Well, this was unexpected. Three of my kids finished the episode in an afternoon.
Fortunately Telltale Games offers four different save slots for the game, which is good because we have in my house four different players who are going to play Minecraft: Story Mode, myself and three of my kids. If you remember, these three each got to try out the game at this year’s Penny Arcade Expo. They were each looking forward to getting their hands on the final product.
Most of the decisions we each picked in this first episode were similar, but there are some differences. It will be interesting to see how these play out in the next episode and the consequences become clear.
With the brevity of the episode, I am rather loath to talk much about the plot because of spoilers. There just isn’t a heck of a lot to go through before the end. I will, however, discuss the setup – which includes a male or female protagonist to choose from. Things start out easy enough, sort of like a tutorial for the controls. The opening scenario doesn’t really have much to do with the rest of the story, which has the player and friends attending EnderCon to enter a competition. Of course things don’t go as planned.
While the plot is completely constructed the use of the Minecraft environment is fantastically implemented. Carried over from Minecraft is crafting. Unfortunately here it doesn’t feel like a full feature of the game. I hope this aspect of the game will get fleshed out more in future episodes.
Players will make choices with dialogue and actions that seem inconsequential initially, which doesn’t feel like the last Telltale game I played (The Walking Dead) where the consequences of player’s choices in dialogue and action were immediately evident. That said, it seems as if Minecraft: Story Mode is meant for a younger audience and to that end there is great success. Rated E-10, mostly for language, I have an 8, 10 and 12 year old playing the game. Does this mean Minecraft: Story Mode is a kid’s game? Well, no, not really. There is broad appeal for a wide audience, and the best games have that broad “family” appeal, like most of the LEGO or Mario games.
Should you buy Minecraft: Story Mode? If you have an older kid who likes Minecraft, then absolutely. If you are an adult that likes Telltale Games’ style of storytelling, and don’t mind Minecraft, then check it out. Each of us had fun with the game, but were surprised with the lack of length this episode offered. Hopefully that will change with subsequent episodes. Other than that, this game comes highly recommended.