Pros: SCORE 8/10 - reviewed on PC So, by now id imagine many of you have at least heard of Minecraft, if not played it for yourself. Minecraft...

Cons: None

Pros: SCORE 8/10 - reviewed on PC

So, by now id imagine many of you have at least heard of Minecraft, if not played it for yourself. Minecraft is an Indie game initially built by the increasingly starlit Markus Persson, the founder of Mojang AB. It is a game about punching trees and dirt until they explode into smaller variations of themselves you can pickup and build things with... basically. Placed in a theoretically infinitely expanding world, you control your avatar and essentially try to survive while letting your imagination run wild with the possibilities of this endless world of "legos" or at least thats kind of how i view it.

Build yourself a boat and set sail for a distant shore on which you decide to make a giant statue of yourself. or maybe you pop up on the top of a mountain and decide its time to be a dwarf and dig your deep mines from right where you are... Either way, this game has captured the imagination of an enormous community of gamers, and technically this game hasnt even been officially completed and released yet!

Markus Persson, or Notch as he is better known, has been hard at work adding features and getting his company, Mojang, staffed and working. It isn't just him behind the keyboard anymore, and because of this production has really been getting going. With many new features added all the time, this game is becoming more fleshed out with every update. Along with this single player experience there is also support for (and what most people consider the true game experience) a multi-player server supported version of the game.

Gameplay - 10/10
Ive always wanted a game i could run around with friends in and play legos. This is the realization of that dream without all these weird "new" lego pieces tossed into the mix. Square blocks... and half blocks, BUILD STUFF! The first time i loaded up this game was after watching a YouTube video of a guy burning down his wooden house after making a fireplace incorrectly, probably the most hilarious video id seen in a while and now after playing Minecraft i know his pain... that would have sucked. Popping up on a beach was how i started my first world, I ran around without any real knowledge of what to do. I began punching sheep and cows when i found them and picked up leather and cloth... i accidentally punched the ground and watched it slowly break, it was then i realized that i could punch almost anything i could find and then collect them after they broke. I started gathering up sand on the beach to make a small sand castle. got all the walls up and begun placing the ceiling before i realized that sand falls if there is no blocks below it... when that happened my mind exploded with possibilities. After more trial and error i finally had a small 10x10 house, WITH A ROOF, and then i found out about crafting. It wasn't long before i had a fairly lengthy mine shaft down far below the surface while i ran around scouting for coal and steel and whatever else i could find. On my first particularly successful venture into the mine i encountered my first creeper... SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS... and then, blackness. Nothing quite like your first introduction to a creeper.
I realize I'm rambling now, but if you've played Minecraft, you'll understand... its definitely an experience you cant convey easily without walking someone through the discovery step by step. I highly suggest checking it out at www.minecraft.net and seeing for yourselves if you haven't had the chance yet. I'm rating gameplay a 10 because i feel they have really given the game to the player in the best way. Let us find our own creativity and entertainment while providing new content now and again to give us something new.

Controls -7.5/10
Standard WASD movement with mouse interaction and hotkeys make for a pretty basic control scheme. Minecraft uses a tried and true control method but doesnt bring anything new to the table. Not top marks but definately not terrible.

Graphics - 5/10
Even though this game is VERY basic in terms of graphics, its charm has won over millions of folks. Blocky characters running around with swords defending their friends as they mine for materials for their next project has a certain appeal for many people. The blocky nature of this game has not gone unimproved though, recently the lighting engine was updated from a block by block lighting scheme to a progressive fading style which makes many of the environments seem a bit smoother. Along with this, Notch has added support for new texture packs that people can make and add to their games as well as share with others. Many of these packs truly improve upon the original textures and can really change how this game feels. Overall i think they nailed how well you can make a crappy graphic based game. Though on the other end, it is 2011 and based on how i grade graphics... half the score comes from graphical quality and half from animation quality. So that is why it is scored like i did.

Audio - 7.5/10
The Audio in minecraft has gotten some improvements over the course of the game, but it is fairly basic, random music tracks will play, monsters make the same noises over and over. It can get repetitive to the point that Ive shut it off so i can play my own music in the background from time to time. It isnt bad... there just isnt much of a selection

Replay Value - 10/10
There is nothing quite like having a hard day and then coming home to blow up a mountainside with a stack of TNT... Minecraft has me coming back consistently for more exploration and material scouring deep underground. Definitely worth the low low price for this amazing piece of work.

Overall 8/10
I'm actually surprised this is an 8/10 to be honest, i wouldn't have expected a game this simple to have sparked my interest in such a way. Notch seems like he hit the perfect balance between simplicity and complexity. On my final note, definitely try this game out if you've got 20 minutes sometime and give it a run... just remember, your first day's goal: Build a secure shelter!

Cons: None