Skip to main content

Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition Review

Digable planet.

I can't say that Minecraft passed me by - how could it? It's a full-blown 21st century sensation, a hit indie game that changed all the rules, a perfect storm of internet fame. It's been pretty hard to ignore.

But Minecraft did happen without me. Somehow I never played it - perhaps because I was foolishly waiting for it to come out of its endless alpha test - and all of a sudden it was a thing that I wasn't part of and didn't get, even though I understood it. Like so many of the great online PC games, from Counter-Strike to League of Legends, it became a cult that I didn't know how to join.

Well happy day, because this excellent new version for Xbox Live Arcade is made just for me. Mojang, the company formed by Minecraft's affable creator Markus "Notch" Persson, has worked with Microsoft and port specialist 4J Studios to build a Minecraft that's slightly less advanced, much easier to get to grips with and perfectly tuned for its slick and friendly platform, while preserving almost all of the original game's unquestioned genius.

The blocky graphics have a naïve charm, especially the funny and characterful monsters and wildlife that roam the world.

It will never eclipse the one true Minecraft - for some pretty simple reasons, this is a phenomenon that could only ever have happened on computers - but Xbox 360 Edition is as close to an untamed sandbox as you can get in one shiny, sugared pellet of console gaming. It's the real deal. Accept no substitutes.

"It will never eclipse the one true Minecraft, but Xbox 360 Edition is as close to an untamed sandbox as you can get in one shiny, sugared pellet of console gaming."

In Minecraft, you mine and you craft. That's about it, especially in this earlier and simpler version of the game that doesn't feature the grind-heavy combat advancement and levelling which made it into the "final" "release" version of the PC game (the one we reviewed last year). It's no great loss; this is arguably a purer version of the game, and certainly a great point at which to start playing.

The goal of the game is both simple and ineffable: survive, prosper and build in a randomly generated block-world. You start with nothing, absolutely nothing, gathering wood with your bare hands to make tools to gather more materials to make more and better tools and materials.

You dig and you build. Use the right trigger to gather (or attack) with whatever you have equipped, hammering away with a comically speedy and repetitive motion, consuming the world around you as voraciously as Pac-Man. Use the left trigger to place items from your inventory in the world and build - the only limit to your imagination being your capacity to produce materials and ability to physically navigate to where you want to place them.

However basic the building blocks, this game is not short on awe and spectacle - whether it's the work of man or Minecraft's algorithmic God. The day/night cycle is beautiful, too.

The space between these two interactions is filled with a crafting system - the habitual sideshow attraction of role-playing games, here placed firmly centre stage. By making a crafting bench and a furnace you can refine materials and make armour, weapons, tools, food, devices and equipment as well as structures and building materials. You can make doors, beds, torches, powered rails, boats, clocks, mushroom stew; sandstone, glass, brick, obsidian and diamond.

The Lego-like appeal of putting all this together to build your own world is clear and powerful, but Minecraft's brilliance goes deeper than that. There are two reasons that this game has been far more successful than so many before it, the Spores and LittleBigPlanets of this world, at encouraging players to create stuff. One is the extreme simplicity of the interface, even though the underlying simulation systems are complex. The other is the game of survival that provides the context and motivation for your efforts.

At night, monsters come out and attack you relentlessly, and you can't see because it's dark. Very dark. If you die, you respawn, but you've dropped everything you were holding - and where was that, anyway? Shelter and light are imperative, and at the beginning you build - or dig out and reinforce a cave - not because you want to but because you have to.

The potency of those first few days in Minecraft cannot be overstated. It's a frightening, hardscrabble existence. My first night, I just about managed to wall up a cave but hadn't got as far as making a bed or any torches, so there was nothing for it but to stare miserably at a black screen, listening to monsters groan and skitter, and wait for daylight to peer in through the one hole I'd left.

Spacy, calming and very pretty ambient music does much to smooth away the rough edges of the game's graphics and audio - and encourage hypnotic mining.

It's this primal threat that sets Minecraft's engine running. It's why you need to build a home, and make better armour and weapons for yourself, and prepare food to recover your health, and construct defences so you don't find an explosive Creeper at your door in the morning. You really do feel like a settler in a strange land. If this inspired game design has a flaw, it's that the survivalist tension is at its strongest at the start and gradually ebbs away into a rather aimless, listless mid-game where you have to hunt for resources before your grand design can really take hold.

All the same, it's a good deal less aimless in this new 360 version, which makes a few notable concessions to accessibility for this notoriously inscrutable game. There's a good tutorial that introduces you to the basics and lays out the essential strategies for survival, after which you can explore a premade fantasy village showing some of the amazing contraptions, structures and materials you can dream about founding in your own wilderness. There are also tooltips which pop up in-game with information about creatures and materials, so you won't need to scurry off to a wiki every five minutes.

More controversially, crafting has been radically simplified. You no longer need to place materials in shapes on a grid, discovering recipes through research or guesswork. You simply pick from a list and make what you want instantly. It's very handy and eliminates what would have been a cumbersome interface for the Xbox controller, but an important aspect of the game has undeniably been streamlined away here.

