Minecraft

Since the game really isn't in a "finished" state, it would be silly to give it a proper review. But with it being free this weekend (www.minecraft.net) and for as long as it takes to accommodate the massive amount of traffic it's servers have gotten this week, I took some time to give it a fair shake, much like the wang dangler after a satisfying squirt.

There is something incredibly familiar about why I couldn't put this down. It is the same feeling that someone gets in the first playthroughs of games like X-COM: UFO Defense, Deus Ex, A Boy and His Blob.... wait, bad choice. It doesn't give you this feeling because it LOOKS like it could have been made around the same era. There is a much better reason. Like many of the classics, this game makes no effort to guide your hand in anything. You are not a hero. You are given no goal. There is no story. There is no background. You are made of blocks.


You are dropped in the middle of a randomly-generated, hostile world with one thing on your mind. Figure out how to survive. This is quite literal, given you have no instruction on how to do this. You are given controls and your imagination.


That is why the game is great. You figure out how to do the shit you want to do because you are an adult. No need to baby you with a pusscake tutorial, run and find shelter, asshole.


Visually, it's just right. It fits the back to basics view on games that is seems to be made with and becomes quite endearing after a bit of play. The atmosphere is done beautifully. You are immersed in a world where you have to judge your priorities based on the location of sun/moon. You will be reduced to a cowering 6 year old when you hear a giant spider in a dark cave. You will scramble to light a torch and shut your door when the sun sets. Intermittently, appropriately lonely music will play and you will wonder how you've just spent 4 hours building a home in the clouds. You will throw your monitor out the window when you are killed by a creeper and have no idea where you are when you wake up and are left with no shelter, no materials and no leather pants that you just crafted from raw cow ass.

(I promise this will terrify you)

This game is being made with a very clear understanding of what makes gaming fun. Player creativity, exploration, immersion, progress and a whole lot to lose if you don't succeed.

Buy Minecraft. You need to give Notch your money.