ARE YOU
THE NEXT
NOTCH?
Make your dream
game using
Minecraft!
A
TO
Z OF
MINECRAFT!
Amazing secrets
you can find
inside Minecra
HUNT
FOR THE
TRUTH!
Everything
you need to know in our huge 14 page feature
MINECRAFT QUIZ
Are you top of the blocks?
ESSENTIAL GUIDES
Command blocks cracked
STAR CRAFT
Minecraft meets Star Wars
GO DEEPER
Subterranean survival diary
EASTER
SPECIAL
Cra real life
spawn eggs
and more!
TOP 10 EXCUSES
TO PLAY
MOJANG’S NEXT
MASTERPIECE
CHOC-A-BLOCK
BLOCKBUSTER
!
“Make the most of Spring
without having to put a
blocky foot outside!”
Leon Hurley, Tom Senior, Phil Savage, Jennifer Simpkins, Tom Stone, Iain Wilson
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Editorial Director: Games Matthew Pierce
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Editor
The brave green shoots of Spring are forcing their
way through the frosted earth, and the clouds are
finally parting. What better time to wrap up warm,
take a hearty breath and rush back indoors to play
Minecraft? This volume has everything you need
to do exactly that. Together, we can make the most
of Spring without ever having to put a blocky foot
outside. Perfect!
Here you’ll find a list of the best excuses to keep playing Minecraft, proving
our favourite game can educate as well as entertain (it’s more fun than I’ve
made that sound, promise). We’ve also got a breakdown of the best hidden
Easter eggs in the game, plus a list of Spring-themed mods to make your
game even more bloomin’ marvellous. And, if you want something more
practical, how about learning to code using your favourite game? Nobody
can tell you Minecraft isn’t worth playing when you’re a successful game
developer living in a house made of gold...
Contents
K N OW YO U R
BIOME S
88
S
tone Beach
62
Deep Ocean
28
Sunflower Plains
22
Mesa
12
Plains
MINECR AF T A-TO -Z
NEWS
06
THE BEST KIND OF BATH
Why we’re excited about the 48-hour Build Bath In Minecraft marathon. Well, it’s on our doorstep after all.
08
NOT TOO COOL
FOR SCHOOL
Minecraft Education Edition brings blocks and building to the classroom. Woo hoo!
11
THE FORCE IS
STRONG IN THIS ONE
Marvel as the Starkiller Base from Star Wars is remade in Minecraft.
44
MINECRAFT
MASTERMIND
Test yourself on what you’ve learned in the A-to-Z to see if you’re a blocky genius.
30
THE MINECRAFT
A-TO-Z
An encyclopedia of just about everything you could want to know about Minecraft.
06
30 11
144
The End
130
Forest
120
Swampland
110
Savanna
these fifteen thrilling challenge maps.
112
TEN EXCUSES TO KEEP
PLAYING MINECRAFT
Tips and hints for tricking your mum/ partner/dog into letting you keep playing.
114
COULD YOU BUILD THE
NEXT BLOCKBUSTER?
Creating games isn’t as hard as you think if you know a little bit of simple code.
122
CREATIVE COMMAND
BLOCK CODING
The sneaky back-of-house tricks to make your building immeasurably better.
SPRING SPECIAL
48 54 90 122 10248
MINECRAFT’S CRAZIEST
EASTER EGGS
To celebrate chocolate overload weekend, here’s a list of our favourite hidden secrets.
64
FULL OF THE
MODS OF SPRING
Add a springtime bloom to your Minecraft game with these uplifting mods.
54
LEAP INTO SPRING
These Easter-themed crafting projects are blooming marvellous.
64
132
BEST GAMES CREATED
IN MINECRAFT
Recreate your favourite console adventures in glorious blocky style.
Budding builders
get to work at
Bath Digital
Festival
I
t’s not every day you get a proper excuse to build your own city in Minecraft. It’s no wonder then that Bath Digital Festival 2016’s 48 hour ‘Build Bath In Minecraft’ competition was swamped with hundreds of blocky architects. Each entrant was given a plot on a shared server to build their own piece of the beautiful Somerset city. Projects could be anything from real life inspired pieces to visions of the Bath of the future and there were categories for the most creative plot, most futuristic, best historical influence and the judge’s favourite.
Dave Boddington, production manager from Minecraft supremos The Yogscast, was along to deliver prizes and catch up with the competition. “Events like this are great.
They give students and all kinds of people from all kinds of walks of life the chance to get together and have fun with Minecraft and collaboratively build exciting things!” he tells us. “I’m most looking forward to seeing people create historical buildings. I’d like to see some Roman Baths, the Circus, the Royal Crescent, anything that’s exciting and interesting.”
And the entries didn’t disappoint. Bath Abbey sprung up in blocky form, there were recreations of many famous sandstone buildings. Hot air balloons filled the skies and, of course, multiple versions of the famous Roman Baths and Pump Rooms sprung up. Local landmark Pulteney Bridge was also recreated (complete with weir) and there were plenty of visions of future Bath, too. Plus, as the event was held at Bath College, those taking a break from building could have a shot at making their own games in an Hour Of Code session. Water success.
We’ve never noticed one of these in Bath, but we wouldn’t complain.
STAT ATTACK
$80
22,593,158
Official price of the Remote Control Quadcopter Ghast coming in Autumn (£60). People who are playing
Minecraft on PC or Mac. Rather a lot, then.
Minecraft’s position on the EU PS3 and PS4 digital download charts in January.
01
Dark Souls’ Anor Londo is a
terrifying gothic creation
Lose your soul in Minecraft
What to do once you’vefinished the achingly difficult FromSoftware action RPG? Recreate it in blocks of course, and that’s exactly what LNeoX on Planet Minecraft has done. The intimidating but beautiful Anor Londo from the original Dark Souls is challenging enough already, but making a blocky Minecraft version feels just as tough. LNeoX even added a monster dungeon in the biggest mountain.
All planning and crafting was
done by LNeoX himself and the map is an incredible 1200 by 1200 blocks in size There’s a minecart system to take in the sights, and that aforementioned monster dungeon has a boss to take on in true Dark Souls style. “I planned the building with Paint to get the scale right,” LNeoX explains. “I then started building the position and scale in-game with wool. If you look closely this map is not 1:1. Dark Souls only inspired me to build this. For the castle facades it took me around 12 days.”
The landscape surrounding the castle apparently took up the longest time, just to get the right level of ultra-threatening detail. And it’s not just a pretty face. The inside of the castle is packed with atmospheric corridors as you quest to get to the boss. Other work from LNeoX includes a full recreation from Hogenzollern Castle in Germany and he’s currently working on a step-by-step download of how to build the ultimate medieval castle. Can we request Hogwarts next, please?
4
City block
N11CK on YouTube is questing to build all of GTA V inside Minecraft. So far it’s a work in progress but it’ll total to 7500 by 7500 blocks by the end of the project.
