Posted by boyo on Nov 28, 2011 19:31 (179 days ago)
Minecraft has been around a while for the PC and Mac, but only the last couple of weeks or so has the game gone from beta to version 1.0 - the game has officially been completed after 2 years of development following the 'agile' approach to game developement - i.e. you have some money, develop the game until the money runs out, earn some more money, develop the game some more etc. etc. untilt the money runs out or the game is completed.
Eurogamer gave the game 10/10 - an accolade reserved for only a few games. I therefore purchased the Mac version for the hiked up launch price, and looked for the magic in the game that has made it's lone developer £millions.
If I am honest, I am still looking - I am sure it is there, just need the time to find it in amongst playing Skyrim and Modern Warfare 3.
Over the last couple of days I have been playing Minecraft: Pocket Edition on my iPhone 4. Yep, I have given the developer of the Minecraft franchise yet another £5 of my money still in the hope of tuning into the magic that so many others have.
Well this version is somewhat a stripped down version of Mincraft - no day and night time zones and definately no zombies. Once you've grown used to the controls buildings are created by placing blocks by tapping the screen and removed by holding a finger over the lanscape block you want to mine. That's about what this current version of the 'Alpha' code entails as well as exploring - with some imagination great constructs I am sure can be created. I so far have dug a great hole, then created steps to get myself out of it - quite satisfying in a stange kind of a way.
Is this though enough to warrent the £5 asking price. Well if you remember this is a an alpha version of the game, then great things must be just round the corner. This was very much the case for the the development of its older PC/Mac brother.
Mojang, the developer, should have given us iOS players a little more to be getting on with though in our opinion - there is just not enough here to justify the price tag.
I'm a big minecraft lover and have been playing it all through the beta stages. For me its everything a game has to be, without too many unnecessary bells and whistles. It appeals to my 6 year old son when i build him a simple castle, and it appeals to my scavenging nature when I strike a vein of diamond or I place the last piece of a complex redstone circuit. It helps to have grown up valuing gameplay over graphics but minecraft is certainly not for everyone.
One thing i'm sure of... if you have a few hours you need to go fast, minecraft is the one for you
Nov 29, 2011 11:08:19 (
178 days ago
)
