(DISCLAIMER: All screenshots were taken by me.)
Minecraft Review
"It's flawed but that's why we love it ...well not really."
Platform: PC
Developer: Mojang
Publisher: Mojang
Release Date: November 18th, 2011
Review Date: December 12th, 2011
Reviewed by: LobsterFang, The Gaming Monolith
What's Hot:
Randomly Generated Open World
Simple Gameplay
Exploration
Building
Mining (sometimes)
Replayability
Community
What's Not:
Awful Combat
Awkward RPG Elements
Bad Graphics
Bugs
Tediousness (sometimes)
Lack of Tutorial
Good MP Servers Are Hard to Find
Okay I'll admit it, I was kind of biased with my Arkham City review (but I regret nothing.) This review will probably worry some, as you'll notice that I consider Minecraft to be one of my favorite games of all time. Well recent changes have actually made me reconsider my stand on Minecraft, and I'm going to try and review this as objectively as I can.
There probably isn't a gamer alive that hasn't at least heard of Minecraft at this point. It's easily the most popular indie title ever made, and it's easy to see why. Not only is Minecraft cheap, but it's more deep and compelling than most AAA titles out on the market. And the funniest part? Minecraft exploded when it was still in Beta, which means everyone fell in love with it before it was even officially released.
I like many others started playing Minecraft when it was still in Beta. I knew that it had many flaws, but I was able to look over them because it still wasn't complete. To me Minecraft seemed like the game that would never stop updating. The finished project was almost inconceivable, because surely it would be near perfect once everything was complete.
That's why I was shocked to find out that Minecraft would be released in November, because there was no way they could finish the game in time! Well unfortunately my suspicions were correct, the same problems still existed. And what's really unfortunate is the stuff added to the final project only made the game worse for me!
It's sad really because I get the feeling that Monjang realized that enough people are playing it that they're obviously happy with what exists, so they declared the game finished in order to make more money.
Now I just realized that I've kind of gone
into a rant here. So before I make this game sound too bad, let me actually start reviewing it.
Story:
That's the thing really, there isn't a story with Minecraft; it's more of a concept really. You start by creating a world, you can name it whatever you want. Every world follows a crazy math formula that allows each one to be randomly generated, which means that no world will be the same as any other world. Not only that, but your world never stops expanding. What that means is you can literally pick a direction, and keep walking in that direction forever. It will literally keep generating new terrain for forever (well for as long as your computer can handle it, anyway.)
Once you're in the world, you need to survive, because once night falls, that's when monsters spawn. So you build a makeshift house to wade out the night. Once you get to that point, you can pretty much do whatever you want. The world is filled with caverns and dungeons, loaded with valuable minerals and materials. And once you've figured out how to craft tools, then the world is yours.
Seriously, you can do whatever you want. Want to turn your house into a gigantic doom fortress? Do it. Want to build an island in the sky? Do it. Want to build an enormous block depiction of Han Solo frozen in carbonite? Well then?you are very talented my friend, do it! The world is literally yours! Make what you will of it! JUST-JUST DO IT, OKAY!?! UGHHGH!! *ahem* Sorry about that. But yeah, building stuff is pretty cool.
There is a pseudo-story that was made for 1.0.0 that was kind of shoehorned in with weird RPG elements (which I'll get into later.) Apparently there's this dimension called "The End" that you have to go to for some reason. You get there by collecting materials and opening a portal in extremely rare "Fortresses" and then you have to fight this dragon with impossible amounts of health and-yeah I don't get why you'd want to do that either. I just play it like I did in Beta.
Graphics:
The first thing you'll notice about Minecraft is that it's made out of blocks, like some kind of crazy Lego world. It's a charming little aesthetic, and you get used to it. But that still doesn't change the fact that it's an ugly game.
And no, I don?t mean it's ugly because everything is in block form, I said that that's a cute little concept. What I'm getting at is some of the textures are just plain ugly. I get that they're trying to be retro and all, but even retro games can look pretty. I just wish Mojang would hire an artist or something. Luckily the Minecraft community is here to save you. There are plenty of user made texture packs that are easy to install, and can make the game looks so much better if you're willing to find the right one. This is just one of many examples of the community making the game better.
