Minecraft (Windows)

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Description

Minecraft is a game which mixes elements of sandbox, survival horror and construction game. It is an evolved version of Minecraft Classic.

As in Minecraft Classic the player is dropped in a randomly generated world made out of cubes. Unlike the classic version where the player can add and remove blocks at will, in this version all blocks the player wants to place must first be "mined" elsewhere. Some materials require special equipment to be mined. Stone requires a wooden pick axe to be mined; gold requires an iron pick axe and obsidian requires a diamond pick axe. The player can also create shovels and normal axes to mine sand, dirt and wood faster. Mining is no longer instant but requires the player to hit the block a couple times, tools reduce the time.

Some blocks can not be found in nature but require crafting. Clay, for example, can be split into clay balls, which when baked turn into bricks which can be combined to form brick wall blocks. Baking happens in a stone oven, which requires a steady supply of coal and the oven itself needs to be crafted at a workbench, which needs to be constructed first.

This time the player(s) are not alone. During the day pigs, chickens, cows and sheep roam the land. Some of them, when killed or struck, will drop valuable items such as leather required for protective clothing or pork chops which when baked can heal the player. But at night and in the dark randomly generated caverns monsters rule the land. There are various different monsters, including the zombie, a skeleton archer, an exploding creeper, deadly spiders and gelatinous cubes. Aside from randomly spawning in dark areas, they also spawn in so-called "mob spawners" which spawn enemies indefinitely until properly illuminated or destroyed. To defend himself against enemies the player can craft weapons such as a sword and bow, and protective clothing to reduce damage. When the player dies his items are dropped at the place of his death, but the player respawns at his original spawn point. Items can be recovered if the player reaches them within five minutes (unless they fell into lava).

The randomly generated worlds are structured in such a fashion that more valuable resources are either rare or only spawn in deep caverns far below the ground.

Aside from building blocks the game also, unlike its previous versions, offers more complex building. The player can create railway systems and ride mine carts, row in a small boat, and build pressure plates, switches, doors and electrical circuits to power various contraptions.

The game features no pre-set goals and advocates exploration and construction.

Screenshots

Alternate Titles

• "Survival Mode" -- Development title
• "Minecraft Beta" -- Beta release
• "Minecraft Alpha" -- Alpha release
• "Infdev" -- Working title
• "Indev" -- Working title

Part of the Following Groups

• Gameplay feature: Alchemy
• Gameplay feature: Blacksmithing
• Gameplay feature: Fishing
• Gameplay feature: Freely destructible terrain
• Gameplay feature: Hunger / Thirst
• Gameplay feature: Hunting
• Gameplay feature: Mining
• Gameplay feature: Survival cooking
• Games with randomly generated environments
• Minecraft series
• User / fan contributed content
• Visual technique / style: Voxel graphics

User Reviews

Best game of 2010	vedder (20081)
A good game, but certainly not flawless	Pixelspeech (943)
[v1.1] Playable, but may eventually leave the player unsatisfied and wanting.	Indra was here (18577)

The Press Says

The Telegraph	Dec 14, 2011		100
GameSpy	Nov 22, 2011		100
Original Gamer	Nov 26, 2011	10 out of 10	100
1UP	Nov 21, 2011	A+	100
CNET	Feb 26, 2013		90
Softonic	Sep 21, 2010		90
GameStar	Dec 15, 2011	9 out of 10	90
The Escapist	Jan 24, 2012		90
PC Gameplay (Benelux)	Dec 23, 2011	89 out of 100	89
Indius	Feb 16, 2012	16 out of 20	80

Forums

Topic	# Posts	Last Post
How do you play?	4	Pseudo_Intellectual (43844) Nov 30, 2011
Pocket edition	1	CrankyStorming (2613) Sep 16, 2011
Horror?	18	Dr. M. "Schadenfreude" Von Katze (588) Apr 12, 2011
An unfinished game? (Beta policy again)	10	Pseudo_Intellectual (43844) Oct 25, 2010

Trivia

References to the game

Minecraft was parodied in an episode of "Die Redaktion" (The Editorial Team), a monthly comedy video produced by the German gaming magazine GameStar. It was published on the DVD of issue 09/2011.

Title

Indie developer Paul Eres first suggested to call the game Minecraft.

Awards

• GameSpy
  • 2011 – Special Award
• PC Games (Germany)
  • Issue 01/2012 - Best Indie Game in 2011 (Readers' Choice)
  • Issue 01/2012 - #2 Surprise in 2011 (Readers' Choice)
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  Related Web Sites

  • Minecraft -- Official game website
  vedder (20081) added Minecraft (Windows) on Oct 11, 2010
  Other platforms contributed by vedder (20081)