Imagine it, build it. Create worlds on the go with
Minecraft – Pocket Edition. The new edition allows you to build on the go. Use blocks to create masterpieces as you travel, hangout with friends, sit at the park, the possibilities are endless. Move beyond the limits of your computer and play Minecraft everywhere you go. Features: Randomized worlds, Build anything you can imagine, Build with 36 different kinds of blocks, Invite and play with friends to your world (local wireless network), Save multi-player worlds on your own phone, Xperia PLAY optimized.
Price: Free Demo, ~$7.11 Full VersionTested on: Sony Xperia Play
Content Rating: Everyone
ProsAlmost an exact duplicate of Minecraft for PC in God Mode!37 Different buildable blocks!Local Multiplayer through Wi-Fi!Incredible three dimensional graphics with expansive worlds and a dynamic game engine!Create anything you want and destroy anything you don’t, this world’s destiny is controlled by your imagination!You can play this game for hours and it will never grow old!
ConsNo online multiplayer.No TNT or crafting system.No survivor mode.Pretty expensive game, but I personally think it is well worth it.
Minecraft Pocket Edition is the Android version of the popular PC title. In Minecraft Pocket Edition you are able to construct an entire world out of various elements, stones, and other materials. Minecraft Pocket Edition is kind of like a virtual Lego world filled with infinite possibilities in which you are the person who holds all of the Lego pieces. It also features local multiplayer over Wi-Fi, the ability to create newly randomized worlds, and the majority of the building materials from the PC version.
The object of Minecraft is to customize a world to be whatever your heart desires. If you were to do a YouTube search for Minecraft you would see videos of epic mansions, flaming dragons, and full size castles all created by normal human beings like you an me. This is done by the unique Minecraft world “editing” system. Minecraft randomly generates worlds for you to customize and remake however you please. You are able to create as many separate worlds as you please.
All of the components of the world are building blocks that end up composing the world as a whole such as concrete, sand, sedimentary rock, dirt, grass, wood, leaves, glass, brick, etc. Your role in the game is to place these building blocks as you please throughout the world and to delete or destroy blocks at your will in order to create the world you envision.
The way this plays out is that you are put in the shoes of a miner who is placed all alone on a large island. You are able to dig as deep as the core of the earth and to build as high in to the sky as the ozone layer and all you need to do is place blocks to create structures and destroy blocks to hollow out spaces or to dig in to the earth. This allows you to hollow out mountains and create vast tunnel systems and homes in the mountainside. It also allows you to create tall castles and red brick homes all throughout the island. You can even make the Island one giant mountain and then build a vast city inside of it. This is power and the appeal of Minecraft.
There are currently 36 different kinds of blocks; these include wood, concrete, dirt, sand, cobblestone, glass, trees, torches, and many others. Castles tend to be easier to create with concrete and cobblestone ends up being extremely important for roads. Torches are a must as they allow you to see in dark areas. In Minecraft the lighting is extremely realistic and if you are inside of a building without torches you will be unable to see anything. By placing torches you are able to light up any room, tunnel, or dark corner in the game.
Unfortunately, Minecraft Pocket Edition does not have all of the blocks from the original PC version of the game. Pocket Edition does not have TNT or any of the nether materials from the original game. Instead it only has the basic building blocks from the original. It also does not support weapon and element crafting like in the PC version. These omissions are because the game is still in Alpha for Android and the developer plans on including them in future versions of the game.
The game also supports play over Wi-Fi allowing you to customize your world with the help of your friends. You are able to create a local network game and open it up for other players to join. Sadly this only supports local area networks and does not support Internet multiplayer within infrastructure mode or 3G.
Finally, there is currently only one mode of play which is construction mode or God mode. This allows you to construct a world at your whim. There is no health bar, no enemies, and no possibility of dying because you jumped too far down or swam too deep in the ocean. In the PC version there is a survivor mode where you must face zombies, monsters, death by drowning, and death by falling. Survivor mode also allows you to craft weapons and traps to kill off the bad guys and protect your structures. Although this is currently not supported in Pocket Edition the developer has stated that he plans on adding it in the future.
Minecraft Pocket Edition is extremely fun to play. The worlds are vast and allow you to create and change anything about them at your whim. I was able to construct a massive castle, an underground lair, an indoor pool, and a floating home within a few hours in the game and I had barely touched the full area of the world I was in.
This game provides the player with unlimited creativity and unlimited worlds in which to express that creativity in. I would recommend this to anyone who has ever enjoyed playing with Lego’s or likes to construct things. It will allow you to fully express yourself in a virtual world where your potential is only limited by your imagination.
Minecraft Pocket Edition is extremely addictive. I have been playing it daily since I purchased it and I do not see an end in sight for myself and this game. There is unlimited potential for your creativity in this masterpiece and the graphics are excellent for such an immense world on a mobile platform. In fact I would go as far as to say that the graphics had no loss in quality from the PC version to the Pocket Version.
The only thing that I think really hampers the addictiveness of this game is the lack of survivor mode. I can see in the future how I will become bored of this game, because I will see no point in creating new structures if there is no threat of those structures being knocked down and no reward for me creating them. The addition of a survivor mode would add a more personal challenge to the game and further increase my gameplay.
The graphics for Minecraft are excellent. The game has virtually identical graphics to the PC version and the gameplay is extremely smooth. There was no visible lag while playing the game unless a background application began syncing large amounts of data, like Astrid Task/Todo List or Titanium Media Sync. This was obviously not a result of the game engine, but was caused by the large amount of memory required in order to sync these applications.
Minecraft Pocket Edition made no use of either the accelerometer or the phone’s haptic feedback. It did utilize sound effects but only for basic actions like: creating and destroying blocks, swimming, moving, and selecting menu items. This game would benefit greatly from a music track like in the PC version and hopefully this will be added in future versions of the application.
One thing I would like to touch on in this section is the games controls on an Xperia Play controller. Currently the game has no options to customize the game controls and your movement is controlled by the D-PAD, your cursor movement is controlled from the right analog stick, block control is the back two triggers, and block selection is handled through the X, O, Square, and Triangle keys. One option that I think should be made available for the game is movement by the left analog stick. The controls currently feel too spread out, and I think that it would be easier if the controls were consolidated to the two touch pads included on the Xperia Play.
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