Now I'll probably get crap for saying that, as it doesn't seem to bother most people. A lot of Minecraft(ers?) like to keep the graphics the same. I've even seem some people claim that texture packs ruin the game, and that you don't appreciate the game if you change the graphics. I don't argue with those people as we're all entitled to play as we want, but for those that want it, texture packs are a nice feature.
One feature I really like though is the ability to customize your character. You have the ability to color in the template of your character, so if you look at sites such as MinecraftSkins, you can find a favorite character from something you love. If you know where to look, you can find the coolest skins. Yet another example of the community making the game better.
The biomes in Minecraft, which are like the climates/terrains, are fun and interesting to be in. Some areas are like forests, with trees everywhere (duh), and some are deserts, with nothing but sand and cacti for blocks and blocks (get it? Like instead of miles?blocks?nevermind.) I don't like the new "swamp" biome added with Minecraft 1.0.0 (that?s the official release for those that don?t know) but I do like the new "mountain" biome, because I like being high up (reminds me of home) and you can get some pretty interesting formations. I?m disappointed how they made my favorite "snow" biome so hard to find in 1.0.0, but I guess half the fun in exploring is trying to find a terrain you like. (Or going online to find a snow biome seed because you can't find one anywhere!)
My biggest problem with Biomes is that the changes in terrain are often very abrupt, which is very ugly (especially when the black swamp water mixes in with the regular blue water. Icky.) I understand that since the worlds are randomly generated that this is kind of thing is a hard thing to control, but I would appreciate some kind of code that made these shifts in climate a little more mild or something.
Gameplay:
This is where things really start getting bad for me, so get ready.
The good part about the gameplay is that it's very simple. You click left mouse to destroy a block, and right mouse to place a block. You move with 'WASD', and 'I' opens your inventory. In your inventory there's a little crafting graph. In that graph you can craft tools (including a crafting table so you can make the necessary tools.) Which is obviously how you build and explore.
Now if you don't have Minecraft, and you've watched videos of someone playing it, chances are you thought to yourself something along the lines of "How can anyone find this fun? All you're doing is picking through blocks for hours, and then placing blocks for hours." And, well to be totally honest, yeah. That is pretty much all you do. What makes Minecraft feel different than other creation games is that you actually have to work to build the stuff you want. I know that sounds awful, but it makes you feel like what you're building is actually worth it. So that when it's all done you feel like you really accomplished something. (And then you realize that you built it on singleplayer so you have no one one to show it off to...kidding...mostly.)
If you're impatient and don't like gathering materials yourself, thankfully there's a new mode called "Creative." In Creative you start a world like you normally would, except you'll notice you're now invincible and that you now have access to every block in your inventory; and you can fly. It was added before 1.0.0, but it's still a good addition, and it's the mode I'm usually playing on these days because of how much fun I have just flying around and blowing stuff up.
The last game type is "Multiplayer." Multiplayer is arguably the most fun mode out there (not for me though.) Stepping in it's amazing to see what people can build, and it can give you some ideas yourself. And like I said before, the community has great ideas and thanks to mods you can find some pretty cool stuff if you know where to look. That's the problem though, as trying to find a good on is very hard and inconvenient. I was definitely expecting a better system for multiplayer before it came out of Beta ...apparently we don't get one.
Now that we've covered what I like about it, let's talk about the big bad elephant in the room, the new RPG elements. See there's nothing wrong with trying to add RPG elements to Minecraft, I knew it would have to go there at some point. What I don't like is BAD RPG elements put into a game, and then announced as finished suddenly.
Let's start with the combat, it is atrocious, always has been. But that's okay because you weren't really encouraged to go out and fight, until now. A level up bar was added in 1.8 (the update before 1.0.0) which to me says go out and fight. As I understand it, the bar makes it so you can perform certain enchantments if you get the right materials. This is an awesome concept, except, as previously mention, THE COMBAT IS ATROCIOUS.
