Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition

With so many aliens to blast, vehicles to destroy, thugs to shoot, zombies to impale, robots to dismantle and buildings to blow up, today's gaming climate makes it easy to forget how much fun it can be to actually create something. Most of us spent our formative years learning to create, from drawing, painting and writing to building castles using blocks, running endless variations of railroad tracks for model trains, or even creating elaborate scenarios for your action figures. Then the hordes of digital enemies came-a-knockin' and we collectively switched gears and went into kill mode without consciously realizing that a shift had even taken place. Minecraft taps into that little dormant nugget of creativity that most people have long forgotten about, and the possibilities are only as limited as your imagination.

Minecraft is not an especially new game; it was originally released for the PC three years ago almost to the day, and has been continually enhanced, built upon, patched and improved since it's inception. With over five million units sold in that three year period, it's very likely that you've either played or watched someone play Minecraft, but for those that haven't, in essence what you're looking at is a world of complete freedom to terraform as you see fit. You're presented with the ability to alter nearly every aspect of your environment. Don't like a particular mountain? You're free to tear it down to sea level. Feel like you miss that mountain? Go ahead and rebuild it if you'd like. Decide your mountain is aesthetically boring? Mine some stone elsewhere, bring it back and build your own Mount Rushmore. There are dozens of different and unique minerals and substances for you to mine, cultivate, distill, smelt, and construct, all with their own levels of rarity and their own unique uses and functions, which you can use to build whatever you desire. Again, the possibilities are only hindered by the limits of your creativity.

A randomly generated area in Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition.

In terms of scope, the PC version boasts an "endless world" of randomly generated terrain for you to explore and build upon where you could conceivably travel in one direction indefinitely without ever looping around and retracing your steps. Due to the technical limitations of the Xbox 360 platform and the size restraints of downloadable arcade titles, this isn't the case in regards to the Xbox 360 port, and that's already become a point of contention within the community of Minecraft purists. In all reality, however, you'll not be presented with the threat of running low on space or building materials. Albeit finite, the environment is massive and immense, and most players will be in far more danger of running out of architectural ideas well before running out of square footage on which to build.

The default difficulty setting offers a traditionally balanced experience where monsters and enemies spawn at night time (or in any poorly lit areas, for that matter) and serve to put you on the defensive. Luckily this version of the game comes with a solid, albeit rudimentary tutorial, something not before seen in the Minecraft universe, which will be invaluable towards helping newcomers build their first structure and survive their first nightfall. The enemies are varied and creative, from your garden variety spiders, zombies and skeletons to the fabled and bizarre green phallus-shaped "Creeper" - frustrating little creatures that will explode when in close proximity, destroying you and just about anything nearby that you may have built in the process. Luckily, you can fashion weapons and armor from minerals you've mined to help even the odds, and there's even a food preparation mechanic that will allow you to cook up some health restoration items to carry with you, should you run into trouble during your exploration.

C'mon, they look like tiny little green di... you know what, nevermind. This is a family site.

The enemy creatures are not completely without their usefulness, however, as once they're dispatched they'll drop valuable items not found elsewhere in the game. Particularly fun is the gun powder, used to create potent blocks of dynamite, which is dropped by the aforementioned Creepers. You'll also be able to tame wolves with the bones you receive from downed skeletons, killing a spider will yield the string you'll need to craft a fishing pole or a bow, and killing a zombie will inexplicably provide you with the feathers necessary to create arrows to accompany said bow. Like the rest of the game, the battle mechanic and controls are fluid and intuitive and are complimented by the control scheme assigned to the Xbox 360 controller.

Despite the functional benefits and the added thrill of battle (and it IS fun to fight off mobs of creatures under the moonlight), I ultimately found the enemies to be a detractor from the overall experience of the game. One flip of a switch in the options menu brings you to "peaceful" mode, which effectively turns the enemies off and allows you to focus solely on exploration and creation, which is how this game was initially developed and where it shines the brightest. The music and the environment is peaceful and conducive to creativity, and frankly I found it unwelcome and jarring to spend a tranquil in-game day meticulously building a majestic castle or a lavish two-story tree house, only to have it all aggressively be blown to shit by the sudden appearance of a hostile force.

Mining With Friends

The Xbox 360 iteration offers a nearly seamless online multiplayer experience, where friends can either be invited into your world or just drop in unannounced, depending on your settings. There is also a local multiplayer feature, although it requires a HD connection for some reason or another. Much like the game itself, the multiplayer is whatever you make of it; either work together towards a common goal you yourselves agree upon, or get competitive and see who can mine more redstone. Just be sure to find a well-hidden place to store your chest(s) full of valuables if you're playing with anyone you aren't sure about, as griefers will delight in pillaging your stores and stealing your rarest of minerals.

The Final Word

For this gamer, Minecraft has become a virtual zen garden, an anti-game experience if you will, perfect for taking a break from all the sniper rifles, tactical warfare strategies and frenzied battles to save humanity that all but dominate today's gaming culture. With it's lack of a narrative, it's lack of objectives, and it's lack of a real beginning or ending, this game quite simply won't be for everybody, but I fully intend to keep it near the top of my "Quick Play" list for those moments when I feel compelled to play a video game sans the high blood pressure that usually comes along with.

With the exception of a few minor glitches that are scheduled to be patched, and momentarily forgetting that there just aren't as many features or items as are present on the PC version, Minecraft 360 does what it sets out to do and does it very well. It's the truest and probably most literal example of a sandbox game available, can be tailored to be as chaotic or serene an experience as you deem fit, and can be downright cathartic if you allow yourself to become fully immersed. I highly recommend you jump in head first, get out there and start exploring. Me? I'm gonna grab my trusty pick axe, head down the mine shaft I've been working on for the last few weeks, and see if I can't find some more damn diamonds.

9/10