Minecraft: Pocket Edition Review

Minecraft was an overnight success because of the freedom and creativity it granted. Can the mobile edition live up to its high expectations?

 When you start Minecraft, you are offered no explanation, nor any guide. You are simply given a large world, and a pickaxe. If you are one of the few who haven’t heard of Minecraft, it is basically playing with LEGOs on a larger scale. You are given several dozen blocks with which you can design your world. With such a large amount of freedom, Minecraft offers almost unlimited replay value. You can design a floating island to live on, or possibly make an entire castle underground. Your options are limitless and there is nothing holding you back.

Minecraft sounds so simple, that you may even believe it to be boring. However, as soon as you build your first block, you’ll be sucked into a realm where you hold the ultimate power.

Unfortunately, the pocket edition does not offer the survival mode that Minecraft has been known for. This severely brings down the game because there is almost no challenge to it. I would have liked to be able to fight creepers or other creatures at least some time.

Once you really get into the core game of the pocket edition, you start to see how barebones it is when compared to its parent game. For example, the world you are given is much smaller than in Minecraft. You also are offered only a fraction of the blocks from the original game. In addition there are no living creatures, and water is finite.

However, those are basically the only complaints you could possibly have. Sure the game is a bit buggy, but it will have patches and updates. Hopefully these future updates will bring the survival mode as well.

As far as the pocket edition goes, it certainly helps capture some of the charm that made the original Minecraft so amazing.

Visuals: 7 – Although Minecraft doesn’t offer the flashiest visuals, its style makes up for it by capturing you with its undeniable originality.

Sound: 6 – To be fair, there wasn’t really anything wrong with the sound in Minecraft: PE, in fact there wasn’t much of anything. The only sound effects were an occasional thud from falling, and the tap of your axe against blocks. However, no music is present and that feature will be missed.

Gameplay: 7 –Although Minecraft: PE does offer ample amounts of replay value, it is very barebones when compared to its original game. Hopefully future updates will bring more to do.

OVERALL – 7.5