Minecraft Dungeons - Review
For a game that started out without any real purpose, Minecraft’s growth into one of the gaming industries biggest titles, is astounding. When the Minecraft Story Mode games were released, it opened up the gates, for more genres to enter the universe, but it has taken another 3 years for something else to come along. The question now though, is has time that been worth the wait?
There is a light story in play here, a villager, who looks quite different from the normal ones, struggling in a world to find somewhere to below. After being rejected from yet another village, he ventures out into the world once more and after braving a storm, comes across a large stone door, inside of it, he finds things that go bump in the night, but also a mysterious orb of untold power. Using this orb, the now crowned illager, as he owes the world the same ill treatment he received, builds and army of monsters and starts to enslave the residents of the towns around the world. Whilst the world waits for a hero, you begin your quest to save the world, by exploring and taking down hordes of foes that all lead to the Arch-Illager. Like I said, light story, there are a few cutscenes where the tone shifts towards the darker side of things, but they are brief moments and will likely only impact the really young. What the team have done is create a story that exists, purely to join the worlds together, but for those who are new to gaming, or fall to the younger side of things, it does the job it needs to.
The core of the game is the diablo style gameplay and while it does keep things simple, for what it offers, it all comes together really well. The best way I can explain the game, is that basically it’s Diablo lite, which is not a slam against it, it is something to be proud of. Much like Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle brought the XCOM style of tactics to new gamers, with a more colourful layer, this is doing the same for Dungeon crawlers. The core of the experience is moving through the locations that the game creates, taking down enemies that come near you, looking for hidden treasures, maybe taking on a boss or two and then, doing it all over again. The fun comes in that the maps are massive and whilst exploring them is never forced upon you, doing so can be more rewarding that taking out the final boss. What needs to be said though, is that sometimes exploring out to the far reaches of a world, might result in nothing, except part of a scenic view, so temper expectations before you get to excited.
The crux of the gameplay as I said is a cycle, but it is how you prep for each run, that changes up how you will experience things. There are no set character classes to worry about, so if you find yourself hating swords by the third run, you are not locked into it for the remainder of your time with the game. In fact, at any point, you can completely reset yourself, to something more powerful, or just vastly different, which will in turn challenge your next run, in a vastly different way than just ramping up the difficulty. Your character is given three main slots and then three ancillary ones, from the main slots, one is going to be your main weapon, another the secondary and the final one is for the armour. The remaining slots are for your items like fire arrows, totems and such, there have a cool down timer attached and that will vary, depending on how potent the effects from them are, the stronger they are, the longer the cool down.
Each time you encounter a mob of enemies, you will have to take the time to make sure your attacks are done correctly, not like a fighting game, but if you run into the middle of the mob, waving your sword around like a mad man, you will die. Taking out enemies from afar with a bow and arrow, or a crossbow is better to begin with, but if you want to reel in some enemies, you can use a fishing rod, there are options for you. This is also where the games main combat falls apart because that is really all you can do, sure lobbing a block of TNT at enemies is fun, but there is little else to smile about. The game gives you the ability to dodge, which is usually done by rolling away, but that has a cool down on it as well, whilst only a few seconds, it does mean that you have to use it wisely, which for younger gamers, might make them feel overwhelmed.
Another aspect of the game that I did not enjoy at all, was the games in game stores, which are loot boxes, except you unlock them with gems you earn in combat or discover around the worlds. As you complete missions, more villagers will return to your camp, in order to assist with the saving of the world and as part of their plan, they are going to sell you items, the catch is, they are random buys. So, spending 100 gems at the Blacksmith, to get a sword that is a lower level than one I collected in my second world, is a pain, but then the next purchase, cost me more gems and also provided an inferior item. Now I can understand the need to balance item obtainment, in order to ensure players are not to overpowered for the worlds, but random buys are not on, especially when, if you don’t explore the worlds, your wallet of gems, might not be that high.
Of course, you can’t talk about Minecraft Dungeons, without talking about how it looks, and I will be honest, it makes the regular version of Minecraft look like a fan made version, Dungeons is a stunning game. This is not to say it looks incredibly different or something, it still looks like Minecraft, but I would say it is the equivalent of having two people paint the same thing, only one has many years of experience and the other does not. If you see the game, at any point, you can say it is Minecraft, the ground textures are the same, the enemies, the weapons all look the same, but there is a level of polish to it, that elevates it to new heights. Actually, thinking on it, there are many new additions, that I hope make it back to the original game, specifically around multiple level blocks, nicer water effects, oh and trees and plants, that don’t look like they move with only 3 frames of animation.
The downside to the games presentation is in the camera, you can’t control it, at all times it is in the same spot, which is normally an ok thing, but the problem is that there are times when you can’t see a lot of what is on screen, as some hills or such is in the way. The other issue is that, you can’t zoom in or out and while the game does have a few moments where it zooms in, for dramatic effect, not being able to control how much you see, can impact your plans. These are of course minor gripes, but in this day of gaming, not having a camera that the player can control, is just about the worst thing to omit. On the audio side, things are out of balance and it worries me, the games musical score, which feels entirely new, but I can’t be 100% sure on that, is nice and each track suits the worlds they play in. The games sound effects, of Enderman zipping around, Creepers hissing and blowing up, all sound exactly like you expect them to. The problem is the balance between the two is off, causing the games music to overpower the effects a lot of the time, but then randomly, the music dips down and the effects take centre stage. This is something that can be fixed with little effort, but the fact that it requires a fix, is a concern.
Minecraft Dungeons has done the impossible and made a Minecraft game that keeps the feel of the original, all the while creating something new and unique. Dungeon crawlers are not new of course, but the games simplified approach, will allow many new gamers to experience this genre for the first time and that is a good thing. Random loot boxes, an immobile camera and wonky audio are issues that need to be fixed, but for the most part they can be overlooked, but the result is that the game feels lacking, but get passed them and there is a great game waiting to be played.
The Score
9.0
Review code provided by Xbox Game Studios
The Pros
+Fun and approachable combat that doesn't take itself to seriously
+Plenty of replay value to be had, the cornerstone of any good dungeon crawler
The Cons
+Random loot box buys, cheapens the whole camp experience
+Not being able to rotate the camera, or zoom in, is just weird
