I loved Legos growing up. Heck, I still do. There’s something special about connecting random blocks together and creating structures. I probably make the same old ones over and over again, mainly with the use of a boat (it is the largest Lego I own). As much as I love building, my hands do not naturally function in that manner. Fixing things, building actual furniture, modifying the house and understanding body movements are all well above this writer’s understanding. So be prepared to be baffled by my love of Minecraft.
Minecraft is a game without a story. You are dropped into a randomly generated world with no items, no shelter and definitely no direction. It’s like Gilligan’s Island except no people. And it’s all the better because of it, though the monsters might argue that aspect.
Oh, yes, survival is a big part of the game as you literally have to brave the wild to collect materials. From there you take these raw materials to craft swords, picks, hoes, axes, vanity blocks, furnaces, craft tables and food. First and foremost is crafting a suitable place to live. Once that is complete and you have some torches to keep monsters from spawning, the world slowly opens up to you.
Minecraft plays like a clunky first-person shooter in a blocky 3-D world. Placing blocks and mining is simple and intuitive. The tradition WASD and mouse setup works well. Combat is not easy, though everything has the possibility of being a weapon. And you only slash RIGHT in front of you, not up or to the side. This makes monster hunting a risky endeavor.
Graphically, Minecraft won’t win any awards as it definitely “last generation.” The blocks are highly pixelated — and so are the monsters! There aren’t many, and they pack a punch. Skeletons fire arrows from a distance. Spiders lunge at you. Sheep, pigs and cows are there for you to harvest their skins. Zombies chase after you. All of them will pester you at one point or another. At least until the sun comes up and burn (animal monsters become docile).
The game takes a different route with sound. Yes, there are the traditional sounds such as the breaking wood and stone, cackle of fire, babbling water and footsteps. The game is very sparse, preferring to play music for short periods, mostly at night. This lends Minecraft a much lonelier experience than most games out there.
The weirdest part is that the world around me can fade away when it flows. Yes, it can be frustrating to die every few minutes (“peaceful” difficulty helps counter this and is my preferred way to play). And yet it is liberating. I can literally create the world however I like: Empty villages complete with shops and beds and books, harvesting crops for food/energy, mining the world for iron and diamonds, building boats and docks, dying wool various colors and, ultimately, getting lost and falling into lava. And if you are a member of one of the online groups, you can play it with other people.
The big problem with Minecraft is that some computers don’t run it very well. Worse is the fact the game was initially very unstable and my character would fall into nothingness and die, leaving me with a useless world. Now that the game is in “beta,” this has gone away. It has made my old computer useless. It’s odd that something drenched in old-school charm has such high requirements. It is also important to note that the game needs to be played online initially. From there, you can play it offline by playing with its application. However, just like the problems above, it is safer to play it online in the browser than in the java application as it is more stable.
Yet, I feel that it is worth it. I bought the game late last year and paid about $15 or so (it was about 10 pounds) when it was in alpha. It’s a bit more now that it is in beta and will cost a sweet $30 or so when it is released this fall. Back when the game was cheaper, it was a bit easier to justify. Thus, it is a gamble to discover if this game fits into your library. I do love Minecraft, even with its constant updates. If you have the time, you can literally craft the world “just the way you like it.” If only reality worked this way all the time.
