The controller bindings are simple and movement is significantly easier, which makes the combat feel much better. On to the controller, the game really feels like it was made for playing with a controller. Because of this focus on standard attacks, there is nothing to hide the restrictive nature of this control method, meaning you are always fighting the game on where you want to go during combat. Minecraft Dungeons doesn’t really require this as much and just focuses more on your standard attacks while occasionally using the various abilities of your gear. Most of the other isometric ARPGs get around the general control issues by requiring players to be a little more attentive and aggressive with their skills and abilities. However, Minecraft Dungeons’ movement and controls feel slightly clunkier, which is actually due in part to the simplicity of the gameplay. I’ve always kind of struggled with isometric ARPGs as I’m not the biggest fan of having to hold my mouse click to move around (or click to somewhere to move to that spot). We’ll start with the mouse & keyboard controls. Playing on PC, you can choose to either use keyboard & mouse controls, or you can opt for using a controller. When it doesn’t work, the game can be quite frustrating. Fighting against hordes of enemies has always been oddly gratifying and the power trip you get from games like Diablo and Path of Exile remains within Minecraft Dungeons. While the gameplay systems are pretty cool, the moment-to-moment gameplay can be frustrating. The simplicity of this game’s character building allows for it to be accessible for everyone and, to that end, it fits the style of Minecraft perfectly. The game also doesn’t punish you for investing in levelling gear as dismantling gear that has enchantment points in it will see all the invested points returned. These enchantments range from raw damage upgrades for weapons to defensive traits in armour (my favourite being 90% damage resistance after using a potion) and everything in between. These enchantment points can be spent on…enchantments. Each time you level up you are granted one enchantment point. As you play through Minecraft Dungeons, slaying enemies and bosses, you will increase in level. This is where the levelling system chimes in. The attributes range from raw damage/defence all the way to the unique traits that may be available. Rather than focus on specific classes and stats for you to build, Minecraft Dungeons focuses on the perks and attributes of specific pieces of gear. There is a lot of charm to be found within the Overworld and the very simple gameplay mechanics make for a game that’s easy to pick up at any point. The general gameplay is admittedly quite fun. Not everything about Minecraft Dungeons is disappointing, however. I wouldn’t be surprised if the game only began to feel complete once these two DLC releases happen. To add insult to injury, on the mission select screen there is a tile that says “coming soon” for more content which is a part of the two paid expansions that are included in the Hero Edition. I understand that this was always going to be a relatively small game, especially given its modest asking price, but even when factoring that in, there is still virtually nothing to play. This isn’t to say that the campaign needs to span across 30–40 hours, but the fact that that game asks you to replay those nine missions but in a harder difficulty shows that the team knew that length and substance was an issue, and rather than adding a little more content (to buff the hours to something more akin to the six-to-eight hour mark) they’re asking you to simply retread old ground. Not many games leave me saying “wait…that’s it?” but Minecraft Dungeons is one such game. To say that I was fairly disappointed by the campaign’s length, which is shorter than my patience, is an understatement. There are secrets to be found and even a secret level, but even with all of that, I managed to complete the main game in one night. Minecraft Dungeons comes with nine main missions…that’s all.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |