Okay so I’ve been putting this off for way too long. It’s time to look at the game I have by far spent the most hours into. Probably more than double that of 2nd and 3rd place combined. Yes, you are seeing that correctly, I just love Q*Bert Minecraft. I’ve been playing since 1.3 and I’ve been a proud admin of the Vizzed Minecraft Server since 2015. Fair to say I have a lot of history with the game haha, but I’m going to try my hardest to leave any personal stories out of this, for the most part.

Minecraft was made in 2011 by Markus Persson in cooperation with Mojang. It has since moved owners to Microsoft. At the moment of writing this, Minecraft is the best selling video game of all time, which really isn’t too surprising if you’ve played it before.

Gameplay (shoutout Rayman)

Minecraft is probably the single most unique game out there in that every update it gets, its gameplay massively changes. There is also nothing stopping you from switching between old and new versions, whichever one you prefer. The game plays like your average sandbox. WASD to move, mouse to look around, mouse buttons to interact with the world, space to jump, and shift to crouch. There’s more controls but those are the most important ones.

There are various modes you can play in Minecraft. The classic Creative mode, which makes you immune to all damage, minus exiting the world. Here you can instantly get any item or block in Minecraft, however many you want, and its primary goal is for you to easily make cool creations with it. Double jumping makes you fly! Then there is Survival mode, which introduces a Health, Hunger and Armor stat to the player, as well as an XP bar. Your main objective here is to not die to the many dangers that can lurk in the otherwise peaceful world of Minecraft. Then there are two variations on this. In Adventure mode, you can still take damage, however you can’t break or place any blocks. This isn’t too useful for singleplayer but it’s nice for multiplayer lobbies. Then there is Hardcore mode, which is essentially normal Survival mode on steroids. Mobs do more damage and dying once means losing your world. I wouldn’t suggest a beginner to try this!

Various updates have massively changed elements of gameplay as well. Before the 1.9 update, you would attack entities by spam clicking with your mouse, which got completely changed in 1.9. Swords and any tools now have a cooldown on them when you attack with them. You can still spam click but the longer you wait between hits the stronger it will be. A fully charged sword swing will now also release a small shockwave. They also added shields, which now offers you a layer of direct defense. Shields will block projectiles and melee attacks, but will break easily when hit too much and can receive a cooldown when hit with an Axe.

The 1.13 update changed Minecraft’s lamest biome, the Ocean. Swimming used to just be hold space to stay afloat, but now swimming is dynamic as you can freely move any direction you want in the water. And those are just two examples of new updates drastically changing how the game is played.


Story - N/A

Getting this out the way, there does exist some form of a story if you watch the end credits, but since 100% of players just skip it we’ll just say there is none. That doesn’t stop you from creating your own story through various imaginations and memories! Every playing experience is unique.

Graphics - 8/10

Okay hear me out. You might be thinking, the game is so pixilated, it’s all blocks, why is this getting anything higher than a 3? It’s just because you can literally make Minecraft as pretty as you want. Minecraft is probably the single most customizable game on the planet. You’re able to change textures, even use HD ones, change how the sky looks, there are even mods that can make things circular. Of course, hitboxes for everything will still be blocks, but aside from that you can create Minecraft however you want it to look. You can also change how your character looks! Whether you base it off yourself or that one video game character you love, all up to you! I think it’s just ignorant to hate on this game’s graphics considering all that. I will admit though that some of the base textures are a bit, uh, questionable. (looking at that Baked Potato).

Sound - 9/10

Same story here. You can customize the sound to be anything you want. However I will say that even the basic soundtrack is phenomenal. You might not realize it now, but any time you go to play the game and a track starts playing, everyone can instantly hum along to it. That right there is the sign of a good OST. They were quite creative with some noises, using Notch’s cat, for example, to create the noises a Ghast would make (distorted, of course. unless that cat is a demon).

The sounds just fit what the game is trying to be so well. Animals, blocks, everything sounds realistic enough to really live the experience, but also cartoony enough to keep you amused. Villagers are the perfect example of this. I myself am a bit of a Villager connoisseur according to some friends, for whatever reason that may be, and I absolute love the stupid “Hrgn” noises they make constantly.

