"Scientists investigate that which already is; engineers create that which has never been" - Albert Einstein

Review Title: Minecraft

1: Basic History

Minecraft is an original indie game made by Notch, or Markus Perrson. It was, in the beginning, based of dwarf fortress, and was made to be a clone that was easier to use. When Notch made the viewpoint first-person however, he discovered what he considered could be a great game. He added the ablity to destroy and create blocks, and to use this ability to create massive wonders, or simple shelters. Minecraft, now, has two almost completely different modes. The first mode, which was also his pre-alpha mode, is a completely free mode, in which there are no monsters, or any entities other than yourself and (if multiplayer) the other players. About halfway through the creation of this mode, he put it up to buy, so that for 10 Euros, or 15 Aussi dollars, you could buy Minecraft. This allowed you access to the new, in development version of Minecraft, and also let you change your skin. The second version of Minecraft has monsters, crafting, exploring, mining, and just about everything that makes up minecraft. In this version, the Singleplayer is currently almost unbugged, with little lag, and the long-awaited Multiplayer is quite laggy and buggy. The Multiplayer is still in development, and becoming less buggy by the week. Once Indev came out, the early version of what (lets call it Survival) is now, the amount of people buying it skyrocketed. Since then, he has had to change minecraft.net two times, to cope with the traffic.

2: How to Play

When you start up Minecraft, the way that you play depends completely on which version you are playing. The old one, Creative, is old, and so i will only talk about it a little. Here is the entire Creative in a sentetence or two. Get the hacks from www.worldofminecraft.com for free, or look like a noob. Be creative, or be banned. Now, onto the fun stuff. Minecraft Survival, for example. In Minecraft Survival, the basics are simple. To break stuff, hold down left click. To Build, right click on the ground. press I to open inventory. Build a crafting table with 2x2 wood in the crafting slot (it is labeled). To get wood, hit trees, and craft the logs. When you spawn, you will probably end up on either a beach, on a hill, or in some plains (possibly covered in snow). Move with WSAD, and experiment.

3: How To Play Better.

Once you have a shelter, some spare wood, and a stone pickaxe, its time to start digging. Tip 1: Caves are good, but only if you light them up with torches. Tip 2: When going mining, the only thing you need a lot is wood. Bring lots. Tip 3: If there is a spot of darkness in your house, or in your mine, it will come back to haunt you. With the sound B-SSSSSSSSSSSS.

What I think of Minecraft.

Minecraft is an awesome game, I think. But let me explain. It is, I think, the most original game made in 20 years. Everything it does, and will do wrong, are covered up by the simple fact that it instantly becomes part of the game, and becomes good. It allows almost unlimited creativity, a lot like GMod, but it takes effort to make your creations come to life, giving them extra value to you. Spawning a shitload of explosive barrels around a single zombie somehow isn't as satisfying as taking the time to go mine resources, get some wood, make a crafting table, get attacked by random exploding giant penises (creepers), rebuild your base, make a sword, kill over twenty creepers, kill a lot of spiders, and craft some tnt. And that is JUST for the TNT. To build your trap, you have to build a pit in the ground to draw the zombie into, set mines over the top of it, cover it up to give it some authenticity, and then draw a zombie over it. When you have done all of that, it is just so SATISFYING. There are a lot of socially accepted mods out there, that help to build a lot of things, but when its all over, you still get that satisfied feel to you. If you pile a lots of containers together, it isn't as satifying as building you very own underground house, which is just as easy. Aswell as all of this, Minecraft is only 15$. I would personally pay about twice as much as that, and this is for a game that isnt even finished. Minecraft is time-consuming, yes, i will grant that to all the people who critique it, but it is time consumed with FUN. Aswell as all of that, once you have finished your awesome ice pig with the glowing eyes made from hellstone dust or whatever, you get this feeling that you should IMPROVE IT. and the ability to improve is everything, in gaming. I think that minecraft is maybe the best game i have ever played, at the very least it is runner-up for its time period. The only one which i think is better for its time periyouod, i think, is Black and White, which was made about 5-10 years ago.

Written by: Aex

Feb. 5, 2011, 9:34 a.m.