Review of the PC game Minecraft

Reviewing Minecraft right now seems a little strange. It has been completely accessible for purchase for a little over two years, and despite having sold over four million copies, it is still sufficiently popular to allow you to see the number steadily rise on its homepage. It has already given rise to a convention, a company (which is already publishing and producing additional projects), mobile and console adaptations, an upcoming documentary, countless reviews and editorials, and more. We've already had a chance to review the game a little bit even though the "gold" edition was just published.

Despite that, I feel compelled to discuss it because, like it or not, this is a significant game. It's the strongest defense you could give for the advantages of independently produced and distributed video games. It demonstrates why the PC, despite being repeatedly predicted to be "dead" by consoles and, more recently, smartphones and tablets, is still an important and viable platform. The final 1.0 version of the game is the only one that I can think of where some development was essentially crowdsourced. With a great deal of assistance from users on the volunteer-run Minecraft wiki—the closest thing the game has to a manual—a version of Minecraft was tested and debugged. In the future, we'll be citing it as an example in discussions about games, just as we could now with Mario or Halo.

Putting all of this gushing aside, there is a game here, and while it has many positive aspects, it is not flawless. In case you haven't encountered it yet, this is how it operates.

Fundamentals of play

The construction (and destruction) of blocks, making goods, and exploring the open, dynamically created environment (which includes mining) are the three fundamental gameplay components of Minecraft. To swiftly gather the materials you need to build a shelter, you can approach a tree and punch it until you receive wood. From there, you can turn the wood into planks, which you can use to make sticks, which you can use to construct tools. This is something you must do because the monsters emerge when the sun sets and would be only too delighted to hurl arrows at you, jump on you, or detonate next to you. The "goal" is to survive at first, then as you get more at ease, build your little shelter into a larger, more spectacular one.

All of this will be recognizable to you if you've played the game before it was demonstrated at the Penny Arcade Expo this summer; it's the foundation of the game and remains entirely intact in the finished edition. A new "hunger bar" that forces you to keep your stomach full lest you starve, as well as minor adjustments to weapon damage, have all been made in the last few months, but if you've played the game at any point during its existence, it will look and feel very familiar.

I was able to live for a few days during my initial game of Minecraft, but after that, I started to feel a little lost and confused. To combat this, you should explore the vast areas; they are dotted with mine shafts, tunnels, and ruins. These locations hold various rare elements that you'll need to build some of the most intricate (and fascinating) objects in the game. Which brings me to my next point.

New additions

To keep players who are more experienced interested, the development team has introduced some additional features to the core game mechanics that have come to define Minecraft. These include, among other things, larger oceans and worlds, animal breeding, and intricate and occasionally complex systems for enchanting objects and making potions. These mechanisms don't seem to be designed with the die-hard Minecraft fan in mind, so it might not be for you if you don't like reading through the wiki to try and figure out how everything works.

For example, to make the fundamentals of a potion, you must go far into the earth to find enough diamonds to make a diamond pickaxe, which you then need to harvest obsidian. This obsidian is needed to build a portal to a hell dimension, which is the only location in the game where you can find the materials required to erect a brewing stand and locate some of the essential brewing ingredients. Seems more difficult than just approaching a tree and striking it, doesn't it?

Building, mining, and crafting are the simple yet enjoyable fundamentals of Minecraft that make it easy to recommend to both casual users and gamers. The more intricate new features are meant to entice a more conventional kind of player. While it may not be a terrible thing per se, I could see the new systems making the game less enjoyable for some players.

The "creative" mode is ideal for those who are only playing for the sheer joy of constructing since it eliminates the health meter, allows you to fly over the map, and grants you an infinite supply of every block in the game. This is what you want if you want to build an underwater metropolis without having to bother about making an enchanted helmet or a potion for breathing underwater, or if you want to build a massive skyscraper without having to worry about fall damage.

In addition, Mojang has attempted to provide a sort of "ending" for the game, something that players can work toward after completing the mandatory boss fight. However, this feels like it was added very late in the development process, which it was—it was one of the final additions made before last month's feature freeze. It is available if you want to pursue it, and it will probably be enhanced in upcoming releases, but it is not so much an enjoyable chore as it is something you do to reach a goal.

In multiple players

In the single-player version of Minecraft, you're stuck amid a nearly infinite universe with a few animals and a ton of creatures, aside from the patch of land you claim and then improve to serve as your house. It's an addictive and fun game, but it can also be very isolating. I've had the most enjoyment when playing Minecraft with other people.

The game has clear social ramifications: building anything is more enjoyable when you can show someone else the results of your efforts. It is, in theory, quicker and simpler to locate and explore caverns when you have one or more pals. Depending primarily on your upload speed, it's rather simple to set up a three- or four-player Minecraft server on your desktop or laptop. Public servers with dozens of players are also readily available, though they may be a little risky for you and your creations—more on that later.

In contrast to other games, which usually have different gameplay concepts for their single-player and multiplayer versions, Minecraft is essentially one game. Because of this, playing in single-player mode frequently seems like playing in multiplayer mode alone. To put it briefly, this is a game that is best enjoyed with friends.

Problems

After months of play, two significant bugs that were present when the game was first released have largely been fixed by the fan base, thus it doesn't seem that these problems have affected the game's acceptance or sales.

The first is that there isn't much in-game teaching available in the game, as some players have pointed out. From punching your first tree to conquering the "end" of the game, a straightforward achievement map will lead you roughly where you need to go. However, certain things, like crafting recipes, aren't provided to the player in-game, so players (especially beginners) will need to frequently visit the Minecraft Wiki or another similar resource to create the items they need.

game modders are typically used by public server managers to safeguard users, their buildings, and their belongings. (Aside: the creators of Minecraft actively promote, support, and allow a large number of outstanding mods. To cover them in any detail, a whole new piece would be needed.)

Conclusions

The second problem is that there are no player protections in multiplayer games. By default, anyone can approach anyone's structure, treasure chest, or other object and damage it, take items from it, or cover it in hot lava. Additionally, getting killed frequently results in your loot being dropped for anyone to find. You can negate this if you don't disclose your server's address or if you utilize the whitelist on the server, however, game modders are typically used by public server managers to safeguard users, their buildings, and their belongings. (Aside: the creators of Minecraft actively promote, support, and allow a large number of outstanding mods. To cover them in any detail, a whole new piece would be needed.)

Nearly all of the positive remarks made about Minecraft are well-deserved. It's something different in a market crowded with iterative games that frequently share a bit too much in common (saying as someone who enjoys many of these iterative games). It can be a dungeon crawler, a survival horror game, a farming simulator, or even a simple massively multiplayer online game. That's meant to be high praise—people connect with it because it's unlike anything else.

For $26.95, Mojang's Minecraft is accessible for Linux, Mac OS X, and Windows. Although the official system requirements are unknown, a system with any dual-core CPU, 2GB of RAM, and the majority of integrated and dedicated GPUs that support DirectX 10 should be able to run the game rather effectively.