3
Knead to dough
In a special appearance on baking show Cake Wars, Mojang brand director Lydia Winters was on the judging panel for some astonishing Minecraft themed cakes.
2
X-Factor
Not only has Redditor MythicalSnowman crafted an incredible Star Wars X-Wing, Cubehamster has recreated it on the surface of the Death Star.
1
To celebrate the dawning of the new Chinese New Year and the Year of the Monkey, you can now download skins based on the ancient Chinese novel Journey To The West.
inally, everyone will listen! While we’ve all known that Minecraft is perfect for learning a whole raft of things from physics to design, now there’s an official Education Edition for use in schools. MinecraftEdu, a version of Minecraft specifically for the classroom, has already been available since 2011 and used in more than 40 countries around the world but now Microsoft has expanded
the game for a full official release.
And in even better news, it’ll start off completely free. Minecraft Education Edition will initially be available as a cost free trial for schools who choose to sign up and will be improved by constant feedback from online communities of teachers. “In education, we are constantly seeking pathways to explore learning beyond the confines of a textbook. Minecraft allows us that opportunity,” said Rafranz Davin who is the executive director of professional development and learning for Lufkin Independent School District in Texas.
“When we see our kids enjoying the process of learning in this way, it’s a game changer.”
As we’ve covered in previous volumes, Minecraft has already been used to teach students subjects ranging from science to art and even poetry, and the fact that it can be used to so widely means there shouldn’t be a lesson that it can’t improve. Add in the online communities springing up with lesson plan ideas for teachers, and a constantly updating set of features, and school might get even more fun. Sorry, we’re off to do our homework. In redstone.
NOT TOO COOL
FOR SCHOOL
Minecraft Education Edition brings blocks to the classroom
F
“As we get closer to the first
pre-release for Minecraft 1.9,
we will release snapshots
more frequently to get more feedback
on our changes and bug fixes. In this
phase of development all the bug
reports and feedback on Reddit or via
Twitter are helping us a lot to work
on the right issues to get to a stable
release.”
Coder, Mojang
Searge @SeargeDP
“One of the reasons
Minecraft fits so well
in the classroom
is because it’s a common,
creative playground. It’s an
open space where people
can come together and
build a lesson around nearly
anything.”
Chief operating officer, Mojang
Vu Bui @vubui
TALKING HEADS
“Of course, every
Minecraft player
learns essential
life-skills like tree-punching
and good creeper-defence
but, when used in the right
way, Minecraft can help
people around the world to
learn lots more. ”
Director of communications, Mojang
Owen Hill @bopogamel
“At Telltale for the last
two years we’ve all been
playing around the office.
Walk around and you’ll see horrific
visions of scenes being made for
Game Of Thrones and then on
the next screen of people playing
Minecraft. It’s been a relief and so
much fun.”
Head of creative communications, Telltale Games
Job J. Stauffer @jobjstauffer
Learning and playing? That sounds like a plan!
N
NOTCH WINS AGAIN
Minecraft creator Markus Persson wins GDC Pioneer Award
otch’s mantlepiecein that LA mansion must be pretty full. Perhaps he’s started scattering awards across multiple rooms. The 16th Game Developers Choice Pioneer Award at the end of March will be the next shiny piece of named metal to arrive in his hands. The Pioneer Award goes to those who achieve ‘breakthrough tech and game design’ and there’s no arguing that Minecraft has done that.
Previous winners of the award - which was formerly know, quite bizarrely, as The First Penguin Award - include Elite designer David Braben, Riot Games founder Branden Beck, and Valve boss Gabe Newell. It’s not the first time Notch has picked up a GDC Award either. Back in 2011 Minecraft picked up gongs for the Best Debut Game, Best Downloadable Game, and the Innovation Award. Now, five years on, Minecraft no longer directly belongs to Persson, who sold Mojang to Microsoft back in 2014 for $2.5 billion. However, he’s had a staggering effect on the games industry since these wins.
There’s no question that Persson is a pioneer, either. As well as Minecraft continuing to be a best selling game - it was the January 2016 number one digital title on both PS3 and PS4 - it’s changed the way we play games altogether. It has revolutionised YouTube, changed the way we watch and interact with games and even changed games themselves. As well as the continued popularity of indie games, crafting systems, interaction and online play have all evolved since Minecraft won it’s Best Debut Game Award. The gaming landscape has changed forever, and we’ve got Notch to thank.
e’ve seen some incredible creations such as a fully working Pac-Man arcade machine and even Pokemon on a GameBoy in Minecraft. While it doesn’t look quite as exciting as seeing the Kanto region recreated in blocky pixels, it’s actually equally impressive. YouTuber Seth Bling has managed to build a working interpreter for the BASIC programming language. BASIC stands for Beginner’s All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code and since its creation in 1964 has been used globally due to its ease of use to create custom programs, and is the base for software such as Microsoft’s Visual Basic.
BASIC uses a series of commands that you can use to create rules and therefore certain types of actions. “This
is probably the hardest I’ve ever worked on a command block creation,” says Seth Bling. “This is the BASIC programming language in vanilla Minecraft.” Bling has handbuilt a huge series of command blocks that allow him to program certain activities. In a video on his site he shows off the printing of prime numbers on a whiteboard before, and this is most exciting, instructing a pickaxe on a block to do his bidding.
Nicknamed a ‘turtle’ - awww, cute! - the block can be programmed to clear a path through terrain. And here we were doing all our own mining… Bling also says it’s possible to program a block to actually do your own building for you. This took him two weeks but you don’t have to do the same. You can watch the full video and then download to try yourself on Seth Bling’s website here: http://bit.ly/minesethbling
W
CODE TO JOY!
YouTuber Seth
Bling crafts
working BASIC
programming in
Minecraft
This jumble of letters and numbers is very exciting - promise!
HOT OR NOT
A Wii story
Minecraft: Story
mode hit Wii U and
we love it.
School points
Education Edition is the best
new reason to get crafting in
the classroom.
Boxing clever?
A new Hot Wheels official
Minecart is just a box on wheels
with no character inside.
2 soon
A sequel to Minecraft:
Pocket Edition on iPhone?
Hoaxes suck.
T
Smash it up and watch Kylo Ren have another tantrum...
here are fewer things deadlier than Kylo Ren in a strop in Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens, but the Starkiller Base is definitely one of them. Capable of destroying entire planets across the galaxy, this deadly weapon is an err, force to be reckoned with. Of course someone has created it in blocky form. Definitely no need to be Poe faced when you see the detail that’s gone into it. Just watch out for the death Rey! We’ll stop now.
