My Minecraft 1.0 review, incoming hate storm.

[GreasyLazor]

This isn't candy coated at all. I'm kind of summarizing so it doesn't look like an essay though.

I don't really need to do an overview here; you all know what Minecraft is. Gather resources, survive the night, build shit, yeah.

Thing is, Minecraft has really changed over the years, and when I say changed, I mean CHANGED.

Visuals:
 Okay, don't try and argue texture packs right now. Let's see how much effort the original creators have put into the game.

Uhhh.
As you can see, Minecraft goes for retro style visuals. Thing is, they are really fucking ugly. All of those 8 bit games I used to play on the NES were beautiful, as where other pixelized games.
You see, in alpha I coped with the graphics thinking they would change them. You know, Alpha, old build, things really change.
However, notch decided to keep this.
Have any of you noticed that Notch did ALL of the art for the game? Notch isn't an artist.

Tl;dr: Ugly ass game.

Sound:
You know, some people really like the sound. The sound was cool at first, but it just gets rather drabby after a while for me.
What I've wanted since Alpha was some ambience in the game, you know. Bug nosies in the rainforest biomes... etc.
Nope, most of the game is spent with annoying as fuck chickens and cows.

However, the music in the game is excellent. It captures the mood of the game, and for that, I applaud C418. Good job.

Gameplay:
Alright, gameplay. As you all know, this should be the shining aspect of the game!
Wrong.

The only good part about Minecraft's gameplay is gathering resources and building things, which is what the game should really be about.

Then they tried making the game more RPG-like. They made the wrong decision. The problem with this is that the combat is complete and utter shit. It is simple, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but the AI doesn't even have pathfinding and the mobs don't offer any challenge at all. Terrible.

Overall:

Well, it's been a long run Minecraft. I've seen your Skeletons without bows, to the secret Friday update with redstone, and I gotta say, you could have been an amazing game. But you blew it.

The games graphics are pretty bad, and don't get me wrong, I love pixelized games, but Minecraft needs a proper artist.

The sound is, I'd say, average. The music is excellent but the rest of the sounds don't have an impact on gameplay at all, other than the average creeper hiss.

The gameplay is half good, half bad. Nothing is more rewarding than finally building your giant golden cock and watching the sun set behind it. However, the adventure aspect of this game is good to an extent. The combat is complete shit, and that ruins half of the experience of the game since they've tried making the game revolve around that a little more.

I'd give this game a 6/10 at it's current state. There isn't many other games out there like Minecraft, true, but this game could have been SO much better. It's kind of a shame that this is what they call a "fully finished" game.

Inb4 flame war

[Zamros]

I love how one of your main arguments are about it's graphical quality. Graphics don't make a bloody game. I remember when people's main argument for CoD being a good game was because the quality of it's graphics.

I also find it funny that you hate the sounds of the game so much, yet you are in love with music, which are BOTH done by C418.

I think the majority of this is just the ranting of someone who has played the game too much and has gotten bored of it. I did the same with WoW. You start to exaggerate the bad things of a game that doesn't interest you, or you are bored of.

TLDR: Never have too much of a good thing

[Astindan]

The only thing I agree in this review is the ambience.  It definitely needs a variety of sound.

Has anyone else noticed Enderman use zombie noises -_-
Thats my major gripe with the game right now, 1.0 and they still don't have their own sounds.

[Zamros]

The only thing I agree in this review is the ambience.  It definitely needs a variety of sound.

Has anyone else noticed Enderman use zombie noises -_-
Thats my major gripe with the game right now, 1.0 and they still don't have their own sounds.

This I can agree with.

[Astindan]

Then you get a cookie.

[Zamros]

Not that this should change anything. But you have to remember that Mojang are an Indie Development company. They have staff that has only just broken into double figures. With only 2 or 3 of the staff actually working on Minecraft itself. This being that they can't do things that MASSIVE companies like Blizzard, Valve and Ubisoft can, who have entire departments dedicated to specific things such as Artwork and Sound/Music.

You also have to remember that Minecraft is when it comes down to it, a sandbox that you effectively create your own game in. If you think Minecraft is just "Gather resources, survive the night, build shit, yeah." then I suggest you stay away from Sandboxes altogether.

