Just yesterday, the immensely popular iOS physics and puzzle game “Cut the Rope” arrived on Mac App Store. ZeptoLab, the developer of the game, hopes to attract many avid Mac and iOS gamers alike to this platform with the support of up to a 2560 x 1440 resolution, meaning that it will look great even on your largest display — that is, providing that you do not have an older Mac with a very outdated graphics card.
Now, you’re probably wondering how on earth you can control the game since Macs don’t really have a touchscreen like iOS devices do. Well, it’s actually quite simple really: you use a trackpad. This may sound scary if you own an iMac with a Magic Mouse, and it is, because the game wasn’t really designed to be played with a regular mouse. Read on for more details on this release and our first impressions.
First Impressions
The first level of Cut the Rope
The game is pretty good so far and the graphics look great, though they can be rough in some areas. As for the gameplay, the developers have made it even easier if you have a trackpad. All you have to do is put two fingers on it as if you were to scroll around like you do everywhere else in the OS and it will automatically enable the cutting tool. You can also click the “Options” button on the main menu and then change the way the cutting tool works to either “Click to cut” or “Drag to cut”. Other than that, the levels are self-explanitory and look beautiful.
By default, Cut the Rope for Mac does not display in fullscreen mode, which can be a bit of an annoyance for some. I’ve found it nice to have the game in a window so that I can switch from it to another app if I wish to. However, if you do not prefer windowed mode, then you can you can enable fullscreen simply by pressing CMD + F. It’d be nice if there were a way to enable this in settings so that you don’t have to manually switch to it after starting the game. In addition, there’s no fullscreen button like many other Mac apps have, which is strange since this would be a very easy way to switch the game to fullscreen and also keeps apps in it every time you start them. This will probably be added in a future update.
I think Cut the Rope for Mac does well in the graphics area, but it’s a bit jagged in areas, as I said before. I’m sure the developers will polish things up eventually. As for performance, it runs very well on my 13-inch MacBook Pro from last year — the latest model. I’ve tried running four tabs in Safari, the Mac App Store, and playing Cut the Rope all at once and performance is perfectly fine — I can’t even hear the fan spinning, yet.
Other Information
The second level of Cut the Rope with a highlighted rope; if I were to click it, it would be cut
There’s not much else in this iteration of Cut the Rope. It includes all the basic features and levels that the iOS version does. Here’s a small rundown of what’s in the game:
- 250 levels, 10 level boxes
- Innovative gameplay mechanics
- Realistic physics
- Cute character
- Outstanding graphics
- Achievements and leaderboards
- Constant free updates with new levels