Finally, you start with a map in your inventory, a huge boon that allows you to chart the world as you roam and retrace your steps to where you died, or found that iron deposit, or left your house. (Well, it is a boon if you don't drop it where you die on the first night and never find it again.) Purists might find this version a little dumbed down, but in truth Minecraft's wild-frontier days are in the past now, so exhaustively has this game been explored and explained by its community, and what it gains in self-illuminating accessibility for newcomers is well worth it.

In all other respects, this is a supremely tight version of a classic game that gracefully navigates the limitations of its platform. The pad controls are taut, fast and logical. The Xbox 360's small memory and the lack of dedicated online servers means the worlds created in this Minecraft are smaller, and can never live online independently of their creators. On the other hand, it has never been simpler to share your Minecraft creation with a few friends; there's support for split-screen local multiplayer (a potential killer app for some fans), and simple toggles dictate whether your game will be online and open or invite-only.

What you can't do, though, is take videos and post them online (although it is possible to share screenshots via Facebook). This simple facility isn't even part of the original Minecraft's game code, it's just a side-effect of its choice of platform - and yet it is the single biggest reason for the runaway success of this quintessential community game. Without it, the Xbox 360 Edition feels like it's missing a limb. It exists in a bubble, every bit as compelling and fun as its parent, but nothing like as democratic or inspiring.

It doesn't have to be, though. Minecraft already exists in that form and has millions of evangelists; the phenomenon happened, it doesn't need to happen again. All this version means is that you no longer have an excuse for not joining in.

