Minecraft: Story Mode - Episode 1 - The Order of the Stone Reviews
While I have come to love Telltale's more grown-up titles, 'The Order of the Stone' is fun, wholesome entertainment in its own right. There are plenty of jokes for all ages, along with a healthy dose of slapstick comedy and a few puzzles and quick-time events to spice things up. Perhaps the best thing I can say about it, other than I'm looking forward to the next episode, is that it dearly made me want to fire up my own 'Minecraft' world and get to building.
If you are someone who is really into Minecraft and understand a lot of the elements of the game, you are going to have a much better experience than someone who doesn't know a lot about the game. Even just seeing things like creepers, spiders, skeletons and zombies felt pretty cool just because I knew what they were and I could relate to how Jesse would feel in the game.
Intended for kids who love Minecraft, or adults who really love Minecraft.
Save the pig, save the Overworld
A charming good time with some stressful, but not agonizingly life-threatening choices - Story Mode brings plot to the sandbox at last.
If you've been looking for an official story set place in the Minecraft universe, this is as official as it's going to get. There's no denying the charm of the world that Story Mode takes place in, especially with the number of in-jokes that are thrown fans' ways. The story may not be particularly deep, but it is age-appropriate and will make for a great time to be shared with the younger Minecraft fans out there (and there are millions of them!). However, even for young, attention-deficit minds, The Order of the Stone feels like it ends a bit prematurely. If you or your child are fans of Minecraft, then this is an easy buy.
Minecraft: Story Mode is off to a solid start, sending our heroes on a quest that will take them across their blocky world. If you're used to Telltale's current output, this isn't as serious, instead focusing on telling a family-friendly tale. With that understanding, Telltale kicks off a brisk adventure in this episode's two-hour running time.
This episode is an excellent introduction as it just seems long enough. It does not seem crammed or forced, either. Everything about the first episode is extremely entertaining, and it is certainly worth the price of admission.
Minecraft: Story Mode - Episode 1: Order of the Stone is a lacklustre start to Telltale's latest series. While it's certainly not bad, it's not exactly good either. A great performance from Patton Oswalt and some fun sequences aren't enough to cancel out the wonky pacing and bland narrative, while the ensemble cast mostly falls flat. This instalment is inoffensive enough, but it never really provides enough for you to latch on to. There's still plenty more to come, of course, but the jury's still out.
Order of the Stone continues Telltale's run of strong opening episodes to their series. The drawbacks are mainly down to a weak supporting cast and that air of familiarity that gets more fetid with each passing Telltale series.
By focusing on a new concept that strays from their normally mature games, this episode paves the way for what is hopefully a great series from a great developer.
A fun start, but there's a lot here to build on.
While putting a story to Minecraft might seem counterintuitive to the core game's design, the team at Telltale has proven they can make a great story out of anything. And yes, that now includes Minecraft.
The way that Telltale takes advantage of Minecraft lore to form its own narrative is intriguing and will delight fans of the original game, but what the studio is doing with this new story isn't doing much that will excite anyone else.
A new story in the world that they love, but one in which they're participating, not just watching – which isn't afraid to raise some sensitive issues around topics such as friendship. Roll on episode two.
Minecraft: Story Mode feels more like a Telltale adventure than a traditional Minecraft experience, but it's still a fun and unusual take on a world that, until now, has had almost no storyline.
With the first installment of Minecraft: Story Mode, Telltale stays faithful to the popular source material while delivering another enjoyable adventure.
Although Story Mode doesn't deviate from Telltale's usual formula, it still manages to make me excited for the second episode in this new episodic adventure, with great dialogue and storytelling. I was skeptical of Telltale's ability to pull off an episodic series in the Minecraft universe, but as far as I can tell from this first episode, they've done a pretty damn good job of it.
Story Mode is a solid attempt at giving all new meaning to creativity in Minecraft. The plot is set and it looks to be both interesting and fun. I'm looking forward to continuing the story Telltale has crafted and seeing everything they have in store for the game.
Story Mode – Episode 1 hits or misses with its characters and presents a relatively anemic plot for later episodes to build on; less immediately captivating than its predecessors, yes, but Telltale has set out to find the perfect blend of action and heart – they haven't found it yet – but in later episodes they just might.