The enigmatic man with the hat and beard known as Markus Persson , even better known as Notch, is arguably the most successful independent developer. His creation, Minecraft, has just surpassed four million copies sold and is not going to stop at all. Not every blockbuster can boast of such numbers, and even before the official release. But what is it, what is the matter? Is this game really capable of zombifying and making people buy themselves, regardless of religion, political beliefs and mentality? Well, let's take a closer look at this phenomenon.
Robinson cubed
I want to immediately warn everyone familiar with the phenomenon that this material is mainly intended for those who are practically unfamiliar with Minecraft . Those who have played have probably already formed their own opinion, and the experience of observing blogs tells me that such people are divided into two camps: some would put the game "amazing" and everything that is possible, while others - "trash" or the best case "prohodnyak".
Such a range of opinions is quite justified, because we have before us - pure author's project. And such things tend to be ambiguous.
So, let's get down to the autopsy. The first thing to get used to in local decorations is their cubicity. Everything is angular - the animals seem to be glued together from cardboard, and the tools are pixelated to the extreme. The picture as a whole looks like a dashing hello from the nineties - at first you expect Mario or Pacman to jump out from around the corner.
The second key feature is freedom. Complete, undivided power over what your ward will do inside this generated unique world. There are a million different occupations: dig, break, build, kill, steal, create, burn, explore, contemplate, and so on. Limitations arise only for purely technical reasons.
Then an absolutely unpredictable flight of fantasy begins - there are railways, subways, medieval castles, statues, ships, complex mechanisms, entire villages and even cities. The latter, however, is found mainly in multipeer, because building a whole city for oneself alone ... Well, it takes a lot of time and enthusiasm.
Today we're gonna mine ... in hell!
And this is where the problems begin. Essentially speaking, MinecraftIs a blank slate. If you wish, you can take and write a story, a poem on it or draw a landscape. Or fold some origami. However, this sheet itself is just paper; it does not entertain, but allows itself to be entertained.
Therefore, before launching, it is strongly recommended that you familiarize yourself with at least some material from the category "How to become a cool miner." Otherwise, you run the risk of puzzling over questions like "how can you cut a tree for the first few hours?" or "why is the stone not being mined, but simply disappearing?" The easiest way to master the basics is with the help of the so-called letsplay, which live in myriad numbers on the vastness of YouTube. An alternative way is to go and smoke the corresponding article on Wikipedia, where almost all aspects of the gameplay are clearly and simply disclosed.
The third option is to watch the recordings of the streams conducted by the Blades of Happiness team, where we tried to reveal the essence of the game in an interactive and entertaining way. In the first broadcast, we were just getting to know the projects, and in the second we talked about a local attraction called Redstone.
And then you can safely embark on a journey through the endless cubic world. More precisely, in three worlds. In addition to the usual, familiar to the eye of the environment, divided into biomes for greater beauty (swamps, deciduous and coniferous forests, deserts, hills and other interesting places), there are a couple of parallel dimensions. One of them is hell, mostly flooded with lava, as befits any self-respecting hell. Local inhabitants are distinguished by increased unfriendliness, and the scenery is gloomy grandeur. The second alternate reality is called the World of Ender and is the abode of endermen, dragons and strange phallic obsidian contraptions. Feels like the first layer of the Twilight from the works of Lukyanenko .
If you climbed into the mine with a friend, work is more fun ...
However, disassembling and reassembling a world made up of cubes quickly gets boring for one. Sooner or later, even in the most inventive and resourceful head, a desire arises to do it with someone. And here the second bottom of Minecraft opens up - multiplayer. Yes, friends, here you can engage in group construction of epic buildings, cities, towns, dungeons and everything that used to be so pleasant to do alone.
Add to this the fact that thanks to the fans, the mining craft has acquired an incredible number of a wide variety of modifications. From banal new blocks to the introduction of the most natural portal gun into the local gameplay! There are modifications for multiplayer - to protect your own home, job distribution and numerous console enhancements.
Minecraft has no beginning, no end ...
Let's return to the conversation about the blank slate started above. The storyline is limited by yellow captions in the main menu, that is, it is absent. Minecraft is sandbox for sandbox sake, nothing more, nothing less. The existing conditional credits, although they give some right to the person who sees them, to declare: "I completed the game", but this is akin to the statements about the passage of The Sims... The game is endless, endless and aimless.
You guys should also know that it's scary here. Especially at night and at great depths. Most often, monsters appear at night. Zombies, spiders and skeletal archers do not need a description, but I'll tell you a little about the two most unusual villains. The legendary hug-hungry green beast is a creeper. It will ruin a lot of your nerves until you learn to either avoid them or fight them. Such monsters act simply - when they see the hero, they begin to quietly sneak up on him, and when they are near, they briefly hiss and explode.The second unusual beast is called an enderman and rather frightens with its appearance. An entertaining fact about these black giants with thin arms - they know how to teleport and will not attack you until you look them in the eye.
It just so happened that in the summer I wrote a review of Terraria . And there was the idea that Terraria is not Minecraft , but a kind of Diablo . Now it's time to remember this, because now, after the release of both time killers, the difference between them has been reduced to a minimum. And there, and there you can engage in the extraction of resources, the fight against monsters, take a walk to hell, alchemize and enchant weapons, but the approach to the process is different. "Terraria" constantly warms up an ordinary munchkin, eager for new things, while in Minecraftthis munchkin is creative and regularly feeds not on thoughts of new armor, but on questions like "can I design such a thing?" After all, as you know, it is not enough just to chop a hundred trees to build a truly impressive fortress. You need to be able to manage resources, put the cubes in their places.
It’s too early to draw the line, as strange as it may sound. Minecraft is constantly growing and developing, and the release point is almost like the release of the next update number 0.9.1, but only with the official start of sales and the long-awaited appearance of the "Quit" button in the main menu. How many more different things the creators will cram in is impossible to predict.
The intermediate results are as follows: Minecraft is one of the most vicious and merciless killers of time. A chance to create the world and change it beyond recognition the way only you want. Or several people. And the main thing that is here is freedom. Freedom of creativity and self-expression. And the one who comes here for something else invariably does not understand how you can play it for days and have fun.
Pros:complete and undivided creative freedom; great map generator; unusual opponents; pixel styling.
Cons: kills time without pity.