9 / 10

Read this next

seductrice.net
universo-virtual.com
buytrendz.net
thisforall.net
benchpressgains.com
qthzb.com
mindhunter9.com
dwjqp1.com
secure-signup.net
ahaayy.com
tressesindia.com
puresybian.com
krpano-chs.com
cre8workshop.com
hdkino.org
peixun021.com
qz786.com
utahperformingartscenter.org
worldqrmconference.com
shangyuwh.com
eejssdfsdfdfjsd.com
playminecraftfreeonline.com
trekvietnamtour.com
your-business-articles.com
essaywritingservice10.com
hindusamaaj.com
joggingvideo.com
wandercoups.com
wormblaster.net
tongchengchuyange0004.com
internetknowing.com
breachurch.com
peachesnginburlesque.com
dataarchitectoo.com
clientfunnelformula.com
30pps.com
cherylroll.com
ks2252.com
prowp.net
webmanicura.com
sofietsshotel.com
facetorch.com
nylawyerreview.com
apapromotions.com
shareparelli.com
goeaglepointe.com
thegreenmanpubphuket.com
karotorossian.com
publicsensor.com
taiwandefence.com
epcsur.com
mfhoudan.com
southstills.com
tvtv98.com
thewellington-hotel.com
bccaipiao.com
colectoresindustrialesgs.com
shenanddcg.com
capriartfilmfestival.com
replicabreitlingsale.com
thaiamarinnewtoncorner.com
gkmcww.com
mbnkbj.com
andrewbrennandesign.com
cod54.com
luobinzhang.com
faithfirst.net
zjyc28.com
tongchengjinyeyouyue0004.com
nhuan6.com
kftz5k.com
oldgardensflowers.com
lightupthefloor.com
bahamamamas-stjohns.com
ly2818.com
905onthebay.com
fonemenu.com
notanothermovie.com
ukrainehighclassescort.com
meincmagazine.com
av-5858.com
yallerdawg.com
donkeythemovie.com
corporatehospitalitygroup.com
boboyy88.com
miteinander-lernen.com
dannayconsulting.com
officialtomsshoesoutletstore.com
forsale-amoxil-amoxicillin.net
generictadalafil-canada.net
guitarlessonseastlondon.com
lesliesrestaurants.com
mattyno9.com
nri-homeloans.com
rtgvisas-qatar.com
salbutamolventolinonline.net
sportsinjuries.info
wedsna.com
rgkntk.com
bkkmarketplace.com
zxqcwx.com
breakupprogram.com
boxcardc.com
unblockyoutubeindonesia.com
fabulousbookmark.com
beat-the.com
guatemala-sailfishing-vacations-charters.com
magie-marketing.com
kingstonliteracy.com
guitaraffinity.com
eurelookinggoodapparel.com
howtolosecheekfat.net
marioncma.org
oliviadavismusic.com
shantelcampbellrealestate.com
shopleborn13.com
topindiafree.com
v-visitors.net
djjky.com
053hh.com
originbluei.com
baucishotel.com
33kkn.com
intrinsiqresearch.com
mariaescort-kiev.com
mymaguk.com
sponsored4u.com
crimsonclass.com
bataillenavale.com
searchtile.com
ze-stribrnych-struh.com
zenithalhype.com
modalpkv.com
bouisset-lafforgue.com
useupload.com
37r.net
autoankauf-muenster.com
bantinbongda.net
bilgius.com
brabustermagazine.com
indigrow.org
miicrosofts.net
mysmiletravel.com
selinasims.com
spellcubesapp.com
usa-faction.com
hypoallergenicdogsnames.com
dailyupdatez.com
foodphotographyreviews.com
cricutcom-setup.com
chprowebdesign.com
katyrealty-kanepa.com
tasramar.com
bilgipinari.org
four-am.com
indiarepublicday.com
inquick-enbooks.com
iracmpi.com
kakaschoenen.com
lsm99flash.com
nana1255.com
ngen-niagara.com
technwzs.com
virtualonlinecasino1345.com
wallpapertop.net
casino-natali.com
iprofit-internet.com
denochemexicana.com
eventhalfkg.com
medcon-taiwan.com
life-himawari.com
myriamshomes.com
nightmarevue.com
healthandfitnesslives.com
androidnews-jp.com
allstarsru.com
bestofthebuckeyestate.com
bestofthefirststate.com
bestwireless7.com
britsmile.com
declarationintermittent.com
findhereall.com
jingyou888.com
lsm99deal.com
lsm99galaxy.com
moozatech.com
nuagh.com
patliyo.com
philomenamagikz.net
rckouba.net
saturnunipessoallda.com
tallahasseefrolics.com
thematurehardcore.net
totalenvironment-inthatquietearth.com
velislavakaymakanova.com
vermontenergetic.com
kakakpintar.com
jerusalemdispatch.com
begorgeouslady.com
1800birks4u.com
2wheelstogo.com
6strip4you.com
bigdata-world.net
emailandco.net
gacapal.com
jharpost.com
krishnaastro.com
lsm99credit.com
mascalzonicampani.com
sitemapxml.org
thecityslums.net
topagh.com
flairnetwebdesign.com
rajasthancarservices.com
bangkaeair.com
beneventocoupon.com
noternet.org
oqtive.com
smilebrightrx.com
decollage-etiquette.com
1millionbestdownloads.com
7658.info
bidbass.com
devlopworldtech.com
digitalmarketingrajkot.com
fluginfo.net
naqlafshk.com
passion-decouverte.com
playsirius.com
spacceleratorintl.com
stikyballs.com
top10way.com
yokidsyogurt.com
zszyhl.com
16firthcrescent.com
abogadolaboralistamd.com
apk2wap.com
aromacremeria.com
banparacard.com
bosmanraws.com
businessproviderblog.com
caltonosa.com
calvaryrevivalchurch.org
chastenedsoulwithabrokenheart.com
cheminotsgardcevennes.com
cooksspot.com
cqxzpt.com
deesywig.com
deltacartoonmaps.com
despixelsetdeshommes.com
duocoracaobrasileiro.com
fareshopbd.com
goodpainspills.com
hemendekor.com
kobisitecdn.com
makaigoods.com
mgs1454.com
piccadillyresidences.com
radiolaondafresca.com
rubendorf.com
searchengineimprov.com
sellmyhrvahome.com
shugahouseessentials.com
sonihullquad.com
subtractkilos.com
valeriekelmansky.com
vipasdigitalmarketing.com
voolivrerj.com
worldhealthstory.com
zeelonggroup.com
1015southrockhill.com
10x10b.com
111-online-casinos.com
191cb.com
3665arpentunitd.com
aitesonics.com
bag-shokunin.com
brightotech.com
communication-digitale-services.com
covoakland.org
dariaprimapack.com
freefortniteaccountss.com
gatebizglobal.com
global1entertainmentnews.com
greatytene.com
hiroshiwakita.com
iktodaypk.com
jahatsakong.com
meadowbrookgolfgroup.com
newsbharati.net
platinumstudiosdesign.com
slotxogamesplay.com
strikestaruk.com
techguroh.com
trucosdefortnite.com
ufabetrune.com
weddedtowhitmore.com
12940brycecanyonunitb.com
1311dietrichoaks.com
2monarchtraceunit303.com
601legendhill.com
850elaine.com
adieusolasomade.com
andora-ke.com
bestslotxogames.com
cannagomcallen.com
endlesslyhot.com
iestpjva.com
ouqprint.com
pwmaplefest.com
qtylmr.com
rb88betting.com
buscadogues.com
1007macfm.com
born-wild.com
growthinvests.com
promocode-casino.com
proyectogalgoargentina.com
wbthompson-art.com
whitemountainwheels.com
7thavehvl.com
developmethis.com
funkydogbowties.com
travelodgegrandjunction.com
gao-town.com
globalmarketsuite.com
blogshippo.com
hdbka.com
proboards67.com
outletonline-michaelkors.com
kalkis-research.com
thuthuatit.net
buckcash.com
hollistercanada.com
docterror.com
asadart.com
vmayke.org
erwincomputers.com
dirimart.org
okkii.com
loteriasdecehegin.com
mountanalog.com
healingtaobritain.com
ttxmonitor.com
nwordpress.com
11bolabonanza.com