Minecraft 1.8 Review

Yesterday a preview of Minecrafte 1.8 update was released. This is just an update you may think... Oh how wrong you are... Minecraft 1.8 is the long awaited Adventure update... Well, at least half of it. The full update is to be finished in 1.9. However this isn't just a new update. This is a new game essentially.

Markus Persson, Jebs Bergensten and the rest of the Mojang crew have been hard at work over the last few weeks as they prepared for possibly the biggest Minecraft update to date. Ranging from the small items, gates for fences, to the huge, ravines and abandoned mineshafts.

I've restarted my Minecraft career because a lot of these changes can't take place in areas already explored which was bad for me seeing as I have the habbit of exploring all the areas near my main one so my map looks nice and full. Doesn't bother me too much but it can't be helped. These new changes include, Rivers, Seas, New biomes (Areas such as swamps and mountainous) Ravines, valleys, bayou like forests and more. I'm personally avid over the mountainous biomes. It reminds me of the levels I had back in Alpha version 1.2.12, back when there was no real restrictions and each level was pretty dam nice looking.

One of my new levels, I have an air city behind that cliff now...

There are various tweaks and twists to already implemented features, such as an improved bow which you can charge up before firing. Chest animations, and an entirely new system of combat. Gone are the days where you could just charge into the night with a sword and 8 Cooked pork chops. There is the addition of the hunger bar which changes the way we all will have to fight. When our hunger bar is up high, we have health regeneration but when it's down low, it's just a waste of pixels to you. Food no longer heals you. It boosts up your hunger which in turn heals you over time. I can already hear an outcry of rage from people for Mojang "wrecking" combat in Minecraft. I think it's a great addition and puts more faith into actual strategy in combat making you properly choose your attacks instead of it being a competition of who can click fastest. Another big thing is the addition of NPC villages however the come with the lack of npcs for the time being. I'm not sure if they'll come with the official release date or with 1.9.

An underground cavern I found within a few minutes of starting 1.8

The Mojang team have also improved Speed and stability of the game itself. I have a laptop. It's a fast-ish one. It can run modern-ish games like Borderlands and shit pretty well. It had trouble running Minecraft before in terms of me not being able to enjoy having the graphics on fancy. Now I can run it on full power with no problem. The graphics and light systems have been improved aswell. There's also a creative mode for you guys who insist on using inventory editors in your levels and insist it's for creative purposes. You have infinite supplies and can fly etc.

Pretty sunrise is prettier from my new Skycity.

One of my favourite additions is the New main mob (I say main because of the fact that there's a new cave spider who has the ability to poison) which is the Enderman/Farlander. This new mob is hilariously fun and scary. Odd combination but I have had real fun trying to fuck around with this new long limbed foe and it's truly a good bit of fun. It has the characteristics of the weeping angel from Doctor Who who is frozen in place if you're looking at it and as soon as you look away it can kill you in a matter of seconds. The Enderman is friendly at first HOWEVER as soon as your cross hair lands upon him, he looks at you with a terrifying gaze. The moment your cross hair moves... prepare yourself for a battle with a teleporting paedophile (They just seem like that to me what with their creepy zombie noises and long limbs).

Please prepare your anus for a raping.

I have probably left out a lot of important things mainly due to the fact there is just so much to talk about and for that, i'm sorry.

This trailer shows exactly what the update is like ^

So overall what did I think?

Showing the new bow and other items like food and XP bar.

This isn't an update. This is a new GAME. It's spectacular. It's changed what Minecraft is for the better. It's just brilliant. However it isn't without it's faults. This is only an early release. Places like npc villages and the mineshafts tend to be very buggy in the sense that they don't form properly for a variety of reasons. If you have yet to download it, here is the link from the official Minecraft Forums http://www.minecraftforum.net/news/214-want-to-play-18-early-heres-how/. Or you can wait 'till the 12th. Your call. Either way Mojang have just shot way up in my book.