With The Last Of Us, Metro, and all of the other remasters doing the rounds at the moment, flouncing about in their shiny new coats, it might seem like an odd choice to make your game look exactly the same as it did beforehand, but that’s the power of Minecraft for you. Its charmingly blocky retro aesthetic doesn’t need to be repainted to keep up-to-date with the latest trends this is fare as classic and enduring as a game can get.
On the surface not much has changed: you’re still building hastily put-together mud shacks on your first night and cowering from creepers, pixelated pickaxe clasped in your low-fi hands. but, along with those elusive diamonds, there’s a whole lot more going on below the surface. For starters all that new console power has gone into making the game as smooth as an enderman’s back, with stilted animations a thing of the past.
It also allows you to peer further into the distance than you ever could previously on 360 or PS3. Now giant alpine forests and mountains loom ominously in the distance, just waiting to be scoped out for precious coal and iron. Get there, though, and you’ll be able to see an even more enticing desert or mushroom island just that little bit further away.
The world just keeps stretching out in front of you, and with 36 times the space there’s a lot of new ground to cover. While it’s still no where near as large as the Pc version’s ‘infinite’ worlds, you really don’t need it to be with so much to explore it’s unlikely that you’ll ever truly be able to see everything on a single map.
Customs excised
The PS4 and XO versions are still missing features that their Pc relative currently enjoys, such as horses and a wider range of customisation options, though you can buy extra skin packs to change the look of the game, and if you upgraded from PS3 or 360 then any you’ve bought already will be carried over. That said, the simplified console layout and controls are far easier and less intimidating to get to grips with.
There are a few minor annoyances such as the music levels sometimes soaring higher than the sounds of the world around you, making it easier for zombies and the like to get the best of you, but with such a fantastic new soundtrack to enjoy it really isn’t much of a complaint.
On the surface not much has changed: you’re still building hastily put-together mud shacks on your first night and cowering from creepers, pixelated pickaxe clasped in your low-fi hands. but, along with those elusive diamonds, there’s a whole lot more going on below the surface. For starters all that new console power has gone into making the game as smooth as an enderman’s back, with stilted animations a thing of the past.
It also allows you to peer further into the distance than you ever could previously on 360 or PS3. Now giant alpine forests and mountains loom ominously in the distance, just waiting to be scoped out for precious coal and iron. Get there, though, and you’ll be able to see an even more enticing desert or mushroom island just that little bit further away.
The world just keeps stretching out in front of you, and with 36 times the space there’s a lot of new ground to cover. While it’s still no where near as large as the Pc version’s ‘infinite’ worlds, you really don’t need it to be with so much to explore it’s unlikely that you’ll ever truly be able to see everything on a single map.
“all that new-gen power has gone into making the game as smooth as an enderman’s Back”
Customs excised
The PS4 and XO versions are still missing features that their Pc relative currently enjoys, such as horses and a wider range of customisation options, though you can buy extra skin packs to change the look of the game, and if you upgraded from PS3 or 360 then any you’ve bought already will be carried over. That said, the simplified console layout and controls are far easier and less intimidating to get to grips with.
There are a few minor annoyances such as the music levels sometimes soaring higher than the sounds of the world around you, making it easier for zombies and the like to get the best of you, but with such a fantastic new soundtrack to enjoy it really isn’t much of a complaint.