First of all the enemies have no attack animations, so there's no way to tell when they're going to strike (except for the Creeper who flashed before it explodes.) By holding down right click while wielding a sword, you can perform a block. Except you can't just hold it and block anything that comes at you, you have hold it at the exact moment an enemy strikes, which is really, really hard.
Then there's the much criticized Hunger Bar, which is basically just a second health bar. Food used to directly replenish health, now food replenishes your Hunger, which regenerates your Health. Since all food generally has the same effect (except for poisonous food) and finding food is really easy, this is nothing but an annoying inconvenience. This doesn't make the game any harder or make it feel like I'm ?surviving?, I can just run around with 64 steaks in my pocket, and have to pause every once in a while. Some people may like it, I don't.
Now to the last and most irritating of all, the NPCS and Villages. I can remember my friends and I getting really excited because of all the stuff Notch was promising. For example, Villages would contain stuff you could loot, and the NPCs would attack if you tried to steal. But what do we end up getting? Nothing. When you get to a village there's nothing to steal but wheat if you're too lazy to farm it on your own.
And that's not even the worst part, the NPCs do NOTHING. If you burn their house down or break a hole in their wall, they do nothing. If you waltz into an NPC's house and punch him right in the gut, he just stares at you. If you cover every building in the village with TNT, and detonate them, the NPCs just stand there and take it. You can't talk to them. You can't trade with them. You can't interact with them in any way (except murder them.) The monsters don't pay any attention to them either, and the NPCs in return don't pay any attention to the monsters.
Again, there's nothing wrong with adding RPG elements, they just have to be done well before you say the game is finished! There are so many things the NPCs could do. There could be a trading system so you could get rid of all the fuzz-loads of coal you stopped mining because you have too much. Or maybe have some kind of tribe thing going on like they had in Fallout:New Vegas, and you have to try and settle disputes. Or you could at least make them fight back when you barge into their house murder their friends and burn their crops or just- JUST HOW CAN YOU CALL THIS GAME FINISHED NOTCH?! HOOOOOOW?! UGHGHGH...*ahem* sorry about that. Yeah the NPCs are pointless and add nothing to the finished product. Moving on.
I've also been experiencing a lot of bugs. I've seen some of these bugs before, but sometimes I experience to the point that Minecraft is just unplayable for the day because my character keeps deciding that he'd like to jump into a pit of lava by his own will. One day this bug was happening to me literally 2 times a minute (I seriously counted.) Now I don't claim to be an expert to these kinds of things, but isn't a game supposed to get rid of most if not all the bugs AFTER the game comes out of Beta? Not make the bugs 10x worse?
Finally, there's no tutorial. Despite its simplicity in actual gameplay, the amount of stuff you can build is staggering. A newcomer will often have to look up online how to play the game with the MinecraftWiki or maybe some tutorials on Youtube (that's how I figured out how to play.) Notch said that the achievement system counted as a tutorial, but I disagree, for I saw a newcomer try to play it and he couldn't figure it out without a lot of my help.
Sound:
The sound is good, not much else to say. When you dig up dirt, it sounds like you're digging up dirt. Cows moo, pigs squeal, and sheep baa. You won't be blown away by anything, but there's nothing terribly offensive about anything either.
The music is seldom played, but that kind of makes it more poignant in my opinion. It's just a collection of soft piano arrangements, and they're quite lovely. The music also has the uncanny ability to play at just the right moment. For example you've been lost in a cavern for some time now, and you're starting to get worried. Just then you remember how you came in, and you head that way. As you make your way up, a soft melody begins to play. You emerge from underground and you see your house waiting just as the sun is setting, and you think to yourself ?All is well.? And yes I had to make something this sappy to counter the nerd rage from a couple of paragraphs ago.
Overall
Story- 9.0
Like I said this game doesn't really have a story except for some awkward RPG elements that got shoehorned in at the last minute, but the concept itself is charming and has kept me entertained for about a year.