[GreasyLazor]

Obviously you didn't read it correctly.
The problem I have is that they had time to improve everything bad at the game. It's not the blocky graphics themselves that bother me, it's the textures on them. They're terrible.
Also, they DO have an artist, they just never use him. He's just there like a conman or something. Probably working on Scrolls, when they should try making their first game an actual complete game before making another.

Also, the main driving point of failure is the combat. Them trying to make the game more combat oriented ruined the game, and took a step in the wrong direction.

Actually, the endermen DO have their own sounds, but the thing is they release basically unfinished updates. They are really half assing the game, whether you like it or not. They are not putting the effort they should into the game.

Basically, the bottom line guys, is that this is what they call a finished game. This game seems far from finished.

[Zamros]

The problem I have is that they had time to improve everything bad at the game. It's not the blocky graphics themselves that bother me, it's the textures on them. They're terrible.

Also, the main driving point of failure is the combat. Them trying to make the game more combat oriented ruined the game, and took a step in the wrong direction.

At what point did they try to make it more combat oriented? Sure the tried to improve the combat, but so they should try to improve bad elements of the game. If you detest the combat so much, then feel free to play in Peaceful, or creative mode. That's what they were put in there for.

As for the textures, if you look at newer blocks like Stone Bricks, they have much more improved textures because of Junkboy being Mojang's new artist. Beforehand, every texture was made by Notch who is by no means an artist. I agree that the older textures were pretty bad, but I don't think it'd be hard for Junkboy to update them.
Also, remember in Alpha, the textures were a lot uglier back then, they're slightly more updated now and have better lighting to them for improved effect.

[GreasyLazor]

The problem I have is that they had time to improve everything bad at the game. It's not the blocky graphics themselves that bother me, it's the textures on them. They're terrible.

Also, the main driving point of failure is the combat. Them trying to make the game more combat oriented ruined the game, and took a step in the wrong direction.

At what point did they try to make it more combat oriented? Sure the tried to improve the combat, but so they should try to improve bad elements of the game. If you detest the combat so much, then feel free to play in Peaceful, or creative mode. That's what they were put in there for.

As for the textures, if you look at newer blocks like Stone Bricks, they have much more improved textures because of Junkboy being Mojang's new artist. Beforehand, every texture was made by Notch who is by no means an artist. I agree that the older textures were pretty bad, but I don't think it'd be hard for Junkboy to update them.
Also, remember in Alpha, the textures were a lot uglier back then, they're slightly more updated now and have better lighting to them for improved effect.

I don't see any difference between the textures in alpha and the textures now other than color.

They tried improving the worst aspect of the game, but they also tried making it more involved in everything else. You HAVE to fight creatures to do a lot of things in the game now, and I think it's bullshit. The combat is simple, yes, but it's extremely boring. AT LEAST give the enemies pathfinding.

[Zamros]

I don't see any difference between the textures in alpha and the textures now other than color.

They tried improving the worst aspect of the game, but they also tried making it more involved in everything else. You HAVE to fight creatures to do a lot of things in the game now, and I think it's bullshit. The combat is simple, yes, but it's extremely boring. AT LEAST give the enemies pathfinding.

Mojang has hired an AI coder so path finding may be implemented into mobs' AI coding. Also, you don't HAVE to fight creatures to do a lot of the things in the game. The main things that include fighting creatures are the alchemy/potions, access to The End, making TNT, getting string for bows and bones. You can also get said ingredients by making a mob trap. If you don't know how to make one, just watch CaptainSparkles' video series of Skyblock Survival.

[Astindan]

If they really want to improve the textures, maybe they should just build up a new engine.

Cause it being java, really limits it due to the memory it uses.

[GreasyLazor]

If they really want to improve the textures, maybe they should just build up a new engine.

Cause it being java, really limits it due to the memory it uses.

Java is possibly one of the worst engines for gaming out there. I don't know who in their right mind would pay 40$ to play on an unstable game.

[Astindan]

Isn't he selling it for $30 now?

[GreasyLazor]

Isn't he selling it for $30 now?

Point still stands.

[Zamros]

Minecraft's iOS and Android versions are developed using C++ I think, because the two can't handle Java games. They run really smoothly and it would make quite a bit of sense to make a switch. Considering Notch has said in the past he prefers C++ coding too.