The sky’s the limit for what you can build in this amusing pixelated video game.
Minecraft, which this month has made itself onto the PS3 in Europe, is a fun and challenging journey where if you can imagine it, you can build it.
On the surface it looks a bit clunky but once you immerse yourself into its world it all starts to make sense. In a nutshell, the world is your oyster and you can mine pretty much anything from the sand, wood, stone and grass and you’re encouraged to build like a boss.
For a person who has never touched Minecraft before it can be somewhat of a challenge. The game offers a tutorial that’s lengthy and wordy, but helpful.
When night falls monsters and other creatures appear so you’ve to make sure that you’ve built a shelter before they arrive – this can be tricky if you’re new to the game (especially when you’re desperately trying to build a roof that will not go in the right place!)
Simple but charming, the game really allows users to express their imagination without all of the boundaries and though the characters and surroundings are chunky, it doesn’t feel cheap.
And when they say that “if you can imagine it, you can build it”, they mean it. You don’t have to go for the traditional home when building in Minecraft – why not choose a mountain hut, a cave or a massive castle.
Dodging monsters at night sounds tedious but the satisfaction of gathering your own blocks and creating your own world is incredibly rewarding (especially if you manage to make your own underground irrigation systems, seriously).
Crafting items allows the users to develop specific skills and items so that you can make your house a home and hone weapons for defence. Sometimes the crafting interface and discovering what you’re actually meant to be doing can be confusing – I admit that I had to consult Twitter and Wiki-guides – but if I had the time, it was fun to discover on my own.
You can play solo or cooperatively with split screen modes, or online with up to eight players, with the split screen option requiring a HD TV and HD connection – the PS3 version now allows four people to split screen and battle it out.
Having people playing against or helping you in the game makes the gameplay more fun while adding a new dimension instead of just simply chipping away at blocks.
One of the main drawbacks to Minecraft however is though you can build your own worlds, finding the edge of the world on the PS3 is quite easy and makes it feel a bit confined and restricted if you had plans to make something amazing (I had my eye on King’s Landing).
That being said, Minecraft is without a doubt one of gaming’s most creative outlets with brilliant minds coming up with fantastic worlds to explore and develop – I’m just not there yet.
It’s an excellent game and you get as much as you want out of it as you’re willing to put in.