Ervinache235 from Planet Minecraft has the honour of crafting the first recreation of Dark Side’s second favourite weapon (surely the first is the lightsaber). It’s his biggest
piece of work yet. He is still adding surface details to the planet but his piece is incredible. It even includes the laser and detailed turbines. So far it’s been over a solid week of work and while Ervinache235 has used MCEdit and WorldEdit all the details have been hand placed. And yes, he did it solo.
Based on a couple of photos from the movie, the Starkiller base is currently 403 blocks wide, 476 blocks long and 143 tall without the laser. Add in the laser and it’s an impressive 256 blocks tall. Don’t worry, it’s far, far away from your biome and we’ll pretend it won’t reach. We’ll stop with the Star Wars puns. Starkiller is now available as a download and you can take a Luke at plenty of images here on Planet Minecraft: http://bit.ly/mcstarkiller
THE FORCE IS STRONG
IN THIS ONE
You’ll often find
shallow waterholes, which
are good sources of sugar cane
T
finding cows, sheep and pigs to slaughter for meat, as well as horses for transport, flowers for dyes and grass for wheat seeds.
makes it easier to spot enemies nearby, too, which make plains great places for building your shelters. Handy!
Yellow and red flowers are common here and can be used to create dyes. Use these directly on
sheep to make your own multicoloured
hristmas is always a great time for Minecraft fans. It might seem like light years ago, but we can’t help looking back fondly at those cube-shaped presents, just waiting to be ripped apart under the tree. However, Nintendo fans got the best present of all this year, as Mojang announced not one, but two new Minecraft games for the Wii U – the regulation Minecraft: Wii U Edition and Telltale’s episodic Minecraft: Story Mode adventure. Just don’t tell Mario, okay – you know how that guy is around bricks.
We’ve covered Story Mode before, but the Wii U Edition of Minecraft is particularly special, as it contains brand new features you won’t find anywhere else, such as Off-TV Play and a whole chest full of free skin and texture packs. However, rather than score the Wii U Edition like a traditional review – the game at its heart is identical to other console versions, after all – we want to see what Wii U brings to the block party that no other machine does.
Based off version 1.6.4, the Wii U Edition isn’t quite as up to date as its 1.8.8-based PS4 and Xbox One counterparts, but Mojang has already said it will be getting the 1.8.8 update later this year. In the meantime, here’s a handy list of every cool new feature and why it makes Minecraft even better.
C
WII U
EDITION
GOT SQUARE EYES YET?
MINECRAFT FINALLY LANDS
ON WII U
The biggest and best feature of the Wii U Edition is Off-TV Play. This lets you play the entire game on the Wii U GamePad, which is great when other members of your family insist on reclaiming the TV remote. With Off-TV Play, the adventure never has to end, as everything that normally appears on the TV is mirrored on the touchscreen so you don’t miss
anything important. Of course, going from a Full HD TV to a display with a scrawny 854x480 resolution means that text in the inventory and crafting menus can be harder to read at times, but otherwise the game’s pixel art is well-suited to the GamePad’s smaller screen. The only disappointing thing about Off-TV Play is that there’s currently no stylus support
for easy inventory management. You can use the touchscreen to switch between items in the hotbar and change tabs in the crafting menu, but if you want to drag and drop items around your inventory or put something away in a chest, you have to use the GamePad’s analogue sticks – which can be rather fiddly on a screen that’s only a little bit bigger than your smartphone.
Ideally, it would be great if the GamePad functioned as a second, separate display to show your entire inventory all the time instead of having to go into a separate menu system, but this isn’t supported in the current version. However, Mojang said this may be added as a feature in a future update, so watch this space.
01
OFF-TV PLAY
02
MIIVERSE
Sharing creations with other crafters has never been easier than on Wii U Edition, as the console’s in-built social network, Miiverse, lets you share and record all your Minecraft-related activities. You’ll need to make sure you turn off Online Game when you load up your world to take screenshots, but once you’ve got something you want to snap, just tap the Home button and select Miiverse.
This will take you to the special Minecraft: Wii U Edition community page on Miiverse where you can save screenshots, post pictures and doodles, and add your very own Play Journal entries without having to quit your game. You can also use it to browse other players’ creations, which you can like with a click of the ‘Yeah’ button, and leave comments about their handiwork. Once you’re done, simply close Miiverse and you’ll be taken straight back to your game where you left off. YouTube already has its fair share of Minecraft superstars – maybe you could become the Stampylonghead of Miiverse.
The Wii U Edition is a little bit more expensive than other console versions, but those extra coins get you six add-on DLC packs as standard. This includes the Battle And Beasts skin pack, the Battle And Beasts 2 skin pack (you can’t have too many battles or beasts, we find), the Natural, City and Fantasy texture packs, and the Festive
Mash-Up pack, giving Wii U players plenty of choice when it comes to customising the look of their worlds and avatars in whatever way they wish. It also comes with trial versions of the Mass Effect, Skyrim, Halloween and Greek Mythology worlds, but you’ll have to buy the full versions if you want to save your game.
There’s also the chance to buy additional skins from the Wii U eShop, including packs from Doctor Who, Star Wars and The Simpsons to name but a few popular styles and tropes. Okay, it’s not quite as cool as having a Nintendo-themed pack, but if you squint just enough Yoda could kinda pass for Yoshi. Er, right?
03
TEXTURE PACKS
04
SPLIT-SCREEN
CO-OP
If you have a Wii U Pro Controller, you can team up with a friend locally for some good old fashioned split-screen multiplayer. The screen is divided horizontally to give you the widest possible view in two player mode, but you can have up to four players at any one time, and you can assign players to existing Miis, or even use Mii templates. Sadly, in-game characters don’t look anything like your Mii creations, but you can always change your skin to something else if you prefer. Another downside of split-screen co-op is that you squeeze four sets of eyeballs into one television to play. One player can’t just use the GamePad, for instance, while another looks at the TV.
01
FRIENDS-ONLY ONLINE
If Minecraft: Wii U Edition has one major flaw, it’s the fact that you can only play with registered friends online – so fear not if you find the Join tab completely empty on the main menu screen. A quick trip to the Miiverse shows hundreds of
players looking for extra companions to play with, so if you feel like teaming up with someone, then you’ll need to send them a friend request first. The one upside of this is that when you do join an online game, it will be visible to everyone
in your friends list. Then, if they join, it will be visible to everyone on their list, too, like some kind of big chummy virus, making it a bit easier to play with larger groups of people if you’ve got a friend list longer than the phone book.
1
Super
Mario Maker
So you’ve finished sculpting your 1:1 replica of Hyrule from Ocarina Of Time, and visited every voxel of every Minecraft-themed Pokémon region. The next thing on your to-do list, then, is recreate every retro 2D platformer in Super Mario Maker, Nintendo’s incredible new level-editor for Wii U. With its vast array of items, enemies and power-ups, you can make almost anything in Super Mario Maker, from side-scrolling shoot-em-ups to Metroid homages. You can then upload and share them online, or download other players’ levels for inspiration. For that added touch of authenticity, tap an amiibo to your GamePad and you’ll unlock their costume as a power-up.
Story Mode
Recently announced for Wii U, Minecraft: Story Mode takes everything you love about your favourite sandbox game and turns it into an episodic point and click adventure story. It’s made by Telltale Games of The Walking Dead fame, so you can be sure you’re in for a thrilling yarn as you set out to fight the evil Witherstorm and find The Order Of The Stone – legendary Minecraft players who once saved the world when it was in peril. Every decision you make will affect the game later on, too, making it ideal for multiple playthroughs.
3
Harvest
Moon: A
Wonderful Life
/ Friends Of
Mineral Town
If spending your days ploughing fields sounds infinitely better than hunting creepers, then Harvest Moon is the farming-sim for you. GameCube’s
also excellent if you can track it down. Regardless of which one you choose, your farm will soon be teeming with all sorts of different crops and animals to share and trade with the local villagers. There are also new recipes to experiment with in your kitchen, and local lads and ladies to woo as you expand your farming empire.
4
SteamWorld
Dig
What could possibly be better than finding rare and beauteous minerals deep down in the centre of the Earth? Why, uncovering an ancient alien civilisation that’s hell-bent on destroying every last vestige of steam-robot kind, that’s what. In SteamWorld Dig, mining for jewels and treasure to upgrade your tools and rebuild the rusty ruin of Tumbleton is only part of the story, as the deeper you go, the more you discover about how the robot apocalypse came to be. It’s quite short, but it’s an absolute must-play for mine-crazy Minecrafters. Just watch out for those stinky human hobos on your way down!
5
The Legend
of Zelda:
Twilight
Princess
There’s nothing quite like the moment when you first tame and ride your very own Minecraft horse (or pig, for that matter), but those wishing they had more epic landscapes to canter across should look no further than The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. Soon to be re-released in HD on the Wii U, this Wii classic is one of Link’s best and most fiendish
adventures. It not only has excellent puzzles, brilliant dungeons and your very own horse, but eventually you’ll also gain the ability to turn into a wolf at will. There’s no annoying fairy to spoil your fun either. Perfect!
It might have taken over four years, but you can now play
Minecraft on every major console. It first arrived on
Xbox 360 in 2012, albeit
using the same code as a beta version of the then-PC release, and has since made the jump to PS3, PS Vita, PS4, Xbox One and the Wii U. The only one we’re still waiting on is the 3DS. Not all console versions of Minecraft were created equal, though. The Xbox One
and PS4 versions are much bigger than their 360 and PS3 counterparts, and each one has different console-specific DLC packs. Meanwhile, PS3 owners can get a Vita copy for free, and you can also play the PS4 version on Vita via Remote Play.
The mesa biome is, in many ways, quite similar to the desert biome. Of course,
this blue stuff isn’t helping us to reinforce
that claim, is it now?
I
ncredibly rare, mesa biomes are home to red sand, hardened clay, and stained clay blocks. Stained clay blocks are available in the same 16 colours that wool blocks are, so make a great alternative building material. If you manage to find the even rarer bryce variant mesa biome, then you’ll be treated to expansive views of hardened clay spires. These structures are inspired by the real life Bryce Canyon, in Utah, USA.Though the stained clay spawning naturally in mesa comes in 16 colours, you’ll have to gather some hardened
clay to dye yourself should you want to get
a specific colour combo. on fire when struck
COBALT
Is the Mojang-published combat
available to buy for £16 on PC, Xbox One and Xbox 360. It’s a 2D platformer with an emphasis on multiplayer combat – letting you and your friends (or strangers from across the internet if you prefer) fight against each other using a broad selection of guns and grenades.
It isn’t very much like Minecraft, although it does support an active community of mapmakers. So why are we telling you about it? Because it was published by Mojang, and Minecraft developer Jens Bergensten helped to make it.
Cobalt is interesting and enjoyable in its own right, especially if you like to compete
for a new competitive action game, it’s a tempting choice. This isn’t a review as much as a guide to help you decide if Cobalt is a game you’d like to play. We’ll take a look at what it offers and run through a few of its best features, as well as some of the things that we think don’t work so well.
What do you do?
In Cobalt, you play as a little robot. So far so good. There are two parts to the game: the story mode, and the multiplayer. In the story, you discover a distress signal that points you to an alien world. There, you find that the planet’s robots have turned against the humans. It’s up to you to discover why, and hopefully do something about it – mostly by shooting things.
time you need to decide how best to escape. Jumping is usually a good tactic, but if that doesn’t work you could try a roll. If you’re rolling, any bullets will deflect off of you and back towards whoever shot at you. That’s handy! Just be careful though because not even robots are sturdy enough to deflect a grenade, although you can use a melee weapon to bat one back to your opponent.
The automatic slow-mo effect also works in multiplayer, although it’s localised to only affect players near the danger zone. It’s a good system, giving you chance to make precision movements without ever feeling like players on the other side of the map have any sort of advantage. There are plenty It’s a long campaign – around six-to-eight
hours, depending on whether you like to root around for secrets and bonuses. It’s fun, but difficult. Each level is made up of multiple maps, with checkpoints throughout. You need to make your way across the maps and, if you die, you’re sent back to the checkpoint without your advanced weapons or items. To get them back, you need to go and pick them up from where you were killed – like in Minecraft, but with out the lava heartbreak.
The multiplayer favours quick bursts of action. In the most basic modes, you fight with other robots – picking up weapons from the map and shooting, bashing or throwing what you’ve grabbed. As you might expect, it’s not quite as simple as it sounds. Each robot has a number of tricks to help them get away from danger.
How does it play?
The cleverest thing about Cobalt is its slow motion mechanic. If you’re in danger – for instance if you’re standing in front of a bullet – the game will slow down, giving you the
of other tricks, too. You can slide down ramps to pick up massive speeds, skiing across the level as enemies look on bewildered. Or you can find and throw eggs, hatching friendly versions of monsters that follow you around and let you ride on them.
Any bits that don’t work?
Unfortunately, yes. The story campaign is extremely chaotic, which can be fun, but also very punishing. It encourages you to be aggressive, but ammo is scarce. As such, it’s easy to die, which can make the trickier sections feel frustrating when you only have limited lives. It’s also not very good at teaching you how to play it – something
How can you go wrong when you play as a cute
robot? Awww!
“THE STORY CAMPAIGN IS
EXTREMELY CHAOTIC, WHICH
IS FUN BUT VERY PUNISHING”
Deathmatch
The simplest of all game modes: giving you and your opponents access to a bunch of pretty nifty weapons, to see who can get the most kills. Each kill grants you a point, and the first to reach the score limit wins. Deathmatch is highly customisable, letting you choose which robot type players will be, and which weapons will spawn on the map. You can also change the score limit. Deathmatch can be played with friends, AI bots or online.
