NetHackCocoa for PC and Mac

Software Reviews and Criticism

• By Vaughner

  Great Port!

  I love NetHack… always have. Don't like playing in the osX terminal though cause I really never liked using the letter keys to move. So tried using a DOS emulator and that works great… but it eats battery up on my MBP. This GUI version is amazing… and is a great way to learn to use the controls as you get the menus on selection. My kids (10 and 11) are playing with this version and love it. This also sips on battery. I can get 8+ hours of this on my MBP with brightness at about 75%… unbelievable! It is nethack though and if you have never played, it won't make sense until you read some docs about how to play. But trust me, if you learn how to play, you will realize you have never found a game that is as immersive as this… even with the ASCII windows or the simple tile sprites that can be used in this port. (You can go back to ASCII on this though it doesn't look quite like the tty versions. All in all, it's worth having on your Windows when you get the urge to crawl a dungeon!

  
  
• By Greg tk

  nice, except for the irrecoverable crashes

  It's NetHack, the best game ever. And it runs on Lion, which is nice. And it's available on the App Store, which is nicer still. So what's the problem? Occasionally it crashes, and once in a while a crash leaves a game in a messed up state. When that happens, and you try to start the application again, you get a message about a current character playing the game, and asked if the current game should be destroyed. If you answer "no", you are kicked out. If you answer yes, you have to start over with a new character. Lose/Lose. The other standard distributions of NetHack come with a command line "recover" tool that lets a user deal with this problem. This seems to be the only distribution that does *not* come with a recover tool. Nor is is apparent where this application puts the key files that must be deleted to recover. So back to square 1. For a game that takes months to play, this is a pretty fatal probem.

  
  
• By Ulysses1922

  Eye-pleasing but also frustrating

  I really enjoy playing this version of NetHack, but as Greg noted in another review, it's pretty frustrating to have the program crash during ascension, without any kind of recovery tool included. I do really hope someone can fix this problem, so I can keep playing this otherwise great game.

  
  
• By Gagarin Villanueva

  Amazing!

  For those who recognize Nethack, hack, crawl, or any other roguelikes that were developed before 1995 you'll know that this is a great step for Nethack. The GUI looks great. Although those that don't know the game have a long way to learn how to play the game that has been given a 5 star rating. Many people that get turned away, should just try to sit and learn the game, you'll see the magic that many people have experienced through the years of the development of this game.

  
  

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