I found Minecraft through StumbleUpon almost a year ago. At the time, the genius Indie game was nothing but a blip on the radar. I saw it, though "Eh, maybe." so I bookmarked for later. Just in case. When I revisited my friend Minecraft, Creative (Classic) mode was the only mode available. I fiddled around for awhile, had fun..then forgot. Somewhere down the line I registered an account, about the time Survival Test was going on. I was like, "Hey, why not?" So I tried it.
I was instantaneously scarred for life, suddenly amid a shower of angry mobs out for my very soul.
I did not revisit Survival Test. I am a weenie when it comes to video game danger 99% of the time. So, I spent the rest of my Minecrafting time either building elaborate homes in Classic (I could save my progress now!) or trying to find a decent Multiplayer Classic server. I actually found a few - and had fun - but fell away from this, too. It wasn't worth the effort, I thought, to make something that I couldn't actively protect from destruction at the hands of griefers or server rollbacks.
I forgot Minecraft for awhile. And then it went into Alpha. I figure, you know, I've had fun so far. Why not shell out this cash (I only paid about 13USD at the time) for a game that had thus far offered me plenty of hours of enjoyment? Let me tell you - I haven't regretted it. There's a reason over a million people have forked over the simoleons to Notch and his crew. But I'll get to my personal review of the game here in a moment.
I was a complete and total noob when I started. My experience in Survival Test left me jumpy and nervous. I was flung into a scary, infinitely huge world of Creepers and Spiders (I don't do spiders. Ever. No.). I didn't quite know how things operated, but I knew - I knew - that night was bad. I needed shelter. I ran away from my spawn point (mistake one - I didn't bother to build near it) and gathered up as much wood and dirt as I could. Dusk began to set in and I panicked. I didn't have time to build a suitable fortress! I did my best, and, not knowing about torches (yes I was that much of a noob), I just jumped into the nearest natural pit, formed it into a rectangle in the ground, and sealed myself in.
It was dark. Very dark. Not on that, but I had no way of knowing when the sun would rise. I was fortunate in that nothing spawned in my abysmal barracks. I would check periodically for the sun. When I was satisfied that day was about to break, I left my foxhole and set out to find an aesthetically pleasing point for a home. I found one! (Turns out, not too far from my spawn, either). It was a lovely valley - surrounded by a tree-covered cliff, and beyond it the sea - on my left and a nice, risen hill on my right. The middle held a small lake. I build my home in the lake, focused on the idea that mobs didn't care for water (which wasn't true, but I liked the idea - from books about the undead not being able to survive running water [Thank you Garth Nix]). Either way, I started mining into the cliff after making my primitive wooden tools.
I made a masterpiece.
It was pretty boring at first - but I discovered torches and..well, crafting. Did I mention how strange it was to not instantly break a block? In Indev, I couldn't for the life of my figure out how to get any blocks because of that. Anyway.
I made myself a nice wooden cube of a home with stone floors. Early on, I got it up to two stories.
Then I accidentally set it on fire.
(During my first attempt to make the lighthouse you see there. I unleashed my lava in my house while trying to close the door.)
I scrambled to fix my home (with cobblestone) and was able to repair things before nightfall. I will continue my personal Minecraft journey later.
As for a review: I will say that Minecraft is one of the most addictive and ridiculously fun games I've played in a long time. And I've been gaming for about ten years. That's half of my life. Anyway. Minecraft gets a lot of flack for being visually..outdated. I struggle with this, because I do love eyecandy and, being an artist, old graphics just don't jive well with me. But Minecraft is not the sum of its graphics. Anyone who judges solely on graphics shouldn't be reviewing games. You know as well as I that a game can look amazing but suck in every other way. Minecraft is unique from most games in that you have complete and utter freedom to create. Sure, you have some limitations. But in many ways, it doesn't limit you as much as games like the Sims 3 or Garry's Mod do when it comes to building. (A sim and a sandbox are different, I know, but both have creative elements). Minecraft is endless and it's what you make of it. Want to make an medieval village? Sure. Ultra-modern glass skyscraper? Sure. Underground village of mole people? HECK YES.
Not only that, but in the survival aspect - there's almost nothing scarier than being caught by a Creeper unawares. I don't do scary games. But man, I was playing SurvivalMultiplayer and was in an explored cave trying to get coal for myself. I discovered a HUGE stash, but it was beyond the torches. I went anyway, mining furiously, only to look up and have a CREEPER IN MY FACE. I screamed and had to flail backwards. I narrowly escaped death, sealing the Creeper in the darkness in the nick of time.
Minecraft is only in Beta mode but it's pretty obvious it has something unique. It's being copied, for one, and it's sold over a million units. In BETA. It had hundreds of thousands in ALPHA. That's a big deal. I've gotten my friends hooked on it, too - most of whom never took interest in it themselves before.
It's worth the money. Buy it.
