Microsoft’s AR gaming experiment, Minecraft Earth, is now available for mobile gamers across the world to try their hand at. The pocket-sized augmented reality game allows you to collect blocks as well as critters by exploring your surroundings, much like Pokemon Go. However, Minecraft Earth isn’t just a straightforward photocopy of Pokemon Go. Instead, it takes Pokemon Go’s gameplay mechanics and adapts them in a creative manner.
Minecraft Earth Gameplay
The gameplay is more collaborative than competitive which allows users to get together and build magnificent structures with the power of teamwork. Coming back to the core gameplay, a player simply walks around their neighbourhood, which is charmingly rendered in Minecraft-style, and taps on items such as trees, a pile of rocks, chests, animals and more. Tapping these objects collects resources, and these objects could be dirt or stone, critters like pigs, chickens, or cows and trees. Minecraft Earth’s in-game currency is called Rubies and they occur organically in the wild, either as quests or during adventures. But it is extremely slow and unreliable to find. Crafting is a bit different than in Minecraft, but it’s similar. However, it does implement timers for things like smelting. Some tappable entities include events such as boss fights which you can complete alone or collaboratively with a friend later on. All the blocks are collected towards the goal of creating something grand on your ‘build plates’. The game provides you with several differently-style build plates as you progress through levels or via the in-app shop. These plates can be placed on flat surfaces which they lock onto, allowing you to roam about freely while you edit and build. The entire experience is seamless and the AR doesn’t feel jittery or buggy at all. You can easily “zoom in” and edit a structure by simply moving your phone closer to the AR structure. Additionally, multiple people can work on one build plate at the same time. This plate can then be taken outside, when complete, and you can have it represented at ‘real-life’ size. So, if you build a castle, you can actually walk around the interior. You can’t climb stairs, but you can open and shut doors, breed animals and more! However, the two gripes we had with the game were – AR mode cannot be turned off at all. If you want to build without the distractions of AR, well… you can’t.
Minecraft Earth Verdict
Thankfully, the AR is very smooth, which made the process of building pleasant. Secondly, there’s no real mining in ‘Minecraft’ Earth. You hit bedrock almost instantaneously as you start digging downwards in your build plate which felt very counterintuitive to us. Also, like other AR games, you will be restricted to the environment around you. Nevertheless, it’s a fresh take on AR games which you will enjoy if you’re a Minecraft fan, and even if you aren’t and simply enjoy building creative stuff.
SKOAR – 7
MOAR
Publisher: Mojang
Developer: Mojang
Platform: Android / iOS
Price: Free
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Dhriti Datta
Perpetually sporting a death stare, this one can be seen tinkering around with her smartphone which she holds more dear than life itself and stuffing her face with copious amounts of bacon. View Full Profile
