Minecraft: Story Mode - Episode 5 - Order Up!
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Minecraft: Story Mode - Episode 5 - Order Up! Media
Critic Reviews for Minecraft: Story Mode - Episode 5 - Order Up!
It’s fun to see the continuation of Jesse’s tale, but the storyline in this episode feels rushed
Minecraft: Story Mode – Episode 5: Order Up! shapes up to be an incredible introduction to the Order of the Stone’s newest adventures, but still manages to fall a little short.
Order Up is the funniest episode to date and while it isn't the conclusion some people will be expecting, it does a good job of creating a fun and entertaining story as well as laying the groundwork for future adventures.
With the series now essentially moving into a new “season,” Minecraft: Story Mode has largely shaken things up a bit with a whole new area of its blocky, build-it world and some new faces alongside its older ones, while at the same time keeping its charm and good humor intact. While the supporting cast are still not quite getting the same level of attention or character development as some of the series more prominent actors, “Order Up!” still brings in one of the series’ best episodes to date, and builds up to a whole new adventure with three more episodes to see how the blocks all fall into place.
It's business as usual in terms of the moment-to-moment happenings, but it benefits from the altered structure that eschews multi-episode arcs in favor of singular experiences. For the first time in the series, I'm looking forward to continuing onward, if only a little.
With three episodes left, Telltale is considering Episode 5 a sort of bridge between the end of the Witherstorm finale and post-season tales. While I’m looking forward to Episode 6 more than I was before, Order Up! greatly benefits from being self-contained. Aiden makes for a solid adversary and The Founder is a terrific character I hope to see more of. There’s not really a lot of new depth to cast regulars like Lukas, Elizabeth, or Axel, but Ivor really comes into his own. His enthusiasm to obtain The Eversource is infectious. (Petra has a nice moment of faux memory, a fun callback to Episode 4.) This is the first Telltale episode in ages that I look forward to replaying.
Though Minecraft: Story Mode really hasn’t pushed the graphic adventure genre to new heights, it’s another example of just how adaptable Telltale are when it comes to creating stories for other properties. Though Minecraft really doesn’t have a story, that fact simply gave them free reign to create a world and characters of their own, and the fifth episode’s standalone adventure is just another example of that, with more adventures yet to come.
With the series having seemingly ended one episode early, Minecraft: Story Mode Episode 5 picks things up extremely well, launching a new adventure while paying homage to the old. Many issues with the series have been touched up and fixed, though some still linger. Ultimately, this episode succeeds in telling its own story, while pushing things forward for what is to come.
