATURES

For one reason or another, some things have been left out of this game compared to the Windows version. These are the ability to add custom chants and music to the games and menus respectively, and also Ultimate Team. I don't know why they decided to leave out Ultimate Team, but it's exclusion is really a terrible loss. Ultimate Team is one of the most popular game modes and since Windows and Mac users can play online together, this really shouldn't have been an issue.

GRAPHICS

I don't know if this will come down to the Mac's lack of drivers or not, but even on high settings, the anti-aliasing is terrible. It's running like it's not on at all compared to the perfectly sharp Windows version. If this isn't the fault of TransGaming, Apple really need to get on to having proper drivers for the Mac, otherwise intensive games won't be ported for the simple reason that they will either look terrible or run slowly. The graphics detail however is identical and looks great, the anti-aliasing is really letting the whole thing down though.

Overall port score: 7.5

I feel this was a solid effort, but leaving out Ultimate Team, custom music and chants and lack of proper anti-aliasing leaves the religious FIFA players like me wanting more. I will still Boot Camp when I want a long session of this game, but for those who aren't huge fans of the franchise I still recommend you pick this up for your Mac. It's available from GameTreeMac (The official TransGaming online store) at this link. Why it's not available on the Mac App Store I don't know, but I will get in touch with the developers and update this post if I can find out.