The simple act of scrounging materials to survive in a world whose difficulty can be governed by the player leads to a session of Minecraft either being extremely relaxing or devilishly challenging. This experience is enhanced when shared with a friend, with the game's servers being abundant and legendary in their own ri
The trend of building homes that don't look like homes is one of the best ones in Minecraft . It lets players innovate and think outside of the box. A home is wherever the Minecraft bed is, and that could even be a massive battleship docked in the middle of an ocean bi
Minecraft: Story Mode strays from the more mature content that Telltale normally associates themselves with and manages to create a fun, family-friendly world for one with no real story. The episode is expertly done and gives players a perfect standalone game to the critically acclaimed game from Mojang. With the new lore introduced in the first episode, it's hard to believe what other new content will be available to us in the coming episodes. By focusing on a new concept that strays from their normally mature games, this episode paves the way for what is hopefully a great series from a great developer.
With all the new Nether-themed blocks there's been a surge in Nether builds as of late. Ranging from dungeons to ominous castles and even builds within the Nether itself, it's a cool change of style for the game which is normally quite happy and bright-to
From the same people that brought us Game of Thrones and Tales From the Borderlands comes their newest decision based game, Minecraft Movie 2025: Story Mode. Telltale Games is notorious for their rigorous storytelling and memorable characters and this time is no different. You play as Jesse, regardless of which gender you choose at the beginning, who is on a mission to create the greatest build at EnderCon, (Enderman Convention if you didn't catch on). The winner gets to meet the great Gabriel of the Order of the Stone, a group of people who slayed the Ender Dragon years ago but have disbanded since. Of course, the episode would be nothing without some kind of story of revenge that spirals the characters into an adventure that they would have never seen themselves in. Someone sets out to create a Wither, a huge monster that sets out to consume everything, leaving you and your friends to seek out the Order of the Stone. You are accompanied by your friends Olivia, confidant and trusty, Axel, large and loyal, and Reuben, a pig. Telltale hit the nail on the head this time with a different, family-friendly take on one of their main installments. No prior knowledge of the original building game is needed, but it would help if you had some basic terminology.
The episode relies prettily on QTE (Quick Time Events) and gives you something next to decision making to worry about. While a lot of the QTE are really to avoid taking damage, some are just used for the sake of being there, like to build things, but they also add to your situation and count as something else to watch out for. You are given a set of ten hearts to have throughout the episode (and most likely throughout the series) and damage gets taken away every time you are either attacked by an enemy or fail to do a QTE. The QTE also acts as its own decision as some events can change how a person sees you. It isn't as effective as a regular decision, but something like which group of people you want to run with or how long it takes you to do something might have a much more of an impact in the future.
If you’re a gamer and you haven’t read Reality Is Broken by Jane McGonigal (you might have seen her on The Colbert Report ), head on over to Amazon and check it out. It’s a fascinating look into how video games are making the world a better place, but also how we look at games overall. In the first chapter, she illustrates four main components of any game, one of which being the "goal", that important drive that gives gamers incentive to continue. It’s essential to any kind of game because without it, the game doesn’t have a meaning. It’s generally pointless to play, and therefore, a gamer won’t play.
The big semi-mystery of Minecraft Dungeons, though, is what this has to do with Minecraft. It's a fun, light action-RPG, sure, and the world needs more games parents can play with their kids, but Minecraft is a skin draped over the action rather than having any real effect on the game's design. Everything looks right but that's as far as it goes. Not a single block in the game is breakable and there's nothing to build. This could just as easily have been My First Diablo as anything else, and the Minecraft license ends up feeling like a check box filled in on the marketing list.
