Episode 1 – The Order of the Stone
Minecraft: Story Mode is the latest point-and-click, 5-part episodic adventure from Telltale Games. It takes the world of Minecraft from an open world sandbox to a story that is a little less open world and a bit more charming, with the fantastic storytelling Telltale is known for.
Gameplay
If you’ve played any of Telltale’s games, you’ll feel right at home here. For those who haven’t, the game combines elements of point-and-click, adventure, puzzle solving, quick time events, and decision making to immerse you into the story. For the first time you can pick either a male or female main character and choose your skin tone to suit your style. I haven’t played Minecraft before, so I can’t say how well it is incorporated, but there are moments when you need to use the crafting table to create an item to use. The game does allow you to open crafting recipes to figure out placement of materials
to create the item the game is having you make. Building and harvesting materials is relegated to quick time events, however. The game does also have combat moments where you must fight zombies and whatever other enemy attacks. It isn’t anything overly complicated, but it was nice to see different gameplay as opposed to combat being regulated to quick time events.
Story
The game starts with a telling of the story of the Order of the Stone, a group of 4 heroes, before you assume the control of Jessie. After meeting Jessie’s friends Axel and Oliva and Jessie’s pet pig Reuben, you meet your group’s rivals, the Ocelots, whose leader Lukas later joins your party. Ivor, the antagonist, unleashes a creature that destroys the annual Endercon festival and you are tasked with finding the remaining members of the Order of the Stone to defeat the creature and save the world.
Graphics and Audio
While I can not comment on the authenticity of the sounds from the Minecraft creatures, there isn’t a sound that seems out of place. The voices are also very well done, from Patton Oswalt’s Jessie to Paul Reubens’ Ivor. The only problem I had was that Patton Oswalt’s recognizable voice throws you out of the character because all you hear is Patton Oswalt, and same with Billy West’s Narrator, although the narrator is only in the game it for a short time. Graphically wise, it is pretty hard to screw up 3D, 8-bit style models. There is some clipping between the block pieces of the characters, but you forget about it quickly.
Overall
Minecraft: Story Mode is a welcome addition to Telltale’s ever expanding lineup of games. Unlike their last licensed game, Game of Thrones, this one doesn’t seem to need knowledge of it’s respective property. While it may not be their best game, it does have a certain charm about it that makes it interesting enough for people that don’t know a thing about Minecraft to want to continue the story and see where it goes.
Minecraft Story Mode - Episode One - The Order of the Stone
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Story - 9/109/10
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Gameplay - 8/108/10
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Mechanics - 8/108/10
The Verdict
Minecraft Story Mode’s first episode is an exciting foray into the world of Minecraft that will make you want to come back for more.
