PC PC GAMES

Introduction:

My childhood was dominated by a few select games that I have always regarded as the greatest of all time. These games include GTA: Vice City, B-17 Bomber Command and Crimson Skies and of course my two very favorites, Dungeon Keeper 2 and Lego Rock Raiders.

These sandbox building/digging games always struck a chord with me as the game left me with the tools to build anything I want but not without facing enemies and obstacles that made me improve my style and strategies to get through the game. And this is why Minecraft caught my eye and my mouse pointer.

To start this off it is worth mentioning that Minecraft by created by Markus Persson also known as Notch, a former programmer whom has worked for a unknown company by the name Jalbum and also has worked for King.com, one of the more famous flash game sites.

Norch is also a founder of a little known MMOPRG Wurm Online, which the author of this review didn’t even know existed till he did some research.
It is worth taking note that as I write this review the game is still in Alpha mode but feels like a complete game and therefor warrants a review from my side, both to perhaps attract more players to the game or perhaps just educate the fine people of this website on another game out there in the deep expansive intertubes.

Gameplay:

As the title of the game might suggest the game evolves largely around mining and crafting.
It is a very simple crafting system where certain materials will produce certain items if placed correctly

The game however does feature several modes to suit different needs.

There is the survival mode which includes a health bar and evil zombies, spiders and blobs of goo that pursue you when day turns to night.

A creative mode which enables you to build as many blocks as you want without having to collect them and generally just lol around and do whatever you want to do ( This mode is free to play on the Minecraft website in their in game browser, look for a link at the end of the review )

And a adventure mode whereas you cannot build and focus on roaming the cool dungeons of the world that are filled with respawning zombies and the like ( Just as in survival mode )
While Creative mode can be accessed through the servers in Minecrafts multiplayer part ( More on that later ) it is in Survival Mode that the single player is centered around.

In Survival Mode you start off on a random generated island with no tools, no food no nothing and must from there build adequate shelter and gather materials to build armor, weapons and other new more durable tools.

-My adequate shelter is a tower with a swimming pool ontop of the entrance to my mine! Brilliant!-

As I mentioned it is here that both the crafting system comes into play, it is ingenious in its simplicity and indeed it feels very well worked out, almost as a small easy puzzle in itself.

-Hurray for building stuff!-

The crafting section centers around placing the adequate resources in the correct position so as to achieve the item that you want, however when I said puzzle, I do mean puzzle, as the game in no way shape or forms will help you with guessing how, for an example, a pickaxe is to be built.

Of course while this may be easy to guess there are several instances in the game where I had to consult the MinePedia for crafting recipes after being hopelessly stuck trying to find out how to make a simple door.. Which turned out, of course, to be very very simple.

Your opponents ( At least in singleplayer ) are the monsters that walk around on the island at night and sometimes at day. One might think that they could be slapped to death with your hands but a player that is not paying attention might run the risk of having spiders attack him from behind and mauling him within a few minutes, respawning him back to his original starting place without his inventory ( However it is possible to build storage crates, so the game isn’t completely unforgiving )

The day and night cycle, as mentioned, runs really smooth and it really feels like night gives away to day gradually, making you fear the sudden attack of a zombie and forcing you to run back to your abode while the restless undead roam the deserted island.

A last thing to mention, but not less important, is of course the mining aspect of the game that is almost core to it all. The game is very strict of how it gives you these minerals as it is rare to find huge veins of any given material, be it iron or diamond. However the general rule is that you will encounter more minerals the more you travel downwards, so the game actively encourages you to, well, craft mines.

To help you get further down and perhaps transport items up there is even such things as small trains that can be build to push you up in a cart to the top of your mine, or simply you could get into your cart and race down the long corridors, screaming like a school girl as the cart smashes into a coal vein at warp speed, sending you flying out of the cart and slamming into a wall.
If this causes you to lose health, then it is good that you can just go outside and slap a pig till it falls over and drops its lovely beacon for you ( that you can then roast in your oven ) or perhaps you could make a nice mushroom stew, its up to you.

