Minecraft Review (Xbox, PlayStation, Nintendo, Mobile & PC)

Minecraft is a bit like a ball of wool — you untangle it with the intent to cut just a small piece off to create something special, but then, after a lot of tugging, you begin to ponder the other items that you can build with it. You create something, but then begin to have second thoughts; “would it have looked better if I had used a different material? If I had spent more time mining, would I have found a rarer piece of quartz to use?” I suppose, to some extent, Minecraft is like a Chinese puzzle box, in that it presents you with all sorts of intricate mechanisms, but then, just as you find a piece that finalizes a layer, another section emerges to highlight yet another aspect. The thing with Minecraft is that, ball of wool or puzzle box, it doesn’t really end. And frankly, that’s something that Minecraft has always had: an evergreen quality that’s as timeless as the crafting table itself.

Realistically speaking, you don’t need a plan of action to move mountains when it comes to Minecraft. In all honesty, you don’t need to hold a PhD in architecture to create marvelous bastions or enchanting worlds, either. To tell you the truth, you don’t need anything to be able to truly immerse yourself in its platform; you just need a willingness to dream big, and a lot of time to realize the potential of your projects. In other words, if you can mine, then you can craft — as ridiculous and as cheesy as that might sound.

There is, of course, some debate over the two primary modes, Creative and Survival, as well as the benefits of both. On the one hand, you have a sandbox that grants you access to a limitless supply of materials and blueprints, whereas on the other hand you have a stricter mode that requires you to maintain health and hunger, as well as manually forage for resources and gradually develop your repository. However you choose to slice it, Minecraft more or less has an endless corridor of possibilities for you to explore. Unlike creative, however, the survival mode enforces a lot of limitations and complex challenges—a horde of zombies attacking you at nightfall; an alluring hunger for meat; a scarcity of light in a skeletal graveyard; and so on and so forth. The point is, if you are looking for a buttery smooth creative experience, then you probably won’t find it in the survival mode.

The thing is, there aren’t just the two sides of a coin here; there are hundreds, if not thousands, each resembling a different quality that Minecraft brings to the crafting table. It’s a creative waterfall with endless streams of content; it’s a ravenous volcano with volatile elements; and it’s a communal hub with more worlds and fantastical creations than you could dare shake a stick at. Visually, it’s simple, but given the amount of materials and building synergies that it proudly wears on its slender sleeve, it’s also one of the most in-depth intellectual properties you could ever wrap your hands around.

Where the likes of Dreams tried and ultimately failed to implement a universal tool that would allow even the most inexperienced players to weave tapestries, Minecraft quickly found a way to appeal to the whole world, with simple mechanics, digestible crafting, and a transparent promise to keep you engrossed for as little or as long as you so desired. It didn’t matter if you could establish kingdoms from the rubble; it mattered only that you had a brief outline for a dream and the patience to fulfill it. And it was because of that easy to use, yet difficult to master approach that Minecraft installed from the beginning that it quickly found fame among most gamers. Frankly, that level of acclaim remains as common as ever even today, and not just for its vanilla version, but for all of the standalone spin-offs and movies that the franchise has conjured up since its initial debut.

Suffice it to say that, gameplay-wise, universal compatibility has always been Minecraft’s strongest suit, in that it has forever applied to everyone, no matter their skill level or background. As I said, it has frequently dipped into rougher waters, what with its survival-based mode. That being said, Minecraft has never made the act of building a world an uphill battle. Moreover, it has never made it so that you have no breathing room to explore new possibilities and wax your wildest ideas. It doesn’t often tell you how to enhance your dreams, and admittedly, it does take some practice before the greatest facets of the process become second nature. But then, that’s all part of the creative journey, and if Minecraft is anything at all, it’s a timeless adventure that embraces creative storytelling like a long-term accomplice.

Verdict

Minecraft is as evergreen as it is iconic, no doubt due to its simple yet bottomless gameplay mechanics, prolific sandbox elements, world-crafting abilities, and not to mention its collection of modes that allow you to wage two completely separate creative battles on a plethora of platforms, be it from the comfort of your own home or whilst you’re on the move and itching for an output to unleash your wildest ideas. The point is, Minecraft is something of a powerhouse that has no formal boundaries, nor any rules that restrict it from being the be all, end all of sandbox IPs. It’s a little dated, true. Yet, when it contains that much detail and oh-so-many things for you to accomplish around the clock, it never feels like an old experience. Minecraft, really, lives on as if it’s immortalized in the etchings of sandbox gaming. A bit of an exaggeration, but a fitting statement, nonetheless.

It doesn’t take much to grasp the fact that Minecraft has an entire ocean of materials and opportunities to further broaden its horizons in future updates. Truth be told, the chances of it losing momentum and falling to the back end of the market are unfathomably low. The question is, where will it plant its seeds next? The world is its oyster, and Mojang clearly has the keys to unlock it.