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I have a mid-2012 MacBook Pro (non-Retina). I was a Windows user from 2001 until May 11th, and I used to play a lot of casual games for Windows, e.g. Big Fish's Mystery case files series (Ravenhearst 1, 2, and 3, 13th skull, Dire Grove).

What do you recommend? Boot Camp or Wine?

Thank you in advance!

EDIT What about WineBottler? http://winebottler.kronenberg.org/

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    Latest versions of Parallels Desktop give decent fps for casual games, assuming you have discrete GPU. Bootcamp requires rebooting the machine, which is not very convenient. I've never had much success with Wine (or it's derivatives), but most games on App Store (I mean big titles like Deus Ex) are ported this way. You just need to know your way around it.
    – Sergei
    May 29, 2014 at 18:00
  • I don't have enough money to buy Parallels Desktop... :/
    – Eva Thyssen
    May 29, 2014 at 18:01
  • @Sergei please explain why not Wine?
    – Ruskes
    May 29, 2014 at 18:15
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    @Buscar웃 Wine is fine, but I personally never had a success with it beyond calc.exe (tried 5-6 big titles - all to no avail). But I see people who successfully release port after port on torrent trackers, so, with the right knowledge, you can do it, it is just not as easy as Parallels or Bootcamp.
    – Sergei
    May 29, 2014 at 19:11

3 Answers 3

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I'd recommend WineBottler; I have about 30 apps and games that work great with Wine. A few pointers though:

  • Check the Wine Application Database for various apps. This shows what version of Wine, what winetricks you need and what workarounds may be required.

    Disclaimer: I'm a super maintainer

  • Check the official system requirements for the program/game. For older games, this will state which version of .NET or other framework is required—make sure you select the same version in WineBottler to be installed in the new prefix.

  • For programs that don't work, you can create a blank prefix with various frameworks installed and try combinations of winetricks without needing a new prefix each time.

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  • Super maintainer means us normal people should stay way from it ?
    – Ruskes
    May 29, 2014 at 20:21
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    @Buscar Of course not :) I'm just saying I'm associated with the website that I'm promoting
    – grg ♦
    May 29, 2014 at 20:22
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I have used CrossOver, PlayOnMac, WineBottler & wine (directly from Terminal).

All of these use wine, but I would strongly recommend CrossOver, even though it isn't free. If you don't feel like spending any money, I would recommend either PlayOnMac or WineBottler as they are pretty similar in functionality.

Wineskin is also another alternative to look at.

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If you're just playing casual games and don't need super-great FPS, Wine is the way to go. You don't need to buy Windows that way, and since it's free, it's definitely worth trying out first.

The Big Fish games are also available on Mac and the system requirements are even lower. I don't know if you have to buy them again, but that's where you'll have the best experience.

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    No, they don't need a lot of FPS. I played those games on an kinda old Dell laptop from 2008 ;) I have a lot of casual games from another developers, like Dana Knightstone series. So I'm going to give Wine a try.
    – Eva Thyssen
    May 29, 2014 at 18:11

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