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.
mapping the now-much-bigger world is also a bit of a nuisance, as for every new area you discover you’ll have to set up shop and create a new map. And unlike in the Pc version you can’t currently stitch them together to make one big atlas, you’ll have to switch between them. A compass can help, but it does make those longer expeditions a bit of a tough slog. You can scale the world size down if it’s all a bit too much to handle, but realistically who isn’t going to want to indulge in all of that extra scope for adventure?
If you’re already embroiled in the Pc’s extra updates and customisable content then this won’t offer anything other than a more comfortable position on your sofa, but as an upgrade from previous console versions it’s definitely worth mining your wallet for
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