Anyway, this post is a review of Minecraft: Story Mode. Well, actually this is a review of Episode 1 of Minecraft Story Mode (I also have Episode 2 and will be posting a review of that as well). WARNING: AS THIS IS A NARRATIVE DRIVEN GAME, THERE WILL BE SPOILERS SO IF YOU DON'T WANT SPOILERS BUT STILL WANT MY OPINION OF THE EPISODE, SCROLL ALL THE WAY DOWN TO THE BOTTOM PARAGRAPH FOR A SPOILER FREE RECAP.
You can customize the main hero of our tale, Jesse,
at the beginning of the game, but you have to choose
one of six preset models. I went with the one in the black
shirt and brown pants since I like that one most.
When you start the episode up you get a nice introduction to four legendary heroes collectively known as the Order of the Stone. Random fun fact! Each member is based off various Minecraft activities.
From Left to Right: Magnus the Griefer, Ellegaard
the Inventor, Gabriel the Warrior,and Soren the Architect
Together they are the Order of the Stone.
Out of the four members of the Order of the Stone, I like Soren and Gabriel best. I like Soren because he is the living embodiment of everything I like doing in Minecraft. Building stuff. Which is what I do in EVERY world I play on. The reason I like Gabriel is because 1: He has the most epic voice ever. And 2: He's the only character in the entire game with a diamond sword. In case you do not know what a diamond sword is, it's the best weapon in all of Minecraft. And if you give a diamond sword the Sharpness V enchant with a Fire Aspect I enchant, along with a Unbreaking IV enchant and you get what I like to call, the SUPER SAIYAN SWORD!!!!!!!
But you do not play as the Order of the Stone in Minecraft Story Mode. You play as Jesse (who you can semi-customize at the beginning of the game).
Jesse and the gang! Jesse has his own gang! And
not gang as in mobster gang, gang as in team!
Now something to keep in mind about Jesse and his/her friends is that they have been treated like dirt by some idiot named Aiden. And I have every right to call Aiden an idiot because 1: He is an idiot. 2: Aiden wears a stupid leather jacket like he's some kind of rock star. But he is not and thus the leather jacket is stupid (Spencer logic 101: Leather Jackets are only cool if worn by rock stars).
Gabriel and his Diamond Sword!
Jesse has two best friends in the game, and both have their spotlight moments throughout the game.
This is Olivia. She loves making Redstone Contraptions (machines that make Minecraft chores like farming easier). Olivia also idolizes Ellegaard, the Order of the Stone's resident inventor. Also at one point she votes the gang build a tree house to take shelter from the mobs. Of course you can choose to agree with Olivia or build a First Night style hut out of dirt blocks. Obviously I went with Tree House because why would you NOT make your first night shelter as epic as possible?
This is Axel. He is only character in the game more than two blocks tall and one block wide. in fact he is so 'wide' that he struggles to pass through a fence gate. He loves stealing, pranking, and worships Magnus, the Order's griefer. In case you never heard of the term "griefer", they are people who blow other people up with TNT, throw chicken eggs everywhere, and go out of their way to make people rage quit.
The main villain of Minecraft Story
Mode is this guy; Ivor
About halfway through the first episode Ivor spawns in a Wither (a Wither is a three headed skeleton monster. The Wither is the most powerful mob in the game, so powerful it's considered by many to be the final boss of Minecraft). But he adds in a Command Block to control it and exact revenge on Gabriel (more on that later). But the Command Block backfires and turns the Wither into this thing...
The Wither Storm!
The endgame goal for Jesse and Friends is to reunite the Order of the Stone and try to kill the Wither Storm, since Ivor can't stop it even if he wanted too.
But this is all story. What about the gameplay? Well the biggest thing is that you can choose what Jesse does during cinematics. Example: You can choose whether to punch Ivor in the face once his monster traps everyone in another dimension called the Nether. For obvious reasons, I made Jesse punch him in the face. And everyone and their mother punched Ivor in the face. The most popular choice in this scenario is "Punch Ivor in Face". Every now and again you can make Jesse walk around and interact with objects a la most Point and Click games.
There is also combat in the game, but it's limited to Quick-Time Events and every now and again one-vs-one (sometimes one-vs-two, and rarely it's one-vs-three) sword fights.
The episode ends with you choosing which of two Order of the Stone Members to recruit first. As Gabriel is either eaten alive by the Wither Storm or trying to find the gang (again, not mobster gang, team gang) depending on your actions, and Soren went into hiding, the only two Order members you can choose to seek out are Magnus the Griefer, or Ellegaard the Inventor. The choice you make will greatly alter the story in the second episode.
Now for my opinion of the episode. The voice acting was well-done (Gabriel has the most epic voice I have ever heard in a video game), and the music was good in some areas and average in others. In terms of graphics, the game nails the Minecraft feel. And runs with it. And in terms of gameplay, Episode 1 felt more like a interactive movie instead of a actual game. Which is a good thing in my book because everyone has that moment where they be all like "OMG I can't believe you didn't go there/kill that guy/press that button!!" So being able to choose what the protagonist says and does in cinematics is a nice touch (then again, this is a Telltale game. Telltale is LEGENDARY for doing "interactive movie" style games. Only most of their games are SUPER-duper violent and normally rated M for Mature and this is literally their first ever family friendly project). The only thing that was a letdown was the fact that Episode 1 is only 2 hours long.
Overall I give Minecraft Story Mode Episode 1: The Order of the Stone a 7/10. If you love Minecraft, then chances are you will love Minecraft Story Mode. If you don't then don't bother buying it. But then again There is NOBODY that does not like Minecraft. Either you love Minecraft, or you never heard of Minecraft. There is no "not like Minecraft".
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