How to play Axis on Mac

PlatformsComputer

Game summary

Axis is a multiplayer first-person shooter with mechs. However, these are not the big and clunky robots usually featured in mech games, but fast machines which have the ability to float for a short amount of time. This means the game speed is more akin to mid-nineties shooters like Quake. The backdrop story is set in the 22th century when multinational companies fight over resources. The game features overall eight multiplayer modes (e.g. Deathmatch, Rocket Arena or Gladiator) with differences regarding rules and winning conditions, but generally they all involve the player fighting alone against the opposition by running (and floating) around, shooting weapons at other players and picking up power-ups (e.g. armor, shields or damage multiplier) which spawn on the 28 maps. The basic stats of the player's mech, e.g. armor or the boost speed, are determined by the chosen pilot character and the used mech components which can be changed for arms, legs, chassis, head, booster and weapon load-out. All those components have strengths, weaknesses and weight, the latter being the restricting factor. The game also has a single-player mode, skirmish, which consists of playing multiplayer matches against bots. Playing through the scenarios rewards additional mech components for use in multiplayer.
First released: Sep 2001

Play Axis on Mac with Parallels (virtualized)

The easiest way to play Axis on a Mac is through Parallels, which allows you to virtualize a Windows machine on Macs. The setup is very easy and it works for Apple Silicon Macs as well as for older Intel-based Macs.

Parallels supports the latest version of DirectX and OpenGL, allowing you to play the latest PC games on any Mac. The latest version of DirectX is up to 20% faster.

Our favorite feature of Parallels Desktop is that when you turn off your virtual machine, all the unused disk space gets returned to your main OS, thus minimizing resource waste (which used to be a problem with virtualization).

Axis installation steps for Mac

Step 1
Go to Parallels.com and download the latest version of the software.
Step 2
Follow the installation process and make sure you allow Parallels in your Mac’s security preferences (it will prompt you to do so).
Step 3
When prompted, download and install Windows 10. The download is around 5.7GB. Make sure you give it all the permissions that it asks for.
Step 4
Once Windows is done installing, you are ready to go. All that’s left to do is install Axis like you would on any PC.
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