In a World of Crafting, A World of Mining, The World of Minecraft
IN A WORLD OF CRAFTING, A WORLD OF MINING, THE WORLD OF MINECRAFT Have you ever dreamed of building your own pixelated house in a pixelated world? Have you ever thought how awesomely beautiful a pixelated virtual planet of your own would be? Well if you have, then Minecraft is the perfect game for you. They'll be some of you reading this thinking 'What the flip is Minecraft?' and hopefully a go...
IN A WORLD OF CRAFTING, A WORLD OF MINING, THE WORLD OF MINECRAFT
Have you ever dreamed of building your own pixelated house in a pixelated world? Have you ever thought how awesomely beautiful a pixelated virtual planet of your own would be? Well if you have, then Minecraft is the perfect game for you. They'll be some of you reading this thinking 'What the flip is Minecraft?' and hopefully a good few thinking 'I love Minecraft, I'm awesome for supporting an awesome game'. Whatever angle you come from, Minecraft is a sandbox experience that any one with good taste can appreciate, even if that appreciation might not be instant.The darling creation of Mr Markus Persson (also commonly known as Notch), Minecraft is in essence a sandbox creation tool that requires little actual knowledge of in depth complicated crafting systems, or over blown combat mechanics. It's a very simple, but wonderfully powerful experience, one that once hooked can be rather addictive. That's not to say it's all about creation, the current build is still in development (alpha right now) but new content and bug fixes are implemented often and it's important to keep in mind that the development team consists of one, Mr Persson himself. His hard work is appreciated by a vibrant community who have built some stunning pieces of work.
Minecraft can be split into two modes, the first is creation mode which simply allows you to build anything you want using blocks, the second mode is known as survival. As of writing this, survival is currently a single player only experience but it will soon make it's way to multiplayer. Speaking of playing with others, it's possible to play a minimized version of survival with friends, though it's not technically survival. This mode (when played in single player) requires the player to mine for resources which allow him to build tools, shelter and the all important torches. Torches are an important resource when playing survival as at night the bad things come out looking for prey. It's important to arm yourself with a simple sword or axe, build a small shelter lit by torches and wait the nights out in your first few days of playing. Then you can eventually expand building new and exciting creations.
Gamers with a creative mind will feel right at home with Minecraft. Of course unlike creation mode, you actually have to mine for resources in survival. This means building tools and general equipment to make your task a lot easier, but care must be taken when mining, get to carried away and you might come across something you weren't expecting. Playing with friends can be a blast, even though many of the usual functions are either buggy or don't work at all. Creating a landmass of the weird and wonderful can be rewarding for all and it's great seeing everything develop over time. This, at least for me, is the beauty of Minecraft. But there's much more wonder to behold in this charming indie game. It's visual style is striking, one that when viewed from cloud height can even be breathtakingly beautiful. One neat little feature of Minecraft is the way it generates land, land that is varied in many visual ways (canyons, cliffs, lakes, seas and so on). There is no set amount of land in survival, it goes on and on and on. The game generates land as you travel, below is a video of this in action and it's a pretty impressive sight. If the graphical style doesn't please you (which means your probably dead inside), then the gameplay is sure to be charming and it's easy to lose yourself as you continually search for the most valuable resources or search for a new location to base yourself at, it's your world so do what you want with it. This is where the power and potential of Minecraft truly lies.
The main reason for writing a topic about Minecraft was to tell my fellow gamers about Minecraft, hopefully some of you already know about this wonderfully charming indie game. Despite still being in heavy development there's a lot to see and do, and Notch continues to add new features to excite and challenge creative gamers. So, if your interested why not have a mess around with the in-browser creation mode (a downloadable version is also available) and if that catches your attention, purchase the current alpha build (with survival mode) for half the price at €20.00 - £8.20 - $9.95. This purchase guarantees you access to all future versions and of course the full game once it's released, it will also help finance the development of the game which is in my view the most important reason to purchase.
Minecraft isn't without it's breathtaking views. What else can I say, except that I urge folks to check it out and see for yourself. For more information on Minecraft, visit the official website which is where you can try out the creation mode and purchase the alpha build. If your looking for help and guidance, check out the official Minecraft forums, the World of Minecraft and Minepedia. All offer useful guides on how to play and how to craft providing details explanations on what is required to do what. If you purchase the game you can also reskin your avatar, so this wonderful selection of skins might be of interest. Please keep in mind that this is a game still in development so please don't moan if you have issues, remember that one dude is making all this on his own so bitching won't get you far. Have you played or do play Minecraft? Have an opinion on the game? Please leave a comment and have your say. Thanks for Reading, and Keep Gaming!
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