Graphics-6.0
The blocky aesthetic is fine and all, but textures look bad, and terrain changes abruptly. Thankfully there's texture packs out there.
Gameplay-6.0
Building is simple, yet crafting is complex if you are new. A lack of a tutorial makes this an obvious down grade. The combat is boring and needs a lot of work to be called finished.
Sound-8.0
Everything sounds like it should, and the music is pretty and calming.
Overall-7.0
Minecraft is still one of my favorite games and I'll still come back to play it some more. I?m disappointed that Mojang has now pronounced this game as officially released, because many things are still broken, and there's still so much more potential. I don't think Developers should get away with these kinds of things, even if they're a beloved Indie company. Chances are you already have this game, and if you don't you've probably decided whether you're going to buy it or not, but if you want my advice (and I'm guessing you are if you made it this far) if you're on the fence about buying this, I?d say give it a try, because hopefully Mojang will continue to patch and update it. (I think there may be a demo floating around somewhere.)
It's hard because the biased Minecraft fanboy in me wants to tell you how awesome the modding community is, or the amazing things I've discovered in Multiplayer; yet the unofficial critic in me wants to tell you that this isn?t a very well made game, and that many promises weren?t kept and there's still so much more room for improvement. In conclusion I'll just say this: I once spent $60 dollars on a full-budget AAA title, and grew bored of it after a week. I bought Minecraft about a year ago for $15, and am still playing it today. So if that sounds right to you, well then DO IT.
Not part of the review:
So if you're confused about the whole "Gaming Monolith" thing, it's this thing some of my Youtube friends created. (Or "contacts" as the new Youtube likes to call them...stupid new Youtube.) Anyway, we just write reviews for fun in the hope that they'll help someone. All we have is a Facebook page now, so hopefully it's okay for me to post that. I'm pretty sure it's okay, because we aren't expecting to get paid by anyone or anything. So yeah check it out if you'd like: <a href=http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Gaming-Monolith/222118144518549>TheGamingMonolith
Minecraft Review
"It's flawed but that's why we love it ...well not really."
Platform: PC
Developer: Mojang
Publisher: Mojang
Release Date: November 18th, 2011
Review Date: December 12th, 2011
Reviewed by: LobsterFang, The Gaming Monolith
What's Hot:
Randomly Generated Open World
Simple Gameplay
Exploration
Building
Mining (sometimes)
Replayability
Community
What's Not:
Awful Combat
Awkward RPG Elements
Bad Graphics
Bugs
Tediousness (sometimes)
Lack of Tutorial
Good MP Servers Are Hard to Find
Okay I'll admit it, I was kind of biased with my Arkham City review (but I regret nothing.) This review will probably worry some, as you'll notice that I consider Minecraft to be one of my favorite games of all time. Well recent changes have actually made me reconsider my stand on Minecraft, and I'm going to try and review this as objectively as I can.
There probably isn't a gamer alive that hasn't at least heard of Minecraft at this point. It's easily the most popular indie title ever made, and it's easy to see why. Not only is Minecraft cheap, but it's more deep and compelling than most AAA titles out on the market. And the funniest part? Minecraft exploded when it was still in Beta, which means everyone fell in love with it before it was even officially released.
I like many others started playing Minecraft when it was still in Beta. I knew that it had many flaws, but I was able to look over them because it still wasn't complete. To me Minecraft seemed like the game that would never stop updating. The finished project was almost inconceivable, because surely it would be near perfect once everything was complete.
That's why I was shocked to find out that Minecraft would be released in November, because there was no way they could finish the game in time! Well unfortunately my suspicions were correct, the same problems still existed. And what's really unfortunate is the stuff added to the final project only made the game worse for me!
It's sad really because I get the feeling that Monjang realized that enough people are playing it that they're obviously happy with what exists, so they declared the game finished in order to make more money.
Now I just realized that I've kind of gone
into a rant here. So before I make this game sound too bad, let me actually start reviewing it.
