Hey folks, I'm interrupting the Steam monthly bonanza thing to hop on-board the cuboid MineCraft bandwagon. Now that a less sophisticated 360 version has come out - and been reviewed on GB even! In lieu of many other games! - I figured it was high time I stuck my unwarranted prejudices in my pocket and give that ol' trial version a run. You know, kind of recreating that fun everyone had with the Alpha back in the day? So I went onto UK XBLA and... they didn't have it. I guess because it takes longer to localize all that story content for Europe?
'Twas but a momentary setback for the "never say die" stalwart chap that I am, however, so I instead embarked on a quixotic quest to find something that was very similar to MineCraft - that could recreate that same mix of constructive fun and exploration wanderlust - yet was somehow both better and cheaper. Guys, I think I may have found it:
Welcome to MinePaint! This is my new world. Looks a bit barren here of course, but then it's only just finished generating all that beautiful whiteness to explore. Let's jump in!So obviously the first thing you want to do is build a house to protect yourself from the elements (not to mention the many colorful monsters out there!) Since I don't have any sophisticated tools as of yet, my domicile is somewhat crude. We'll fix it later once we've acquired some decent materials!So here you can see that I've dug a hole in my world and have already started mining a crapton of sweet ores. Most of it is brown and grey, as evident over on the right there, but I've found a smattering of rarer stuff too. Ahh, this game is really hitting up that kind of rush I get for discovery!Note to first time players: Though the temptation to spend all your new resources on fixing up your crappy house is great (and unavoidable in my case, since I used up ALL my bluium!), you'll want to save it - especially early on - for practical improvements rather than cosmetic ones.Well, look what we have here. The first visitor to my server! Hello there, neighbor!Hey, mi casa es su casa, amigo! He seems content to wander around for now, so it's time to do some more mining. Look at all those minerals! I even have some super rare purplium now as well!Now here is the real first improvement you guys should make: The crafting table! With this, you can add all sorts of useful items to your MinePaint world!As you can see, I've built a cool-looking chair for sittin', a pickaxe to help me dig further down and RoboCop.Wha?! H-hey, that's my purplium!Quickly RoboCop! Apprehend that creep before he absconds with my precious minerals!Oh God dammit. I guess I need to build some fuel for him something. I don't even know what the MinePaint formula is for babyfood. I'll check the official MinePaint wiki later.Well, that's the first few hours I spent with this game. A bit of a rough time, but then you can't help it if the occasional criminal element sneaks into your world. Makes it more exciting, in a way. Overall, I've had a blast letting my imagination run wild here. I'll be sure to let you guys in on any big projects I decide to build! Until next time, toodles!
(Part 9 of May Madness is coming soon, you guys. Honest.)
