I happened to come across Minecraft due to a popular web comic making a joke towards it's addictive and seemingly tedious gameplay. To better understand the joke I looked the game up, and decided it looked ridiculous and couldn't be fun at all.

Easy to learn; Clever crafting system; Massive levels

Still in BETA

Why is Minecraft one of the most famous indie games of all time? Versatility and near-infinite replayability. Want to accomplish a series of goals and clear the final boss? Minecraft has that. Want to explore a series of underground ruins and caverns, unearthing fabulous treasures? That, too.

Building any blocky thing you can imagine; Stumbling onto interesting new areas and caves; New; detailed potion/enchanting system

Enjoyment is directly proportional to effort; Breaking a pick deep inside a mineshaft; Your social life disappearing

I stand alone on a beach, landmasses sprawled on a blocky landscape before me. Cows moo on the nearby cliffsides and in the water. I punch at the dirt, digging a single cube out of the cliff and claiming it as my own. I have mined my first resource. Let the madness begin.

Still as addictive as ever; Control scheme fits perfectly with the console

Intimidating size; Tutorials not as helpful as I had hoped

I'm a jealous of gamers who are getting their first hit of the gaming-crack that is Minecraft . Those who download this diamond will be rewarded with a totally unique and wonderful gaming experience.

Revolutionary Open-World Gameplay; Tutorials Add Ease-Of-Play; Split-Screen "Couch Co-op" Is Awesome

(Relatively) Small Map; Later PC-Minecraft Additions Not Included; No Creative Mode

In Minecraft, you'll start with a single block of wood and eventually end with a fortress made out of diamonds and a portal that leads to the netherworld. Everything that happens in-between is the magic that makes Minecraft one of the biggest pop culture sensations in the world, and this review will...

The lightbulb moment(s) Within the first few minutes of Minecraft, you'll (likely) have a series of epiphanies as you begin to wrap your head around the core mechanics; Penny Arcade illustrated this perfectly in its comic ; And those moments continue to happen indefinitely.

Combat Minecraft comes with four different difficulties: Peaceful, Easy, Normal, and Hard; In Peaceful, you're free to roam and craft and mine and do whatever without fear of being molested by the game's obnoxious monsters; I'm not going to lie - this is my preferred mode.

Since its official release in 2011, Minecraft has sold more than 5 million units, but it's been praised and even obsessed over since its Beta staging back in ‘09. The now ubiquitous sandbox-building survival game has received both praise and criticism for its pixel-stylized graphics, its insistence...

Classic Minecraft gameplay on your console; 8-player online/4-player local multiplayer

Limited content upon its release

We often use "sandbox" to describe open-world action experiences like Grand Theft Auto or Crackdown , but those pre-made environments are expertly shaped and molded to help players explore their many whims with narrative guidance.

+ Rewarding exploration in an uncharted open world, + Works well with a controller; new tutorial is helpful

? Will this version build the same fervent fanbase as the PC release

Your eyes open. You're on a beach. You look down at your tattered clothing, and you can't help but notice that everything you owned, everything you carried, is gone. You have nothing with which to defend yourself from the world around but your two blocky fists.

Over 200 crafting recipes and a Creative Mode offer endless hours of gameplay; and a thriving community makes playing with others exceptionally fun

The game still feels buggy and unpolished at the time of writing; griefers plague many servers

Since it first hit PCs a couple of years ago, Minecraft has taken the world by storm. There's now a yearly MineCon convention. And Minecraft has even been taught in schools. Now, the game has sold a million copies within a few days of its release on Xbox Live.

Make your own creations; Blocky world feels real; Co-op ability

World is slightly smaller than on the PC; Inventory is harder to navigate

The hugely-popular sandbox game finally comes to consoles, but is it just as addictive as it was on PC? Find out in our full review.

+ So much to see and do; + Love the music; + Retro look and feel; + Translates well to console

Crafting menu can be cumbersome; Glitches from time to time