Team-Strike
Here you play on one of two teams, and help your teammates fight to victory. Each player only has one life per round, but if you’re playing with bots you’ll be able to take over as one of the AI teammates if you die. It can be a tense and frenzied game type, especially once the grenades start flying. Just like deathmatch, Team-Strike can be played with friends, bots or online.
Plug Slam
Plug Slam works a bit like the Capture The Flag modes you find in other multiplayer games. Here, you need to grab the glowing plug from the middle of the arena, and get it into the opposing team’s goal. Of course, they’ll be trying to steal the plug for themselves, and take it to your goal, the tricky tricksters. As with the other online modes, there are a bunch of setup options – including setting the time limit after which the team with the highest score wins.
Survival
This is a wave-based combat mode that can be played solo or in co-op. At the start, you buy some basic weapons with your limited money, and try to hold out for as long as you can while a number of enemies attack your location. If you survive the wave, you’ll have more money with which to buy better stuff. Once you’ve done that, another wave of tougher enemies will attack. To survive every wave of each map, you’ll need both skill and good equipment.
Watch out for that lizardy thing up above, little fella. He looks mean.
MAP EDITOR
Create the perfect level with this powerful tool
The PC version of Cobalt lets you create and share the maps you’ve made. But this isn’t like Minecraft where building something just means loading up creation mode and letting your creativity go wild. Oh no. Cobalt’s map editor is more like Photoshop, but even more complicated because of game elements like triggers and spawn points. The one upside to the editor’s complexity is that it’s extremely powerful – letting you create single player story maps, as well as deathmatch arenas and challenges. If that all sounds too much like hard work, there are already lots of community levels to download through the Steam Workshop until you build your building confidence up.
At times like these it’s often best policy to run like the wind.
Pick up stuff as you go along to make your little robot a mean old fighting machine.
If you want even more of a challenge you can set your own times for many of the modes.
“IF YOU WANT TO ENJOY THE
COMPETITIVE MODES, THEY’RE
BEST PLAYED WITH FRIENDS”
Now how can you go wrong with a game that has giant malevolent hamsters in it?
you, as a Minecraft fan, are probably used to. There are some basic tutorials, but the more advanced tricks – such as the active reload system that gives you a chance to quickly reload ammo – isn’t explained at all.
It can also be difficult to control on PC if you’re using keyboard and mouse. It’s possible to rebind the keys however you want, but, as you’re often required to switch back and forth between different weapon types and escape from danger, it’s easy to make a mistake. It feels much better with a control pad, and luckily supports both Xbox 360 and Xbox One pads, even on PC.
Is it worth playing?
For the most part, yes, but mostly because of the multiplayer. The campaign can be entertaining, but also frustrating. It’s best thought of as a nice extra – something to do as a break from the competitive modes, or when you want to team up with a friend in co-op. Cobalt is multiplayer game, but the online community is a little sparse. If you want to enjoy the competitive modes, they’re best played locally with friends. If you to play with a friend, you can do that in survival or story mode. If you’d prefer to battle against your buddies, you can do that too. It’s hugely varied, and the multiplayer modes come with a bunch of different settings that let you customise each match.
Any other games like this?
Yes, lots. If you find yourself enjoying Cobalt, or just want to know what alternatives are around, there are some other great local
multiplayer games around. One of the best is Nidhogg, a two-player sword duelling game in which you’re trying to get past your opponent. It’s fast, fun and very weird – your ultimate goal is to get to run to your side of the level so you can be eaten by a giant worm. There’s also TowerFall Ascension, which gives you a limited number of arrows to shoot at your friend. It’s filled with fun power ups that slightly change how you attack in interesting ways. Like Cobalt, it’s also got a co-op mode. If you want something even faster and more furious, there’s Samurai Gunn, a fierce, frantic sword fighting game that also lets you shoot a limited number of bullets. All of these games feel slightly more focused than Cobalt – it’s much more messy and varied – but that also means they’re often not as chaotic and silly.
Don’t bother trying
to place a sunflower in a plant pot. They’re two blocks
tall and so, much like peonies and lilacs,
While other flowers tend to come across as pixelated
messes of colour, sunflowers are easy to recognise, due to their
perfectly round shape.
I
Flat, and peppered with those titular perennials, these plains are the only place you’ll find naturally spawning sunflowers. Alongside dandelions, these can be used to obtain yellow dye.PLAINS
Having trouble finding
a use for the humble sunflower? Well know that these
yellow chaps will always face east –
useful for navigation.
n the immortal words of Motown sensation The Jackson 5: “ABC, it’s easy as punching trees.” Okay, so that’s not really how the song goes, but let us dream/misquote – because we’re bringing you a complete alphabet of Minecraft in all its glory. Minecraft’s all about the fundamentals, you see: the building blocks, if you’ll pardon the pun. Whether you’re going for broke in Hardcore Survival mode or creating a 200-block-high portrait of your cat (hey, we’re not here to judge), building upon a solid foundation is vital.
Step away from that sandy biome, then, and let’s take it back to the basics. The very basics. In just 26 letters, we’re going to give you the rundown of everything essential you need to know about Minecraft – and, er, probably some weirder stuff you don’t need to. Well, every little bit helps.
That’s right: this isn’t your standard pre-school fare. There’s plenty of series staples spelled out here – but there’s also secrets, surprises, and loads of IRL evidence that proves the whole world is speaking Minecraft’s language now. So gather round the glossy pages of this bookazine, don your diamond thinking helmet, and let’s learn our ABCs all over again – Minecraft-style. Remember kids, learning is fun!
Going back to school with
the ABCs of Minecraft
MINECRAFT
to
APPLE
A is always for apple in alphabets, isn’t it? Well, the humble fruit isn’t so basic in the world of Minecraft. Sure, it’s the first food you’ll find, but its mystical powers don’t stop at “can be shoved into your pie-hole to restore four food points”. They’re also a great way to bribe horses into giving free rides, the key to making the super-secret Mojang banner, and like everything, extra-delectable when dipped in obscene amounts of gold.
What’s more, Golden Apples are a reference to Greek myths involving blingin’ apples that granted immortality (we’d prefer Immortality Pizza, if it’s all the same). Munching one down triggers enhanced health regeneration for five precious seconds, with Enchanted Golden Apples dishing out 20 seconds of regen plus absorption. Also, you won’t get scurvy! Always a bonus, right?
A
Looking at Minecraft now, it’s hard to believe that it was once just an ickle baby, equal parts bugs and promise. Unbelievably, the first-ever version of the game took a mere six days to make. Notch began work on Alpha Minecraft on May 10, 2009, working until May 16 to get it spick and span for its public release the very next day. There was just one mode – Survival – and Notch would frequently post “Seecret Updates” on Twitter announcing or confirming major changes to the game, like minecarts, redstone and sneaking. Simpler times. If you’re getting all misty-eyed thinking about those long-forgotten days, never fear: you can still play ye olde Minecraft through the in-game launcher.