Story:
That's the thing really, there isn't a story with Minecraft; it's more of a concept really. You start by creating a world, you can name it whatever you want. Every world follows a crazy math formula that allows each one to be randomly generated, which means that no world will be the same as any other world. Not only that, but your world never stops expanding. What that means is you can literally pick a direction, and keep walking in that direction forever. It will literally keep generating new terrain for forever (well for as long as your computer can handle it, anyway.)
Once you're in the world, you need to survive, because once night falls, that's when monsters spawn. So you build a makeshift house to wade out the night. Once you get to that point, you can pretty much do whatever you want. The world is filled with caverns and dungeons, loaded with valuable minerals and materials. And once you've figured out how to craft tools, then the world is yours.
Seriously, you can do whatever you want. Want to turn your house into a gigantic doom fortress? Do it. Want to build an island in the sky? Do it. Want to build an enormous block depiction of Han Solo frozen in carbonite? Well then?you are very talented my friend, do it! The world is literally yours! Make what you will of it! JUST-JUST DO IT, OKAY!?! UGHHGH!! *ahem* Sorry about that. But yeah, building stuff is pretty cool.
There is a pseudo-story that was made for 1.0.0 that was kind of shoehorned in with weird RPG elements (which I'll get into later.) Apparently there's this dimension called "The End" that you have to go to for some reason. You get there by collecting materials and opening a portal in extremely rare "Fortresses" and then you have to fight this dragon with impossible amounts of health and-yeah I don't get why you'd want to do that either. I just play it like I did in Beta.
Graphics:
The first thing you'll notice about Minecraft is that it's made out of blocks, like some kind of crazy Lego world. It's a charming little aesthetic, and you get used to it. But that still doesn't change the fact that it's an ugly game.
And no, I don?t mean it's ugly because everything is in block form, I said that that's a cute little concept. What I'm getting at is some of the textures are just plain ugly. I get that they're trying to be retro and all, but even retro games can look pretty. I just wish Mojang would hire an artist or something. Luckily the Minecraft community is here to save you. There are plenty of user made texture packs that are easy to install, and can make the game looks so much better if you're willing to find the right one. This is just one of many examples of the community making the game better.
Now I'll probably get crap for saying that, as it doesn't seem to bother most people. A lot of Minecraft(ers?) like to keep the graphics the same. I've even seem some people claim that texture packs ruin the game, and that you don't appreciate the game if you change the graphics. I don't argue with those people as we're all entitled to play as we want, but for those that want it, texture packs are a nice feature.
One feature I really like though is the ability to customize your character. You have the ability to color in the template of your character, so if you look at sites such as MinecraftSkins, you can find a favorite character from something you love. If you know where to look, you can find the coolest skins. Yet another example of the community making the game better.
The biomes in Minecraft, which are like the climates/terrains, are fun and interesting to be in. Some areas are like forests, with trees everywhere (duh), and some are deserts, with nothing but sand and cacti for blocks and blocks (get it? Like instead of miles?blocks?nevermind.) I don't like the new "swamp" biome added with Minecraft 1.0.0 (that?s the official release for those that don?t know) but I do like the new "mountain" biome, because I like being high up (reminds me of home) and you can get some pretty interesting formations. I?m disappointed how they made my favorite "snow" biome so hard to find in 1.0.0, but I guess half the fun in exploring is trying to find a terrain you like. (Or going online to find a snow biome seed because you can't find one anywhere!)
My biggest problem with Biomes is that the changes in terrain are often very abrupt, which is very ugly (especially when the black swamp water mixes in with the regular blue water. Icky.) I understand that since the worlds are randomly generated that this is kind of thing is a hard thing to control, but I would appreciate some kind of code that made these shifts in climate a little more mild or something.
Gameplay:
This is where things really start getting bad for me, so get ready.
The good part about the gameplay is that it's very simple. You click left mouse to destroy a block, and right mouse to place a block. You move with 'WASD', and 'I' opens your inventory. In your inventory there's a little crafting graph. In that graph you can craft tools (including a crafting table so you can make the necessary tools.) Which is obviously how you build and explore.
