Goombd Played! - Minecraft Xbox 360 Edition

  

Minecraft Xbox 360 Edition is a great gateway into the world of Minecraft. If you've been mostly unaware of the game over the past couple of years like me, diving into this particular version of the game is a great way to get started.

For those that are not particularly familiar with what Minecraft is, a brief introduction: it's a blocky, three dimensional sandbox created by Sweedish developer Mojang where you can harvest resources and buy just about anything you can imagine. Or most of it, anyway. You're in charge of what you want to do. People have difficulty classifying this as a game due to the fact that there really aren't any goals to speak of.

The Xbox 360 version of Minecraft directs you towards goals somewhat with an expanded set of achievements to aim for and a new tutorial mode that teaches you the basics of mining and crafting items. Frankly, though, only a couple of the feats you can get a 'ding' for are actual challenges that will take much time to complete, like building a portal to another dimension, or putting together a railway system that crosses half of your world's extension.

Minecraft is a build-your-experience title, and even though the Xbox 360 version is relatively limited in comparison to the often updated PC port, due to that console's now increasingly meager technical resources, there's still a metric ton to see and do here. I've been playing the game for about 20 hours now and I've still to touch the edge of my map, which in this version of the game is comprised of a 500m sided cube. 

Like I mentioned before, starting out in Minecraft is even easier now thanks to a very friendly tutorial that eases you into the crafting of tools which you can put to use right away in harvesting materials. Your first tool as soon as you fire up the game is your fist, which you use to karate chop a tree, thus getting lumber to set up a workbench and construct an actual axe. The progression of materials is very well paced and before very long, you'll be sporting very durable diamond tools, which are just plain awesome to use. Speaking of tools, the Xbox 360 version also features a brand new streamlined crafting menu that does away with the annoyance of researching the Internet for crafting recipes - by simply having the "mats" in your inventory, you can make whatever it is you need, that is featured in that menu. Very handy.

Before diving into that though, you'll have to defend yourself. At night, monsters come out for your blood. Building a well lit shelter is paramount. Or, if you don't care about fighting and just want to have fun building, you can turn on peaceful mode. Sadly though, by doing that, you cut off a margin of finding unique resources that are only found in monsters, like the string to make bows that spiders spin, or bones that can be grounded up and act as fertilizer for your crops.

Finding your personal measure of fun is probably Minecraft's challenge. Some people already scratch their heads in amazement as to how this game can be so popular, while others simply cannot live without it. Frankly, I'm having a blast with it, mostly because I've been coming up with my own goals and missions. It all started out with building a castle on the top of a hill, growing to the creation of a farm and most recently, the successful construction of the aforementioned railway system, that now connects my main continent to a huge mining complex I've built on the other side of my world.

Most of Minecraft's veterans scoff and sneer this particular version of the game for lacking key features from the current iteration of the game on PC, like the freeform creative mode and the RPG adventure module. Mojang promised to slowly delivering content updates that should make the Xbox 360 version of Minecraft up to speed. As it stands, it's already an incredibly competent title, perfectly suited for new players, at a cheaper price (20 dollars, or 1600 Microsoft Points). Being one of those newbies, I can attest to that. You shouldn't miss this. |8

Goombd Played! - Sine Mora

They say that time is money. In Sine Mora's case, Grasshopper Manufacturer's newest game, time is life and money... well, money is just a way of keeping score. This time bending bullet hell shooter is a gorgeous example of how an old school game concept can evolve to the current generation of games, not only visually but in terms of gameplay.

Time is of the essence, especially when it involves saving someone you care about. In case of our main hero, he wants to save his son from dying. Sine Mora starts at a botched air strike attempt and only gets crazier from there. It's tough to follow the story considering how it's delivered, through loading screens in a wall of text, read in Russian. In fact, unless you speak the language, you won't understand a lick of any of the voice acting delivered in the game.


Thankfully, you don't need to learn any new languages in order to play this game and story aside, we have to admit we're here to shoot a lot of big things and avoid getting killed by a million of onscreen bullets. In that regard, Sine Mora is awesome. If you've played a bullet hell shooter in the past, you know what to expect here. Knowing when to attack and when to dodge is the key to success.

Mastering time, though, is another facet of Sine Mora. For some miracle of technology (or is it magic? who knows?) you're able to control time for a short spurt of seconds. With this gizmo, you can slow down everything around you when things get hairy. This mechanic is particularly useful during boss encounters, when the screen is literally baked with dots trying to kill you. Keep in mind, this power runs out and very few pick ups refill it, but it's a nice trick regardless.


Even though you have the power to control time, you're still a very vulnerable little ship fighting giant fortresses, monsters and the such. As you take hits, the on screen clock loses time and when that runs out, you're dead. In order to keep it up top, you need to destroy enemies, plain and simple. Levels are somewhat lenient with the clock, too. At every checkpoint, Sine Mora throws in a few extra seconds.

And delivering to expectations, you'll need all the seconds you can get. Sine Mora is relentless. Even if you decide to tackle the game's "easier mode", skill is still needed if you wish to reach the end. The best part about the game, though, you working towards perfecting your runs through the levels in order to get promoted. Promotions work like an in-game achievement system where certain tasks like finding a certain boss' weakpoint and killing X number of ships are rewarded with new ranks. The bigger the rank, the harder the requirements, naturally.

While the more demanding might condemn Sine Mora for being too short of an experience, there's a lot of depth to dig through if you so desire. Granted, you can finish the game in about one hour and a half, there aforementioned reasons should be more than enough to multiply that by ten or more. If you're looking for new levels and a lasting story experience, you'll be sorely disappointed, so keep that in mind if you decide to give Sine Mora a try.

Frankly, there's very little else to write about this game that could help you make up your mind. Sine Mora is the sort of shooter that demands your dedication and rewards you for the time you spend with it, not only with a very stylish presentation that makes it one of the prettiest Xbox Live Arcade downloads out there but with a steady degree of difficulty that keeps you on your toe level to level. If challenge is your goal when playing games, then this is one of the best ones to pick up. |9