Surprisingly addictive world-building game with a lot of surprises...
Minecraft, despite the blocky graphics which just add to the charm of the game, is a highly addictive game of world-building. The whole game is so open-ended and allows you to switch between modes very easily if you enable the built-in "cheat" option (not what you think it is...)
As the reviewer said, you get out of Minecraft what you put into it. If you put enough interest and effort into it then you will get hours... no... days... even months of satisfaction out of it.
This game is not totally about shooting them before they get us, it is not heavily plot-oriented, and the main style of gameplay is left entirely up to the user.
There are several "modes" of play, starting with Creative Mode, where you are free to roam around the world with complete access to every single resource in the game, and you are free to build and create structures and caves, farms and to some extent gadgets with whatever you find lying about.
There is Survival Mode, the "single-player" game play mode, where you do much of the same thing but you have to "mine" for your resources (the clue is in the title I guess ;), but in this mode you have a "loose" goal of getting to the Nether world and killing the ultimate boss monster.
There are also several "sub-modes", Peaceful mode is where you can build, create etc. in Survuval mode, but there are no mosters spawned. This is a good Training Ground for you to get used to the mechanics of Minecraft gameplay without getting wiped out.
Normal mode is exactly the same but WITH the monsters spawning at night, so be prepared for a fight, they fight hard.
If you allow "cheats" in the main menu then you can easily switch between Peaceful and Normal modes with a command line switch, useful if you want the best of both worlds...
Nightmare mode (ahh... memories of Quake...) gives you the hardes possible single-player gameplay and only ONE life. If you die then EVERYTHING you just did will be permanently deleted and you start again with a new world.
Then there is multiplayer mode as well... yes there is a multiplayer mode and it is FUN!!!
What you have to remember is that this game is STILL under development, even now after the version 1 release, and improvements and stability are being added very often. New ideas are being thrown into it all the time and as I write this review (August 2012) there is even a plan for a "capture the flag" mode to be introduced.
This game will never be finished... and for that I am extremely grateful. The game develops alongside the imagination of both the designers and the players, and I hope that it will keep developing and changing because that is what makes this "game" so much fun.
On a final note, I hope the game never develops traditional "real-world" graphics, I love the square block and tiled approach, it adds a bit of retro-charm and makes it easier to stretch the real laws of physics now and again. Placing blocks in impossible places is all part of the fun.
Make sure you have plenty of time when you play this because this game is VERY addictive. Like the man in the interview said, before you know it you'll have forgotten to eat, sleep and go to the bathroom. Hours just slip by and before you realise it you'll be installing a porta-potty in your armchair just so you don't miss out on the gameplay :)))