Saúl Berríos-Thomas | Layout Editor
Minecraft has been one the best-selling games over the last several years on Xbox 360 and PC. This past week Minecraft reached even greater heights when it was released on the PlayStation 4 on Thrusday, Sept. 4 and the Xbox One the following day.
Minecraft is an open world game that allows you to explore and build. It is a game that can be totally consuming. At first the game may look simplistic, with every structure in the world made of pixelated blocks that build off eachother, but the deeper you get into the game, the more complicated it gets.
There are two basic modes of gameplay: survival and creative. Survival mode is simple but addicting. The player is dropped into a giant world with nothing but a map. The goal is to collect enough resources during the day so that you can protect yourself, or even better, sleep at night. Zombies, skeletons, spiders and creepers come out only at night and attack the player when close enough. At first it can be nerve wracking knowing that the player will lose all of their resources if they die. But, after a disaster or two the player should learn to save resources in chests. Almost every block in the world is breakable and if the correct tool is used the resources that make the block can be collected by the player.
In creative mode the player has access to every resource and can build until their hearts is content. This allows players to be, as the name implies, creative. After a player completes a world in creative mode they can make the world online and their friends or even strangers can come and view the world. Some players have recreated real world structures such as Heinz field, the Eiffel Tower, the Statue of Liberty and much more.
With next-gen releases, there are some major upgrades. The new versions allow two to four players on local split-screen play and a lobby of up to eight players online. Thanks to the higher powered systems the game can now handle even larger worlds and in some cases the worlds are up to 36 times bigger than they were on the previous version, according to IGN. The world also looks better on the new consoles. When you are high up on a mountain you can see much further out into the world. The world also looks better close up thanks to many small details that have been added.
Since the launch of the next-gen console versions Mojang (the developer company) announced that the console versions have surpassed the computer versions. They also have surpassed 54 million copies sold across all platforms. That mark is good for the third best-selling game of all time.
There have been a few minor bugs with the new version. I have still not been able to access my Xbox 360 world on the new console as was promised from the announcement of the new releases. Many people have experienced this glitch and Minecraft is working to fix it.Also when I was in a new world and looked at my map, the map did not reveal the parts of the world I had been to.
The tutorial is excellent. Even though I had already played a lot of Minecraft (I mean a lot), I was still able to learn many new things from the tutorial. This game was already one of the best and this new version only improves on the previous iteration. It’s a great way to improve on the game for previous users and a great introduction for gamers new to Minecraft.
