…Researched and contributed by Solomon Thomas.
Microsoft has created a game that can be considered the best Minecraft game since the original, and it is called Minecraft Legends.
The game combines the best elements of the original block builder with those of the decent little action adventure game called Dungeons.
What is created is an action-strategy game that is designed for multiple platform cross-play gaming with friends for years to come.
The game is focused on an invasion by evil piglins into the player’s blocky and colorful Minecraft world.
Like a real-time strategy game, players will find themselves building up a host of ways to defend, attack and defeat the oncoming critters using a mix of mining for elements, building of structures and machines to fight with them and strategy moves designed to grind the enemy into the dirt.
The game comes in three distinct parts, including a story mode that can be played single-player or with up to three friends across Xbox consoles, PCs, and even Playstation 5.
The multiplayer battle mode is also available where players can face off against either one adversary or three, pals or online randoms.
This mode is essentially a game of my-castle-versus-your-castle with the last man standing being the winner.
There is also the added bonus of regular challenge drops that players can download, featuring things like horde mode where wave after wave of evil piglins attack the player’s bases as they battle to survive.
The developer, Mojang, has done an excellent job of making the usual Minecraft world look both familiar and better than ever before.
The game stays true to its roots while adding in ever so subtle detail, making the world feel lusher, more alive than before.
The game’s core mechanics involve using music to control the player’s army of Golems and Allays.
The Allays are sent out to mine elements like rock and wood, while the mined goods are then used to build defence towers to battle oncoming baddies, or bridges to ensure a vital passageway when counter-attacking.
The deployability of this game is immense, and from the minute players pick up the controller, they will know that gamers will be fighting online in Legends for decades to come thanks to its inclusive all-consoles access and forgiving mechanics.
It is incredibly tough too, once players go online and try to outwit someone with more experience of the genre.
Overall, Minecraft Legends is a game that is gaming at its best – fun, welcoming, evolving, easy to play but endlessly difficult to master.
It is best played with friends, and players will be continuously tested by the game.
It takes the core mechanics of its forebears and adds them neatly into a new-but-familiar mix of action and strategy.
It is definitely worth a 5/5 rating.