B
BLOCK
Biomes, buckets and blazes are all very well, but blocks are literally the stuff that Minecraft’s made of. When Notch’s procedurally-generated universe rocked up in 2009, its cuboid charms appealed to us graphically-spoilt gamers. Other games sweated over making hyper-realistic worlds; Minecraft gave us square pumpkins, put on a sweet pair of shades and told us to deal with it. Those blocks make reminiscing about epic Minecraft adventures a bit mind-boggling. One block is equal to one IRL cubic metre – meaning each in-game world is bigger than some planets. Go ahead and scrape the remainders of your mind off the wall. Done? Here’s a different kind of block fact: update 1.9 adds craftable shields into Minecraft to let you block mob melee and projectile attacks.
ERROR
You can’t have Minecraft without failure. It’s an essential characteristic of the game. In fact, if you’re not regularly failing at Minecraft, you’re doing it wrong. Every grisly death, misplaced pickaxe, wasted resource and accidental base bonfire is a step in the right direction. All the best Minecraft stuff comes from mistakes. The iconic creeper itself was a coding error: Notch attempted to make a pig and mixed up the X and Y coordinates. The awesomely creepy Enderman sounds are actually warped English words like “hiya”, “what’s up?”, and “this way” played in reverse. The $2.5 billion behemoth game itself was even born of failure: Notch never finished high school, coding the sensation we know and love while living in his mother’s basement. Error equals WinRAR with Minecraft.
E
CREATIVITY
There’s only one thing about Minecraft beginning with the letter C that’s worth mentioning. That’d be creativity of course, and definitely nothing horrible, green and explody, perish the thought. Minecraft’s free-roaming, resource-stuffed Creative Mode has prompted works of art: impossibly-detailed reconstructions of the Game of Thrones fantasy continent of Westeros; working 16-bit computers; a playable guitar; the entire country of Denmark; that 200-block-high portrait of your cat (still not judging, we promise). Thanks to Creative Mode’s infinite possibilities, if you can dream it in Minecraft, you can do it – meaning the game’s used as an educational building tool in schools around the world. What ‘C’ could possibly be more important than the spirit of artistry that Minecraft inspires in all of us? NOTHING… Oh God, it’s right behind me, isn’t i- *CREEPER EXPLOSION*
DIAMONDS
Ah, diamonds. Light of our lives, fire of our torches, object of all our late-night mining sessions (just five more minutes… honest) Why do we players worship them so fervently? Is it because they make the strongest, most efficient gear? Perhaps. Is it because crafting an Enchantment Table is impossible without them? Probably. Is it because we want to build ourselves a throne made entirely of blocks of diamond and force our friends to bring us cake as we sit in it, cackling madly? Ding ding ding! Our survey says: undoubtedly! A tough dream to realise, as diamond is the second rarest item in the game behind emerald – but strip-mining around the tenth or eleventh layer next to lava increases the likelihood of treasure-hunting triumph. Gimme that bling!
HOUSEKEEPING
If there’s ever a game that turned us all into neurotic housewives, Minecraft is it. “JEREMY/COLIN/SANDRA!”, we’ve all hollered, horrified, our adventuring buddy tracking zombie guts onto our freshly-carpeted saloon. Er, we have all been there, right? Hurried first-night dirt bunkers aside, crafting the perfect base is one of the greatest bits of playing the game. There are some truly epic specimens online: intimidating fortresses; sleek modern pads; cosy alpine lodges; whole skyscrapers filled with apartments; epic headquarters with waterfalls and trees built right into the structure. With gorgeous texture packs and detailed furniture mods, staying in is the new going out in Minecraft. Until a creeper blows up your brand-new wet room, that is. Then it’s war. Angry war.
F
H
G
FRIENDS
There’s many a thrill to be had playing Minecraft in single player mode. It’s all kinds of fun to tell anyone who’ll listen the harrowing tale of that one time you were all alone, backed up against the dungeon wall, fending off three – no, five! – angry zombies with just a pork chop and your wits to call on. But multiplayer Minecraft on the game’s servers is even better. Whether it’s surviving the Nether together with friends, or constructing an elaborate free-running map to race for the title of Master Of Hardcore Parkour, a little company goes a long way when you’re off in search of fame and the Farlands. And if you’re the shy, retiring type and aren’t too keen on real meat-based people? Dogs, ocelots, iron golems and snowmen make great in-game pals, defending you from mobs. Here boy, nice kitty…
GHAST
Minecraft’s most weird and wonderful mob just had to have its very own place in our A-to-Z (because it threatened to fireball us into crispy oblivion if it didn’t.) There’s so much to know and love – well, tolerate – about the demon jellyfish ghost. Oh, you thought the Ender Dragon was king of the mobs? Pshhh. Ghasts are even bigger by volume – the biggest baddie in the whole game. Their childlike gurgling/ cooing/screaming is shudder-inducing: there’s actually an unused sound file in the game’s code called affectionate_scream.ogg. We’d be enchanted, if we weren’t seriously disturbed. That auditory horror is based on a recording of the Minecraft music producer’s sleepy cat, apparently. Aww? Stock up on cobblestone before you head off to the Nether to meet a ghast: it’s the only block they can’t destroy.
HEART
Don’t get too excited, okay? We just see you as a friend. The heart symbol is a complex signifier in Minecraft, meaning many important things when it pops up around your UI. Breeding your cows, sheep and chickens will result in a scarlet flurry of happy little hearts bobbing around, indicating that you’ll soon be hearing the pitter-patter of tiny hooves. or claws. Or whatever sheep have. It’s also the shape of your health meter. Red hearts lined up like ducks in a row = good. Empty containers jumping around like they’re bunny rabbits at a trampoline-carpeted rave = bad. They’ll go all lovely and golden if you’re under the effects of Absorption – and if you’re playing on Hardcore difficulty? Check out those angry little eyes. Cute!
I
in its hotbar; waiting patiently as you eject all and sundry to make room for new loot; offering you life advice and cups of tea during those difficult break-ups… Okay, so maybe not that last one, but it’s still pretty handy. You’ll have to sort out the beverages yourself, mind.
