Genre: Adventure, Sandbox
How many times have you been exploring a game world when you hit the invisible wall only to be left dreaming of exploring outside of it? It is an unfortunate restriction we’ve faced time and time again in nearly every game, but Minecraft is here to break the mold. Minecraft is a game of creating, exploring, and gathering. There is no story and there is no clear objective. Essentially, these are left up to your imagination. Minecraft, currently in its beta stage of development, is defiantly a game you will want to look into if you’re feeling creative and looking for a change from the usual linear plot based experience.
Graphics
Minecraft’s visual appearance is very basic yet charming. The entire world is composed of various blocks. For example there is a wood block, a dirt block, a sand block and so on. Their textures are noticeably pixilated but this only adds to the character of the game.
Its limited appearance up close is quickly improved when viewed from a distance. If you would prefer something more detailed however, you can always create your own textures or download someone else’s from the Minecraft forums.
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| The natural generated terrain . |
Gameplay
You begin on a randomly generated map left to figure out things on your own. No two maps are ever the same. As you move your character around to explore the world, the map grows in size in the direction you move. The world size is only limited by your hard drive space.
As you explore the vast world, you come across various resources such as wood, stone, meat, and ore, along with many other things. As it would seem, wood comes from trees, stone comes from rocks, meat comes from animals, and you get the idea. Some materials can be gathered by hand but others must be collected using tools created from basic resources you collect. For example, you can’t collect coal ore with your hands. You need to acquire wood from a tree first, craft a pickaxe from the wood, and then mine the coal with the pickaxe.
As time progresses, night falls, and monsters come out, and yes, they will attack you. At this time, it is advised you create a shelter and light it with torches so no enemies spawn near you. If you are killed from one of these creatures, you lose all of your items and spawn where you began. This can be frustrating but generally you should have an ok time staying alive if you play it safe. If you just want to explore, mine, and create, you can turn the monsters off.
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| My castle in progress made of wool and wood planks. |
Exploring for resources in Minecraft can be one of the most exciting and addicting elements of the game. Mainly, only one rare material is sought after, which is diamond, and you’ll want to find a lot of it. With diamond you can create the most durable tools, such as shovels, pickaxes, axes, and hoes that tear through certain blocks extremely fast. You will spend hours in the world's natural caves looking for this illusive gem.
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| A house in progress. |
Conclusion
Minecraft can be seen as a game of unlimited possibilities. Whatever you want to create, you can. Going through the trouble of collecting resources and fending off monsters in the process just makes the whole process of building more rewarding. You can spend days creating a massive castle or a few minutes making a cozy house. Ultimately, it’s your decision how you play and what you do, which is probably why it has become so popular within the past year. Overall, Minecraft is an excellent game for anyone who likes to create and explore. At only about 20$, with updates promised in the future, this is an amazing value that shouldn't be overlooked by anyone.
Gameplay: 8.5 (scores are out of 10, final score is not an average)
Graphics: 7.0
Lasting Appeal: 9.5
Overall : 9.2
Gameplay: 8.5 (scores are out of 10, final score is not an average)
Graphics: 7.0
Lasting Appeal: 9.5
Overall : 9.2
