Minecraft review

Formats: PC/Mac
Developer: Mojang
Publisher: Mojang
Released: Out now

You’ve already heard of Minecraft, right? While it’s only just seen its official final release, it’s already been played by millions and become an international phenomenon. In truth, claiming the game has only just been released is almost entirely disingenuous considering that paying customers have been playing and enjoying it in its alpha and beta testing phases for the last three years. But still, this is as good a point as any to take a step back and discuss what Minecraft is, and why everybody seems to love it so much.

Minecraft is a game about building stuff with cubes. It’s also a game about survival, discovery, community, loneliness, creativity, and despair. When you first start the game, you are dropped straight into the wilderness. But it won’t be a wilderness quite like anyone else’s - the game’s environments are randomly generated from the word go, and will continue to expand until you’ve travelled enough to make the game generate a world three times the size of Earth. Which, of course, you never will.

Your starting point could be a forest, a desert island, or the peak of a snow-covered mountain. And to begin with, it’s all very peaceful. But what most players don’t initially realise is that monsters can appear from any unlit area in the game. During the day, this generally just means that caves and tunnels are unsafe. But after your first 15 minutes with the game, the sun begins to set.

Speak to anyone who’s played Minecraft, and they’ll be able to vividly recall their ‘first night’. Some spend it running across grassy plains, chased by skeletons and zombies. Some panic and dig a hole in the ground with their bare hands, and proceed to sit at its bottom all night, watching the stars passing overhead and praying for daylight. Some, like myself, dash into a nearby cave, seal up the entrance with blocks of dirt and think themselves safe, until a venomous spider materialises out of the darkness and bites them in the back of the head.

But you soon learn that it doesn’t need to be this way. The next day, you gather wood, build some basic tools, mine some coal, and hey presto - you’ve built a hut with some torches on it. Being permanent sources of light, the torches keep the monsters at bay. It’s not much, but it represents safety. And as each new day comes, you gather more materials. Your hut becomes a house. You add another floor. You attempt to install a fireplace, but a hilarious accident convinces you to switch from wood-based construction to stone. You build a ladder up to the roof, and every night you sit up there, watching the world turn hostile as monsters roam the land.

One night, you catch yourself sitting on that roof, gazing at the moon. Suddenly, the game’s soundtrack decides to make its debut. It is minimalist, and plaintive. For reasons you can’t really explain, you feel incredibly sad and alone. And you realise that, for better or worse, Minecraft has got its hooks into you.

Once you start exploring further away, you’ll catch yourself spotting certain geological formations, and getting ideas for new buildings. The environments actually begin to feed and inform your creativity, with every empty space prompting visions of how best to fill it.

There’s something oddly primal about it. In gameplay terms, there’s really very little reason to expand beyond a very basic hut. But the desire to experiment, create and tame the surrounding wilderness constantly propels the player towards new experiences and challenges. See that huge, gaping cave near your house? Terrifying. But if you gather a load of resources and kit yourself out for some cave-diving, you can clear the monsters out and line the walls with torches, illuminating it and making it safe. As an added bonus, there’s a good chance you’ll find some rare crafting materials while you’re down there - natural caves are more likely to yield rare ores than man-made mines, and some even contain treasure chests. The grim inevitability of your next cave-dive is something that punctuates most people’s Minecraft experience, but the sense of achievement and relief is largely unparalleled.

Still, let’s say you’re not the biggest fan of terror, isolation or impromptu moments of introspection. That’s where the game’s multiplayer capabilities come in.

The simple fact of having other people around to talk to and collaborate with obviously changes a lot of the fundamentals of the single-player Minecraft experience, but it manages to be an equally valuable and compelling experience nonetheless.

Minecraft servers - each one a unique, persistent online world that players can join - are incredibly varied. Some exist in perpetual daylight, and allow players to create and place any blocks they like without having to build tools or gather materials first. These are the servers where you’ll find accurately-recreated football stadiums, giant statues or cathedrals. Many, however, choose to retain the game’s survival aspects, although obviously the danger is lessened greatly by having a group of players working together. Instead of having your own little hut to protect, you’re often surrounded by an entire town.

The sense of community inspired by the game’s hostile worlds is a fascinating thing to see. Without any real guidance, players instinctively build close to one another, forming settlements and sharing gathered resources for the common good. Soon after housing is established, a perimeter wall gets built, often followed by a town hall, gardens or a farm. Or a cake shop, built to look like a giant Victoria sponge with candles on top. This has actually happened.

Cave-diving is also a lot more fun when you’ve got an entire team with you. Players work together in combat, and can split up to cover more ground whenever a cave provides a number of potential routes to its end. Having some friends with you when a wrong turn sends you tumbling into the monster-filled darkness with no visible way back up also doesn’t hurt.

Playing with friends also has the obvious bonus of allowing you to show off your creations to others with much greater ease. Logging in to your regular server after a few days away to see what your friends have created in your absence is a joy, as the settlement constantly grows and evolves both with and without your help.

Minecraft isn’t the first game of its type, nor will it be the last. But there is something special about it. Some are critical of the game’s visuals, but they’re the main reason people can get their head around the game and be creative with it. Can most people model a house in 3D Studio Max? Absolutely not. But they can put together a house in Minecraft. Its simplicity is what allows people to engage with it.

Plus, the blocks don’t just differ visually - each type of material has its own unique properties and uses, and manipulating these properties to your own ends is a joy in and of itself. From lining a fireplace with stone to make sure the fire doesn’t spread to the rest of the building, to building complex logic circuits using magical redstone dust, there’s an awful lot to learn about the game should you choose to do so.

Minecraft is by far one of the most fascinating and progressive games ever made, both in terms of its leanings towards procedural generation and emergent gameplay, and the way it has been so openly developed. In an era where the development of most games is a closely-guarded, PR-managed secret, millions were invited to buy and play Minecraft years before it was even finished. This approach has led to an unparalleled amount of useful feedback for the developers, while simultaneously making them a fortune.

If you haven’t already, you absolutely must play it. Just, for goodness’ sake, make sure you’ve built a hut before the sun sets.