J
JUKEBOX
What’s even more fun than bopping zombies on the head? Why, bopping to a fire mixtape as you do so, of course! Enter the jukebox, Minecraft’s resident quadratic DJ, with sick beatz for all and a heart of diamond. Yes, of diamond, not gold. Its jewel-centric crafting recipe is likely a reference to the diamond-tipped needles of Edison phonographs. The music discs it plays can be found in dungeons chests, or dropped in the happy (yet rare) event of a creeper getting skewered by a skeleton’s arrow. All the tracks are composed by Minecraft music producer C418 – and the guy’s so jive-crazy that his character skin has a jukebox for a head. Now that’s commitment.
them or us, after all. At least the constant massacring is sort of humane, as conquered creepers and crawlers disappear in a puff of smoke, XP and loot. It’s alright, Timmy, they’ve just gone to a nice farm somewhere. The real kicker is when they get the best of you, though. There’s nothing quite like dropping a full set of diamond tools down a dangerous ravine upon death – except maybe sick puppies and eating glass. At least the game’s death messages have a sense of humour about it all: reading that your friend “tried to swim in lava” after they take a dive in a too-hot spring is always chuckle-worthy. And anyway, everything respawns in Minecraft! Take note, real life.
L
M
LEGO
Everybody’s favourite plastic stickybricks were most likely the unintentional inspiration behind Minecraft. Notch himself has a sneaking suspicion that his childhood stash of LEGO influenced him to create a blocky game about, well, creating.
And we’re just going to throw this out there: Minecraft is better than LEGO. Stay with us. There’s no boring clean-up process, no accidentally-on-purpose-swallowed pieces (in our defence, those studs look remarkably like Skittles), and no soul-splintering agony induced by stepping on rogue bricks. Plus, Minecraft’s got monsters to battle and integrated quests to complete – so we’ll pass on your silly little dioramas, thanks. Hang on. Is that Minecraft LEGO over there? Mother of Ender Pearl, that’s all our dreams come true! We take it all back. Get in our bellies. Er, we mean, collections. Obviously. *burp*
MODDING
There’s nothing wrong with good ol’ fashioned vanilla. But if it’s a choice between that and triple-fudge rocky road sprinkled with rainbows and drizzled in dreams, we know what we’d pick. This is a convoluted ice-cream analogy through which we’re trying to explain that modding the vanilla game is one of the best parts of playing Minecraft. But all it’s done is left us hungry and you a little confused. Forget the ice cream. Booting up mods via ModLoader or Forge totally changes your game. Sample thousands of new, exotic foodstuffs; explore hundreds of fantastical biomes; marvel at the majestic sight of an entire farm of exploding chickens. You can even alter or add in entire game mechanics. Mods are a bit complicated – but take care to back up those save files, proceed with caution, and you can keep Minecraft fresh forever. There’s literally no excuse to stop playing! (Sorry, Mum).
N
NOTCH
Well, well, well. Look who’s somehow sneaked into our alphabet. We’re kidding, Notch! Please don’t patch us out!
Markus ‘Notch’ Persson is the man who created Minecraft, and he actually started making videogames from the tender age of eight. It may not surprise you, then, to learn that the loveable, fedora-clad meatball is actually a part of the Swedish branch of Mensa. (The gang for smart folk). Mojang’s founder is no longer involved in Minecraft matters *sob* after he sold it to tech giant Microsoft for mad cash. Why would he be, when he could be chilling out at his $70 million pad next to his M&M-DISPENSING WALL? Yep, that’s a real thing. And that mysterious moniker? Well, it means… absolutely zilch. He picked it because it sounded cool, apparently.
QUIZ
Heads up off your desks, Minecraft scholars. We’re quite a way into our alphabet here, so let’s check you’ve been paying attention. Time for a pop quiz…
Question 1 What S is a brand-new item that lets you block enemy attacks?
Question 2 What C is a type of block that ghosts can’t destroy?
Question 3 What E speaks English backwards?
Question 4 What D is the key ingredient in crafting a jukebox?
Question 5 What G can be found in ocean monuments?
Turn in your test papers, please. What do you mean, prize? Your prize is a quiet sense of satisfaction and us not expelling you from Mineschool.
Answe rs 1. Shield 2. Cobblestone 3. Enderman 4. Diamond 5. G uardian
OCEAN
Endless and imposing, the cavernous depths of the game’s procedurally-generated worlds hide the most unbelievable secrets. The blue biome is an infinite source of delicious sashimi for those savvy enough to rustle up a fishing rod, and zipping around its azure surface in a wooden boat is a pleasant diversion.
But beware, all ye landlubbers: what lies beneath is far more chilling than you could possibly imagine. Here be dangerous ocean monuments guarded by, er, guardians, as it happens. The strange, spiky cyclops-fish has a death-stare that’ll fire a laser at you as soon as look at you. Gulp. Just think of the awesome rewards! Whole blocks of gold – and sponges! You’ll never want for a dishcloth again: definitely worth the risk of drowning.
PIG
Behold, the golden rule of Minecraft (and of life): when in doubt, bacon. Just the goofy expressions on the faces of these pixelated porkers can get you through the hard times. When a creeper lays waste to the labour of love that was your redstone auto-farm, solace arrives in the form of some light-hearted piggybacking. A saddle, a stick, some string and a tasty carrot later, you’ve got yourself a regular rodeo.
Until you get peckish, of course. A heartbreaking coincidence, indeed, that your porcine pal also happens to be made of crackling. C’est la vie. At least the boss-eyed effigy of Minecraft’s benign swine will live on eternally in the form of the adorable Reuben the pig, star of Telltale’s Minecraft: Story Mode series.
0
Q
TORCH
We never thought we’d be the sort of people to cuddle inanimate, virtual objects while crying, but Minecraft’s wonderful torches have saved our custom skins on more than several occasions. You’re never alone with a torch. Got lost on a jaunt away from your base and now the inky darkness of night-time is upon you? Torch. Mobs spawning on your roof and plopping down your chimney like unseasonable Santa Clauses? Torch. Exploring the ocean floor and swiftly running out of that oxygen nonsense you so desperately need to live? Potion of Water Breathing. Only joking, that stuff’s expensive. TORCH. There is only the torch. Yep, the humble fiery tool can even be used to create temporary air pockets underwater, when used correctly. As soon as torch/human marriage is legal, we’ll be straight down the registry office. Did we just write that out loud? Ahem…
R
T
S
REDSTONE
So you’ve just seen a player press a button and automatically farm a whole field of wheat like it ain’t even a thing. Magic! Sorcery! Burn the witch! Calm down, it’s just redstone. No-one could accuse Minecraft of being a simple game. It has its very own and surprisingly deep circuitry system built right in, and players have done amazing things with it. Epic minecart rollercoasters stretching on for miles, automatic machine guns that can farm and fire arrows… There’s even a redstone mod called bitCraft that lets you work lights and alarms IRL by using in-game redstone communications. And if you can’t quite wrap your head around all those repeaters, all you need to know is that mining the red stuff will net you mad XP.
STEVE
He’s a man of few words, our Steve – and by few, we mean none. Minecraft’s silent protagonist stands 6’1” tall and is now shorn of his luxuriant beard
(the one that looked like a goofy grin). But don’t be fooled by his affable mug: the stats suggest that Steve’s actually some sort of terrifying demi-god. Not only can he fly in Creative mode, his casual walking pace is a blistering 9.7mph. Good grief, Steven, don’t you ever stop to smell the roses?
