Minecraft caught many by surprise. A game with retro graphics in a world with ever-changing technology? Please. The truth is, Minecraft has evolved into more than just a PC game. It is the only game that has sold 4 million copies, without even being officially released.
It’s lead developer, Markus ‘Notch’ Persson, has become something of a celebrity, shooting out bits and pieces of information of Minecraft on his Twitter page on a daily basis. Primarily the engine of Minecraft, he is constantly adding new features along with other members of the Mojang. These consistent updates are what have kept people captivated since the beginning. Now that Minecraft is out of beta, many are wondering if the updates will continue, but Notch himself said himself that the famed PC game will still get the flow of features that so many people crave.
It all starts at the core. The idea is to survive and thrive, while fighting off an array of monsters including zombies, skeletons and creepers (the tall creeper creatures that explode when they get near you). Your character spawns in a random location, in a randomly generated world. Night is coming, so chopping down trees for wood, and a number of other things are on your to-do list before the monsters come out. Fortunately, the progress of gathering materials is easy, and the local wildlife is there to guide you along your way (until you kill and cook them up for food).
Playing Minecraft is incredibly simple – one mouse button destroys blocks, and the other places them. Grab some wood and stone, and a few clicks later you have your own small home. It’s simple, creative, and and so addictive a player can spend hours building the perfect house. That being said, you really can do anything you want in Minecraft. Build a tunnel, explore a stronghold, the game doesn’t punish you for not doing things in a chronological order.
But where the magic happens is in the crafting. Arguably one of the most unique features of Minecraft, crafting allows a “visual” creation of other items. It all starts with the crafting bench. Take 4 wooden planks, place them in a square and Bam; you now have a crafting bench. This small block is used for creating almost everything in the game including tools and building materials. There are hundreds of objects to craft, some of which take some hunting to find the ingredients for. Hunting for materials for items can sometimes be a bane, but that really is the thrill of Minecraft.
As I stated before, the world is randomly generated, and we mean truly random. Every world contains buildings, ravines, mountains and other such landmarks that are unique to the world. There are even areas underground to explore, such as caves which contain precious materials such as iron, coal and even diamond, the rarest of the rarest in Minecraft. Finding such areas requires exploration, which is another big aspect of the game. Some players, myself included, can spend hours looking for that one extra diamond to complete a pickaxe.
On the other side of the spectrum, you have creative mode. Set when generating your new world for the first time, this mode allows for flying, unlimited resources, and a “god mode” of sorts. For people looking to build, the creative mode will quench you thirst of creating. There are actually 3 modes in the game, which include creative, survival and hardcore. The hardcore mode is essentially survival, except the user is forced to delete their world on death.
Minecraft also includes an awesome soundtrack made by C418. The soundtrack is original, and appears at various points while playing the game. Music definitely adds to the experience while playing, along with it’s collection of sound effects.
Creative players are more often found in multiplayer servers, which are the heart of hardcore Minecraft players. There is something so exciting about playing with your friends, whether it be building, exploring or just messing around. You can even customize your Minecraft character with skins, which other players can see in servers.
One of the relatively new features to the game is the experience system. When you do various things in the game, like killing a monster or jumping around, you get experience orbs. You can cash-in these orbs on an enchantment table, which makes your various tools and armor a lot more powerful. This system adds that extra bit of gameplay that will satisfy some of the more hardcore users looking to get the most out of this game.
Since the beginning of Minecraft, the idea has been to survive, thrive, build, and hope for the best, but now there’s an actual end to the game, credits and everything. This includes a torturous journey to a stronghold, and finally a boss battle with a dragon, which is every bit as hard as it sounds. Fortunately, not completing this quest doesn’t impact the gameplay to an extent, although it is very satisfying to watch the dragon disintegrating into oblivion.
Minecraft is one of those games which you can literally spend hours playing. Whether it’s mining, exploring, building, surviving, killing or just playing, Minecraft is one of the most vast open-world games out there right now. This game can really be anything you make it. Such a simple idea, but executed perfectly, Minecraft brings a gaming experience like no other.
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