Depth - 10/10

The easiest 10 I have ever given a game. Anything less is just simply not true for Minecraft. This game is one of few that is truly endless. You can keep playing for however long you please, unless you’re in Hardcore mode of course. And once you’e bored of Singleplayer, you get introduced to the massive Multiplayer community. I mean there are 1000s of servers you can join, play on, meet people in, etc. You can look for Survival servers, PVP servers, mini-game servers, whatever you’re looking for exists. There truly is no limit to how far this game can go.

Redstone is another thing to keep you occupied. It acts a bit like electricity, and with it and its various accompanying blocks you can create circuits that can be as simple as an automatic door, to as complicated as a working cell phone. Yes, you heard that right, a working cell phone. Somehow, some way, Minecraft has accomplished the impossible. You can literally break the 4th wall in the game. There have been people who (using mods, but still) have created a cellphone that you can facetime with. You, sitting there reading this, and your Minecraft character getting attacked by a Skeleton, you can facetime each other. If that’s not the craziest thing a video game has ever done, I don’t know anymore. Definitely worth a 10.

Addictiveness - 10/10

Admittedly this is a personal score, as there really is no way to predict how you’ll find the game. There is so much to do, so much to try, that sometimes you might actually feel burned out just thinking of all the options available to you. Some people will only try Survival, hate it, and never play again. It’s such a shame really, because Minecraft will always offer what you’re looking for. Looking for a Battle Royale type of game? That originated with Minecraft Hunger Games! Still almost as popular as it was initially. I mean statistics don’t lie, this wouldn’t be the single best selling game of all time, with 100s of millions of monthly players, if it weren’t fun to play.

Difficulty - 10/10

Always like to preface, a high difficulty score to me does not equal a very difficult game. I think that concept is plain stupid, as it punishes games that aren’t designed to be hard to beat, while it can aid a game that aside from being difficult has nothing going for it. I rate Minecraft a perfect 10 here as you, once again, can make it as hard as you want. Just want the casual experience? Try Survival mode! A little tougher? Hardcore is right there! Even tougher? Visit servers where you’re allowed to kill each other for food. Play difficult puzzle maps, fun parkour challenges, literally anything. How could I give Minecraft anything less than a 10 in all these later categories. The game has the stats to back it up.

Overall - 9.4/10

A very impressive score for a very impressive game. It’s the game I can have the most fun with, it’s the game I have the most hours in, it’s probably the game I know the most about. I can name you countless memories ranging from every single version I’ve played, every single server I’ve ever been on. This game is truly one of a kind. And that’s just all related to the game, but Minecraft has done more for me than I could have ever imagined. I’ve had so much joy playing with friends who I might not speak to often outside of Minecraft. I’ve gotten to know people better playing Minecraft, I’ve met certain people through Minecraft who I now consider as my closest friends or even more.

I’ll always be grateful to Notch for this masterpiece. I mean it’s really ironic how simple the concept is and how vast the game has become and has integrated itself in our culture. Popular games like Fortnite will die out eventually, but Minecraft is one of those games that will withstand the test of time, even if it stops receiving updates from the developers.

Congratulations on the review and thank you for taking the time to make it! I enjoyed reading through it.

This game is one of those games that you can play over and over again and not get bored, and even if you do, there are mods that can freshen up the gameplay with new features and items.

That is very true but I guess the same could be said for many games that have a large community that put tons of mods out there. XD

LuckyCharms : Thanks, appreciate it

Boured : Yeah it's really endless. If you were to tell me in the early like 1.3 or 1.4 days what would all be possible now I'd have called you insane. Even "simpler" vanilla stuff like swimming or village raids. I probably have the most fun playing minigames with friends. Often it's not even about playing the game but just enjoying each others company while having something to keep yourself busy in the background. I could literally and have played some games for over 10 hours if the call lasted that long.

I've kind of grown out of the singleplayer mode though. After all these years I just feel like I've seen enough there. I love exploring new biomes and features with friends, but alone I don't really launch minecraft anymore.

LuckyCharms : Thanks, appreciate it

Boured : Yeah it's really endless. If you were to tell me in the early like 1.3 or 1.4 days what would all be possible now I'd have called you insane. Even "simpler" vanilla stuff like swimming or village raids. I probably have the most fun playing minigames with friends. Often it's not even about playing the game but just enjoying each others company while having something to keep yourself busy in the background. I could literally and have played some games for over 10 hours if the call lasted that long.

I've kind of grown out of the singleplayer mode though. After all these years I just feel like I've seen enough there. I love exploring new biomes and features with friends, but alone I don't really launch minecraft anymore.