He’s also capable of sporting a full set of golden armour, which would weigh roughly 2892kg. When he’s not chilling out in two-ton duds, he’s holding his breath underwater for a maximum of 15 seconds – and seeing as though the Minecraft day is only 20 minutes long, that’s a real-world time of 18 minutes. We’ll just back away slowly…
U
UNDERGROUND
Much like the Seattle music scene, most of Minecraft is underground. You can go several Minecraft days, if not weeks without seeing the light of day – and that’s just how we like it. Each randomly generated cavern branching off into winding tunnels must be combed for exposed ore; each lava lake doused in our efforts to mine obsidian; each ravine explored for an entrance to abandoned mineshafts. You’re certainly not going to get to The End without hours of world excavation, as strongholds house end portals (and silverfish, but we try not to think about those. Ugh.) Cheerio, sunlight. Vitamin D be damned: it’s all about Vitamin DIAMOND.
VISTA
It’s all too easy to get caught up in the busywork of Minecraft and miss out on the little things. It’s astonishing that a world composed entirely of 1x1 blocks can randomly generate such sublime horizons. Each corner you round can confront you with new landmarks.
Struggling to find a picturesque rambling location? A quick Google search will provide you with world seeds famed for their natural beauty – simply copy and paste the number into the corresponding field when creating a world, and voila! Forget building your house in a structurally-sound location: really, you just want a view of those floating falls when you’re drinking your morning coffee/Health Potion. Load up some fancy shaders, apply a gorgeous texture pack, and build those glass windows high…
V
W
X
WEATHER
We’re a British bookazine, so of course we’re going to talk your ear off about the weather in Minecraft. The forecast’s clear and sunny by default (if only we could extract the code for this from the game’s files), and you can toggle rain and snow on and off with a simple “/weather rain” command, which would certainly come in handy in real life. Easier than a brolly, too.
But things really kick off when it gets stormy. Thunderstorms are preceded by a darkness so complete that you’re able to sleep in a bed during it. The lightning’s the worst bit: everything it strikes, it sets on fire… including you, to the tune of five hearts of damage. A short, sharp shock hurts us, but gives certain mobs superpowers – how is that fair, Notch?! Zapped pigs turn into zombie pigmen, villagers into witches, and creepers into glowing blue charged creepers. Oh well – we were indoors people, anyway. Might brighten up later.
X MARKS
THE SPOT
Squash together a compass and a few sheets of paper, and you’ve got yourself a map that’ll update in real-time as you explore your individually-generated Minecraft world. But what good is a map without a lovely, fat, juicy X to encourage you to hunt something shiny? If you’ve got a predilection for piracy, searching for treasure with your pals is a brilliant way to raise the stakes. Thanks to downloadable maps and server plug-ins, it’s possible to decipher and follow player-made clues to find hoards of jewels and gold hidden in them there hills. Pack a sword, some steaks and grab your mates for the epic adventure ahead, but don’t be too discouraged if the plunder proves elusive – the greatest treasure you’ll find is friendship. D’awww.
ZOMBIE
Finally, bringing up the rear as usual, shambles in the Minecraft zombie. The reason you never see a zombie in a stylish pair of specs? They’ve got the best eyesight in the game. They’ll spot you from 40 blocks away, compared to other mobs squinting at your wobbly knees from just 16 blocks. They can still accessorise, though, occasionally sporting a fetching pumpkin hat or even diamond armour. The Rotten Flesh that they drop on death is as gross as it is useless, but we love ’em anyway. Seeing a baby zombie speed around on a chicken is a magical Minecraft moment. So let’s celebrate the green guy: spawn a giant one into your world with the command /summon Giant.
Z
the power of the Internet, and specifically video-hosting website YouTube. Don’t believe us? Well, get a load of this actual
science we dug up: a doctoral student at
the Annenberg School of Communication conducted a study that showed one third of early Minecraft players discovered the game through YouTube videos.
Stampylonghead, Sky, CaptainSparkles, iBallisticSquid, iHasCupcake… No, we’re not spouting nonsense – these are just some of the usernames of the YouTubers who’ve shown the world, with their own unique brands of yelling and #YOLO’ing, why Minecraft is so much fun. And Minecraft has honoured them. In one console version of the game, you could find an obsidian-based, four-gold-block high Tower of Pimps: a reference to popular YouTube channel Achievement Hunter.
L
et’s be honest: even your nanna could probably identify a creeper by now. “Is it that scuttly green thing, dear? Ooh, I don’t care for him. Best make sure he doesn’t go boom.”Of course, if you consider yourself to be a Minecraft devotee, your knowledge should probably go a few blocks deeper than that. So take our quiz, and test your trivia smarts…
01
What is the name of this block? A) Redstone B) Glowstone C) Cobblestone
03
Which of these materials is the hardest? A) Iron B) Gold C) Obsidian05
How many biomes are there in total? A) 22 B) 10 C) 1607
In what year was the first alpha version of Minecraft released? A) 2001 B) 2009 C) 201109
What is the name of the female player character? A) Joanne B) Stevena C) Alex02
What light levels do you need to maintain in order to prevent creepers from spawning? A) 8 B) 4 C) 1104
How many adjacent blocks can be powered by one block of redstone? A) 4 B) 2 C) 106
What do you get if you cross a cow and toadstool? A) Mooshroom B) Killer bunny C) NIghtmares08
How many platforms has Minecraft been released on in total? A) 14 B) 8 C) 1210
What is the missing ingredient in this cake recipe: sugar, egg, wheat…?A) Flour B) Water C) Milk
How much do you really know about your favourite game?
01: B 02: A 03: C 04: A 05: C 06: A 07: B 08: A 09: C 10: C 11: A 12: B 13: C 14: B 15: A 16: B 17: B 18: C 19: A 20: B
0-5: Skeleton
Not many Minecraft facts in your mind, are there? Must try harder!
6-10: Villager
You know the lay of the land, but you’re not the most adventurous.
11-15: Creeper
You may not be the main man, but you still pack an explosive punch.
16-20: Steve
Top of the blocks. You know the game inside out – well done!
RESULTS
ANSWERS
recently turned into a Minecraft character? A) David Cameron B) Ed Miliband C) Boris Johnson15
What colour eyes do villagers have? A) Green B) Blue C) Brown17
What kind of mobs are squid? A) Hostile B) Passive C) Neutral19
Which of these is the most sensible weapon against the Ender Dragon?A) Bow and arrows B) Sword C) Axe zombie pigman? A) Forest biome B) The Nether C) The End
16
How many items can you fit in a single chest? A) 25 B) 27 C) 3218
Which of these will not stop an enderman from attacking you? A) Not looking at them B) Wearing a jack o’lanternC) Standing still while
staring at them
