How to play NCAA Gamebreaker on Mac
Game summary
NCAA Football GameBreaker is a heartbreaking near-miss. While the options are fantastic and the graphics are gorgeous, the playbook is a layperson's nightmare - and game control is extremely frustrating. College football fans just shouldn't have to come so close, yet still be so far....
First, the good news: GameBreaker will be a treat for college football fans, whose games usually play second-fiddle to the bigger, badder NFL slamfests. GameBreaker runs on the new, improved GameDay engine, and has the options and small touches to bring out the school spirit in anyone. Then there's all those teams, displayed in fantastic motion-captured graphics. And let's not forget the abundant animation capped off with excellent pep band music and an echoing announcer's voice. In short, this game is simply gorgeous. It's easily the best-looking college football game anywhere.
Wait, sit back down.
GameBreaker is knocked out of the game thanks to its atrocious playbook interface. There's little doubt the designers meant well when they compiled the mother lode of all playbooks. But the options are so numerous (and so spread out) that it's far too difficult to find the right play for the right situation. Even the special teams section is hidden, meaning there's no choice but to cycle through the entire menu to find it. With seconds left and no time outs, the last thing anyone wants to do is peruse the playbook. Simple features could have made play selection so much easier: For example, on fourth down, the special teams box could (and should) have been front and center. And if that isn't enough....
GameBreaker's got a tough one-player game - one so hard that even an experienced thumb-back can end up losing to the worst teams on the easiest level. This fact is largely attributable to the computer's ability to instantly find the perfect play and perfectly execute it (complete with precisely-timed stiff-arms). This may present a great challenge for the experienced, but players
First released: Jun 1997
Play NCAA Gamebreaker on Mac with Parallels (virtualized)
The easiest way to play NCAA Gamebreaker 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).
NCAA Gamebreaker 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 NCAA Gamebreaker like you would on any PC.
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