A Review of Minecraft

Sandbox fun.

Minecraft isn't an impressive game. The graphics throws you at an older era. The game is simple: Left Mouse to break, and Right Mouse to build. But there's this one aesthetic that makes it so fun, be it building yourself a house or participating in a faction war on a massive server.

Originally inspired from an older game called Infiniminer, a team based dig-em-up where teams strive to find minerals by mining the cubic terrains, Minecraft puts you in the boots of a blocky character in a blocky world, surviving with equipment from a wooden pickaxe to a diamond sword.

The basics are simple: Punch trees, get some wood (literally), build some pickaxes and swords, build a house, find diamonds. While there is not a set objective, the End is considered where the player has beaten the game: A final boss fight to wrap it all up.

A classic dungeon and dragon game then, but what made Minecraft so fun was the element of building.

Imagine this: A free open world all for you to manipulate. Combined with some creativity, Minecraft is a beautiful example of a primitive yet enjoyable game.

The building aspect of the game is fundamental. In the classic Survival mode, the need for a shelter became clear as the night falls: Monsters crawling around you is not the way to go. In Creative mode, however, more impressive projects are available: The choice of settling in a simple detached house or a premium ship is all up to the player. As the name suggests, Creative mode grants the player the chance to prove their, well, creativeness. The community made houses and even cities that look fantastic and alive.

One of the other enjoyable things is the RPG element. Players can enjoy roleplaying as to their liking, ranging from a simple trader to a criminal, looting villages and stealing their crops. The assistance of mods helped removed the D&D theme: With the addition of modern weapons and furniture, the sky's the limit.

The singleplayer world is alive and enough for the player to play in, but multiplayer was another factor in Minecraft's success. A social injection created a thriving community. Unlike the singleplayer experience of Dwarf Fortress in development since 2006, Minecraft paved the way for players to cooperate and create a beautiful world, maybe even a society. And it also gave players the chance to destroy it all. While the appeal of being a walking tank is big, being an upstanding citizen abiding by the rules also pays off. Run a frighteningly big trading market or being the local blacksmith is an example.

All in all, Minecraft is a fun casual game for the ones who want to take a rest after all the intense combat in Call of Duty or the mind games played in between CS:GO matches. It has evolved from the casual RPG game that you may play for a few hours before passing it to another time into a great singleplayer and multiplayer experience that isn't going to die out anytime soon.