When we hear about Minecraftthe most nostalgic of us immediately think of the first version: a world to explore and the possibility of build what we want. That Minecraft still exists, has grown and evolved. Passing under the wing of Microsoft however, it also allowed the creating variations, with different gameplay but based on the same cubed setting. The first variant, Minecraft Dungeon made us take on the role of a hero to fight enemies. The new release, Minecraft Legendswhich will be available in a few days, it will put us in the shoes of a leader on horseback that, with his army, he must save the world from an invasion of demons. And try to say that this is not epic! Now, however, let’s see what new Minecraft Legends offers us in this review.
Minecraft Legends review
Minecraft Legends is a real-time strategy game in which we also have to manage resources to advance our character.
History
The story of Minecraft Legend is all in all simple, but manages to catapult us directly into the thick of the action. A peaceful world, the Overworldgets invaded by some sort of demons, i Piglimwho access it through gods bring them. The three entities guarding the Overworld, called Foresight, Knowledge and Action, are not ready to face the invasion and need an ally. Obviously, the choice falls on us. We are then transported through a magical portal to the Overworld, where our adventures begin.
The gameplay
The game basically consists of a series of missions within a rather large map. We have to travel to a different place from time to time e free him from the Pyglim. To do it, we enter their base and destroy the portals from which they summon troops to the Overworld. Completing each mission will make us progress through the story, until we become a legend.
In order to fight the Piglim the three guardians deliver us a lute and a banner. With the lute we play melodies for check our allies e to build new structures. The banner, on the other hand, serves us for gather allies around us and bring them into battle. Deciding which allies to use, how to deploy them, and whether to push them forward or use them for cover defines our strategy.
The progression of the game
The progression during the game it is not measured against a level associated with the characterbut based on the melodies available for our lute.
At the beginning the scores at our disposal are few, but as we progress through the game we unlock new tunes which let us access new allies and structures. We advise you to always keep an eye on the tune book and also to go and leaf through it every now and then; because sometimes we happened to find pleasant surprises, to which we hadn’t immediately paid enough attention.
The Pyglim invasion, on the other hand, yes evolves in successive waves. Each time they will build a more extensive and fortified base; to destroy the portals it will be necessary to elaborate progressively more complex strategies and ever stronger allies.
The allies
Minecraft Legends, if we want to use a somewhat strong term, breaks with the past. We no longer talk about having allies and enemies in a game world but the perspective becomes “all the Overworld against the Pyglim“. If we want, especially for the little ones, this can also be a nice message.
From a more practical point of view, during the game we’re going to join forces and also use some NPCs that we were normally against, such as creepers, skeletons and zombies. Each with its particular characteristics, but all ready to lend us a hand.
Different ways to play
One thing we really liked about Minecraft Legends is the freedom with which it is possible to approach the game. Indeed it is possible play alone and bet a lot on strategy. Alternatively we can use the cooperative mode to join our friends for conquer a Piglim base by entering with your head down. Otherwise, if the Piglim’s artificial intelligence doesn’t satisfy us and we feel the need for a more difficult challenge, we can test yourself against other players, alone or in teams.
The only thing we were a little perplexed about was the limitation at the expense of some consoles. Apparently, if we play with a Switch, a PlayStation 4 or an Xbox One we can put ourselves in cooperative mode with up to two players. Conversely, in all other cases, we can invite up to four friends. However, we do not rule out that it is a temporary limitation and maybe it will be removed in a future update.
From single blocks to structures
Always harking back to the classic Minecraft version we’re used to shaping the world one cube at a time. It sure is a fascinating process; many find it relaxing, for many it is an exercise in patience. Unfortunately, this ill wed with a game that wants to be strategic and in real time. For this reason, to make the game more interactive, the designers decided to quite a radical choice: no more cubes, you build one structure at a time.
The mechanics are, as always, very simple: material accumulates taking it from the territory below and you use it to build. The difference is that we don’t do it ourselves. When we have to collect material, stone, wood, iron or other, we highlight an area of the map close to us and some spirits our allies will try to collect as much as possible. Each type of resource can be harvested in a limited amount. To build, we select a structure among those available to us and we place it on the map. Building each structure will, of course, cost a specific amount of material.
To be honest, we were a little annoyed at this mechanic at first; because it goes a bit to betray what is the original idea of Minecraft. However, as we progressed through the game, we realized that Minecraft Legends, the subject of this review, it has a different purpose. The buildings are mostly functional to obtain a result and should not be seen as a‘permanent architecture. Once we clarified this to ourselves, even building became enjoyable.
However, it must be said that not all structures are “rigid” to use and some may even assume different functions. In our opinion, with a little imagination, it will be possible to make interesting uses of it although they weren’t exactly designed for that. Forgive us, but right here We don’t want to give you spoilers.
Procedurally generated worlds
This is definitely not new. Since the first Minecraft we have been used to dealing with maps and biomes that are randomly generated. In reality it is not correct to speak of random generation, but the term “procedural” must be used.
A random generation simply rolls the dice; if it goes well the map is beautiful, otherwise we remain dissatisfied. A procedural generation use an algorithm that, starting from a very small set of input data create the whole game world. These starting data, in Minecraft, are a number of many digits and we are used to calling it “seed”. If we use an algorithm we don’t generate random things and the map is always at least playable.
The playability, or challenge, level of the map therefore it depends on how refined the generation algorithm is. We’re not experts on these types of algorithms here, and we’ve certainly only seen a subset of all the variety that can be generated in Minecraft Legends. That doesn’t take away from that though what we saw we really liked. The maps have proven themselves all well navigable and their complexity it has never been such as to make the game frustrating. Obviously there may be some combinations (patterns) that repeat themselves, and on some occasions we have noticed them, but these were rather restricted areas and, on the whole, we never stopped to ask ourselves “have we been here before?”
Summing up, for what we have seen, the procedural generation algorithm seems very robust and refined. We believe he also has what it takes to prove he’s the best in the series.
A small snag on the edges
If we really have to criticize this game, which has fascinated us from the very first moment, it is that the Minecraft Legends controls are not always very comfortable; at least in the PC version, which we used for this review. With a gamepad, unfortunately, we could not try our hand.
Nothing to say about the keyboard; it took us a while to get familiar with the keys, but with the mouse it was a little different. Changing the direction of the character seemed to us suffer from some lag; not excessive but sometimes annoying. Also, selecting the area of the map where to collect resources, or build a structure, sometimes forces you to do so unnatural wrist movements. Probably the thing it can be solved with a fine tuning of the mouse, but we found it a bit strange not to see it running smoothly along with everything else. On the other hand, everything is fine in the various interface menus.
The graphics sector
Before summing up, let’s go by spend a few words on the aesthetic part of Minecraft Legends. It is obvious that a world made of cubes cannot (and should not) make use of a photorealistic visualization. However, Minecraft Legends manages to don’t be flat and angular as we would have expected. The view does…