As for how you view the game, it is seen through a first person mode ( Which can be switched to a third person, however this view mode is very awkward when in tight small mine areas ) with only your right hand visible ( or the tool it is holding, such as a pickaxe )

The game also employees a light system, monsters cannot spawn where it is light ( As in within a certain range of a light source ) and most of them burn in the sun ( Except spiders and blobs whom will hunt you down, wind, rain, snow or sun )

Multiplayer:

Having told you about the lovely singleplayer I will briefly touch on the multiplayer aspect.
To enter the multiplayer part seems quite ancient.

What I mean about this is that the multiplayer tab in your game leads to a small box asking you to input an IP address, something which seems decidedly old school but is quite reliable, granted that you have a valid IP address for a server ( Which you can find on the Minecraft forums ).

However once you do access one of the many serves, be it a Role Play server or a Adventure server, you will most likely be greeted with some of the most insane architecture ever witnessed in glorious blocks ( Try googling Minecraft and you will get some wonderful examples )
Most of the servers employ a survival system without death, so its up to you to collect all the items needed for your awesome house, but you don’t have to die from walking into lava as you perhaps would in singleplayer

There’s not that much to say about multiplayer other than its singleplayer but with.. multiple players.
Other than that it is worth noting that the game has some pretty dedicated server communities that only let you in per invitation or request, so called white list servers,
this review has yet to try one of these but I can only assume that it features even more crazy architecture.

Graphics:

Minecraft is a game made in the Java engine but even though the Java engine is known to be quite advanced the creator of this game decided to keep it a kind of old school blocky game, which I can only applaud as it stirs some kind of nostalgia the echoes for a time when I didn’t have to wear a pair of glasses over my glasses just to watch Avatar in movies or for that matter when people actually cared about the story contra just the look of the game ( Ahem, sorry, rant over )

-Ah, the smell of 2 dimensions in the morning reminds me of VICTORY.. Also this picture is not taken by me, just FIY-

Concerning the engine of the game, it runs quite smoothly, water and lava flows when allowed and forms waterfalls when challenged with a cliff and also drags you along with it if the water Is being pulled somewhere. It gives the game a very authentic feel about it, up to the point where you find yourself standing under a tree trunk hanging in mid air as you hack furiously at it with your axe.
But overall the engine and the graphics are really smooth, however if you do not care for the blocky look of everything this game is not going to give you any respite, it is blocky all the way through, so beware.

Sound

The game does have a soundtrack developed by C418 whom is credited ( professionally ) only to have created the music for Minecraft.
Although I did like the simplicity of the music it was to low-key for me and I have found myself listening to music and watching movies in the background while playing this game instead.

Story:

The story is nonexistent.
Though if you want I could make up a few scenarios that would fit in with the game;

You land on a island that is inhabited by friendly zombies, however you start hacking away at their holy minerals and they try to kill you

Your in a resident evil game, nuff’ said

Your in Left 4 Craft and you are stuck without any pills.

The lack of story did not bother me at all, since I stepped into this game knowing it was a pure sandbox game and therefor I did not feel any disappointment when I was not immediately met with a fetch quest of some sorts.

DRM:

A special note to this game is its digital rights management system, namely a login screen.
However after your first logon the game will save your settings and you can from then on log on in offline mode if the server was to fail or your game.

Summary:

So, to sum it up, if you like sandbox game then this game is for you, but there is really nothing here for people whom cannot live without a story mode or fast paced first person shooter action.
I personally love both story modes and campaigns but the sheer weight of the sandbox mode, how big, random and awesome it is does not make me regret my purchase.

This game is a recommended purchase

Summary Information

Publisher: Markus Persson

Developer: Markus Persson

Website: http://www.minecraft.net

Forum: http://www.minecraftforum.net/index.php

Price: 9.95€ (13.25$ ) during Alpha , 50% off during Alpha period, original price is 20€ (26.63$)

(Mod edit: All done though paypal, with an interesting story with paypal when he did this)