Now if you don't have Minecraft, and you've watched videos of someone playing it, chances are you thought to yourself something along the lines of "How can anyone find this fun? All you're doing is picking through blocks for hours, and then placing blocks for hours." And, well to be totally honest, yeah. That is pretty much all you do. What makes Minecraft feel different than other creation games is that you actually have to work to build the stuff you want. I know that sounds awful, but it makes you feel like what you're building is actually worth it. So that when it's all done you feel like you really accomplished something. (And then you realize that you built it on singleplayer so you have no one one to show it off to...kidding...mostly.)
If you're impatient and don't like gathering materials yourself, thankfully there's a new mode called "Creative." In Creative you start a world like you normally would, except you'll notice you're now invincible and that you now have access to every block in your inventory; and you can fly. It was added before 1.0.0, but it's still a good addition, and it's the mode I'm usually playing on these days because of how much fun I have just flying around and blowing stuff up.
The last game type is "Multiplayer." Multiplayer is arguably the most fun mode out there (not for me though.) Stepping in it's amazing to see what people can build, and it can give you some ideas yourself. And like I said before, the community has great ideas and thanks to mods you can find some pretty cool stuff if you know where to look. That's the problem though, as trying to find a good on is very hard and inconvenient. I was definitely expecting a better system for multiplayer before it came out of Beta ...apparently we don't get one.
Now that we've covered what I like about it, let's talk about the big bad elephant in the room, the new RPG elements. See there's nothing wrong with trying to add RPG elements to Minecraft, I knew it would have to go there at some point. What I don't like is BAD RPG elements put into a game, and then announced as finished suddenly.
Let's start with the combat, it is atrocious, always has been. But that's okay because you weren't really encouraged to go out and fight, until now. A level up bar was added in 1.8 (the update before 1.0.0) which to me says go out and fight. As I understand it, the bar makes it so you can perform certain enchantments if you get the right materials. This is an awesome concept, except, as previously mention, THE COMBAT IS ATROCIOUS.
First of all the enemies have no attack animations, so there's no way to tell when they're going to strike (except for the Creeper who flashed before it explodes.) By holding down right click while wielding a sword, you can perform a block. Except you can't just hold it and block anything that comes at you, you have hold it at the exact moment an enemy strikes, which is really, really hard.
Then there's the much criticized Hunger Bar, which is basically just a second health bar. Food used to directly replenish health, now food replenishes your Hunger, which regenerates your Health. Since all food generally has the same effect (except for poisonous food) and finding food is really easy, this is nothing but an annoying inconvenience. This doesn't make the game any harder or make it feel like I'm ?surviving?, I can just run around with 64 steaks in my pocket, and have to pause every once in a while. Some people may like it, I don't.
Now to the last and most irritating of all, the NPCS and Villages. I can remember my friends and I getting really excited because of all the stuff Notch was promising. For example, Villages would contain stuff you could loot, and the NPCs would attack if you tried to steal. But what do we end up getting? Nothing. When you get to a village there's nothing to steal but wheat if you're too lazy to farm it on your own.
And that's not even the worst part, the NPCs do NOTHING. If you burn their house down or break a hole in their wall, they do nothing. If you waltz into an NPC's house and punch him right in the gut, he just stares at you. If you cover every building in the village with TNT, and detonate them, the NPCs just stand there and take it. You can't talk to them. You can't trade with them. You can't interact with them in any way (except murder them.) The monsters don't pay any attention to them either, and the NPCs in return don't pay any attention to the monsters.
Again, there's nothing wrong with adding RPG elements, they just have to be done well before you say the game is finished! There are so many things the NPCs could do. There could be a trading system so you could get rid of all the fuzz-loads of coal you stopped mining because you have too much. Or maybe have some kind of tribe thing going on like they had in Fallout:New Vegas, and you have to try and settle disputes. Or you could at least make them fight back when you barge into their house murder their friends and burn their crops or just- JUST HOW CAN YOU CALL THIS GAME FINISHED NOTCH?! HOOOOOOW?! UGHGHGH...*ahem* sorry about that. Yeah the NPCs are pointless and add nothing to the finished product. Moving on.
I've also been experiencing a lot of bugs. I've seen some of these bugs before, but sometimes I experience to the point that Minecraft is just unplayable for the day because my character keeps deciding that he'd like to jump into a pit of lava by his own will. One day this bug was happening to me literally 2 times a minute (I seriously counted.) Now I don't claim to be an expert to these kinds of things, but isn't a game supposed to get rid of most if not all the bugs AFTER the game comes out of Beta? Not make the bugs 10x worse?
Finally, there's no tutorial. Despite its simplicity in actual gameplay, the amount of stuff you can build is staggering. A newcomer will often have to look up online how to play the game with the MinecraftWiki or maybe some tutorials on Youtube (that's how I figured out how to play.) Notch said that the achievement system counted as a tutorial, but I disagree, for I saw a newcomer try to play it and he couldn't figure it out without a lot of my help.
Sound:
The sound is good, not much else to say. When you dig up dirt, it sounds like you're digging up dirt. Cows moo, pigs squeal, and sheep baa. You won't be blown away by anything, but there's nothing terribly offensive about anything either.
The music is seldom played, but that kind of makes it more poignant in my opinion. It's just a collection of soft piano arrangements, and they're quite lovely. The music also has the uncanny ability to play at just the right moment. For example you've been lost in a cavern for some time now, and you're starting to get worried. Just then you remember how you came in, and you head that way. As you make your way up, a soft melody begins to play. You emerge from underground and you see your house waiting just as the sun is setting, and you think to yourself ?All is well.? And yes I had to make something this sappy to counter the nerd rage from a couple of paragraphs ago.
Overall
Story- 9.0
Like I said this game doesn't really have a story except for some awkward RPG elements that got shoehorned in at the last minute, but the concept itself is charming and has kept me entertained for about a year.
Graphics-6.0
The blocky aesthetic is fine and all, but textures look bad, and terrain changes abruptly. Thankfully there's texture packs out there.
Gameplay-6.0
Building is simple, yet crafting is complex if you are new. A lack of a tutorial makes this an obvious down grade. The combat is boring and needs a lot of work to be called finished.
Sound-8.0
Everything sounds like it should, and the music is pretty and calming.
Overall-7.0
Minecraft is still one of my favorite games and I'll still come back to play it some more. I?m disappointed that Mojang has now pronounced this game as officially released, because many things are still broken, and there's still so much more potential. I don't think Developers should get away with these kinds of things, even if they're a beloved Indie company. Chances are you already have this game, and if you don't you've probably decided whether you're going to buy it or not, but if you want my advice (and I'm guessing you are if you made it this far) if you're on the fence about buying this, I?d say give it a try, because hopefully Mojang will continue to patch and update it. (I think there may be a demo floating around somewhere.)
It's hard because the biased Minecraft fanboy in me wants to tell you how awesome the modding community is, or the amazing things I've discovered in Multiplayer; yet the unofficial critic in me wants to tell you that this isn?t a very well made game, and that many promises weren?t kept and there's still so much more room for improvement. In conclusion I'll just say this: I once spent $60 dollars on a full-budget AAA title, and grew bored of it after a week. I bought Minecraft about a year ago for $15, and am still playing it today. So if that sounds right to you, well then DO IT.
Not part of the review:
So if you're confused about the whole "Gaming Monolith" thing, it's this thing some of my Youtube friends created. (Or "contacts" as the new Youtube likes to call them...stupid new Youtube.) Anyway, we just write reviews for fun in the hope that they'll help someone. All we have is a Facebook page now, so hopefully it's okay for me to post that. I'm pretty sure it's okay, because we aren't expecting to get paid by anyone or anything. So yeah check it out if you'd like: <a href=http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Gaming-Monolith/222118144518549>TheGamingMonolith
