MINECRAFT REVIEW

At this point, Minecraft is such a well-known game that reviewing its content in 2017 seems redundant. (For that, you can check out our reviews of the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions and of Minecraft: Pocket Edition.) But with its recent release on the Switch the question that needs answering is how Nintendo’s portable console handles building these fantastic blocky worlds, and the answer is: pretty well.

The Switch Edition of Minecraft takes the appealing portability of Minecraft Pocket Edition and adds the precise, comfortable controls of a console. The convenience of playing Minecraft on the go and easily jumping into online multiplayer with friends on their own Switch devices would make it hard to go back to other versions of if it weren’t missing an essential feature: voice chat. That makes playing with friends who aren’t in the room with you much less fun, since there’s no way to coordinate your efforts with the up to seven other players in a game. You can get that human interaction locally by playing two-player split-screen mode, but this works much better when the Switch is docked, because the screen is a little too small to play in handheld or kickstand mode with multiple people. It’s possible, you just might not be able to see very well.

Like the current PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions (1.5), the Switch’s Minecraft lacks some other features that are on the PC’s 1.9 version, like the reworked combat system. And, unfortunately, Minecraft doesn’t use the Switch’s touch screen for faster inventory management – or anything else – so it’s not quite the best of both the console and Pocket Edition worlds. It does include a bunch of exclusive Super Mario-themed skins, though.

Lastly, I didn’t experience any noticeable slowdowns either in docked or portable modes, though it’s worth noting that Minecraft runs in 720p even while docked. Not that the resolution of these intentionally blocky graphics matters much, of course.

QUALITY

There's an adage that, in life, you'll only get out of it what you're willing to put into it, and that's completely true with this creative adventure. You're literally dropped in the middle of nowhere with nothing more than your wits. Starting off, you'll pick up some wood from a tree, which you'll use to make a batch of sticks. Then you'll attach some more wood to those sticks and make a pickaxe. Using that pickaxe, you can mine some stone to help build a house. And so goes the cycle of the game. You'll spend your time exploring the world around you and harvesting what you can to help create what you need. Over time, you'll learn more about how to find and build more complex materials and tools, combining them to craft new, intricate creations. It's a heavy investment of time and research, and it's likely to cause even the most hard-core gamer some frustration from time to time, but the payoff can be fulfilling. The newest version, on the Nintendo Switch, includes a formidable tutorial that's likely to confuse as many new players as it helps, but by and large the best way to learn Minecraft is to just start playing Minecraft. If you are new to Minecraft, the Nintendo-specific touches help it feel less unfamiliar: The Switch edition bursts with an extra Super Mario texture pack, a set of Super Mario skins for your characters, and an entire Super Mario-themed world to explore with Mario themed music and huge statues of Mario himself.

Minecraft does its best to be all things to all people. If you're the type of person who wants a gaming experience with heroes fighting villains, the game's Survival and Adventure modes offer a classic adventure with players battling the forces of evil while trying to maintain their homesteads. Zombies, skeleton, creepers, endermen, and more come out in force when the sun goes down, forcing the players to craft strong defenses if they hope to see the next sunrise. For those gamers who are less about using an arsenal and more about using a toolbox, there's Creative mode; this is essentially the game's God mode, where you get full access to everything in the Minecraft wheelhouse without having to worry about such things as hostile mobs, hunger, or other things that might cut short your time in the world. Here, players can build to their hearts' content, crafting and testing extravagant projects before sharing them with the world. One thing to keep in mind, though, is the fact that, at any given moment, there are thousands of other people thinking up things to build as well. For every intricate, highly detailed re-creation of some building, game, or other such massive undertaking, there's going to be someone who has used the tools at their disposal to make something juvenile, obscene, or otherwise offensive. And unfortunately, there's no way to really know what you're getting into until you've joined another player's game. This is definitely one time parents should keep an eye on where their kids are visiting online. But once you know what you’re doing, you'll be hard-pressed to leave your computer without placing just one more