I gave a glowing review of episode 1 of Minecraft Story Mode. It was witty and filled with promise for the other 4 episodes. Episode 2, Assembly Required, released a short while ago and now I finally have a chance to review this. Will this episode hold up to the promise of the first?
To be honest, I felt somewhat disappointed with this one. Episode 1 did more than just lay out the stakes and the stage to play it out on, it did so with good humour and heart. However this episode seems to have lost that, making the weaker elements far more prevalent and losing enjoyment. Combined with a running time surprisingly short compared to episode 1 and this part of the adventure feels forgettable as well a brief.
The first half of the episode will be decided by the decision you made at the end of episode 1. The paths don’t rejoin early and is a refreshing change from most episodic adventures, where the changes are more minimal and the path is merely muddied rather than forked.
However this appears to have cost a lot in this episode, more specifically the run time. Don’t be surprised if this episode feels short, I cleared it in under an hour with an acceptable amount of bumming around included. If you play down both paths the time sort of matches other Telltale episodes. However this large portion will be hemmed into your second playthrough which is a strength if you don’t play through a ‘canon’ playthrough first. Whichever is your poison.
The game does little to add to the world’s depth and clear up confusions about the universe. This is exacerbated by the brief runtime. I kept wondering how great warriors end up running simple towns, why people who fall down pits cannot just build their way out and why your party seems incapable of walking anywhere. This does nothing but draw me back out of work that had been built (pardon the pun) so well in the first episode.
However the whimsical Minecraft humour is still prevalent in this episode. Various crazy devices such as the chicken torturer from the first episode will be trumped by far crazier devices such as the ‘cow disco machine’ in this episode. However most of the humour wrapped around this devices seems poorly written and the devices fall flat and are passed off because of such.
The drama of the first episode feels like it has fallen away as well. The first episode worked slow, drawing you into the story and drama. This episode revolves around reuniting the order members and because of such, a lot of the conversation is arguing about past issues. The story is drawn away from you, Jesse and the dilemma of saving the world. Not all depth is lost. Jesse spends time building the relationship out with Petra, however your two pals are sadly missing for most of the episode making the fleshing out of the characters thin.
So what’s still good? Well be glad the grand Minecraft Universe is still in one piece. The sets are still grand, with huge towering buildings beautifully crafted (another pun, look at me go) and combined with the gorgeous lighting effects still makes the experience a pleasure to at least look at. Visually you will once again be disappointed you cannot wonder around.
Episode 2 is disappointingly short and has drawn problems which could be overlooked in episode 1 into the open. The establishment of characters is thin, drawing you out of a world you were put in so nicely before. The true diverging path is a welcome change from earlier games but seems to have drawn in a lot of resources and makes this episode seem quite short. While Episode 1 scored a solid 5 this episode sadly scores a more meagre 3. Episode 3 draws near and I can only hope they remedy this issue there.
Disclaimer:All scores given within our reviews are based on the artist’s personal opinion; this should in no way impede your decision to purchase the game.
You must be logged in to post a comment.