Epic Game of the Year : Leomentheus

Goes without saying.

Ah, 2011. A year of many extravagant game releases. This year has indeed provided us with such a wide range of possible nominees for Epic Game of the Year, from Bethesda Softworks‘s hugely immersive RPG The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, to DICE’s addicting real-as-hell first-person shooter, Battlefield 3. Unfortunately, I can only bestow this award to one game, a pure… masterpiece of a game, a game that has brought to the industry huge innovation and creativity, and countless hours of what makes a good game good: fun.

The game I speak of is Minecraft. This wondrous, open-world concoction was conjured by Swedish independent game developer Markus “Notch” Persson back in May ’09 (Alpha). Now, it’s December 2011, and the full version has been released for a month now, more or less.

Let’s get to the nitty-gritty. The main reason I nominated Minecraft as GotY is because of its possibilities, which are endless. When you begin, you will notice the starting screen has a fantastic aerial view of the in-game world floating in the background. There are three options: Singleplayer, Multiplayer, and Texture Packs.

There are three modes in Singleplayer: Survival, Hardcore, and Creative. You will have the option to choose one of these, plus the option to turn off structures (such as NPC villages, which are friggin’ awesome on their own).

In Survival, you start out in the middle of the wilderness, with an empty inventory. Your objective is to build a base of operations, kill animals and farm for food, and protect yourself from the various types of monsters that come out at dreaded night. Oh, and you can mine shit, too.

Hardcore is survival with only one life. Don’t play hardcore mode, trust me. Creative gives you unlimited health, blocks, and the ability to fly, so you can make whatever your wittle heart desires. Although, this was ripped off from player-made mods, with no credit given to the creators whatsoever… Well, what can I say, Notch can make a hell of a game, but he isn’t that big on morals.

Multiplayer is where you go when you get tired of being socially inept while playing Singleplayer (or you’re just scared of being alone at night). With an ungodly amount of servers and a plethora of mods and plugins, Minecraft’s multiplayer is the best online experience I’ve had yet. I really enjoy the faction servers, in which you create your own faction, build your base, and participate in PvP with other factions. Also, if your faction is strong enough, you can “remodel” another’s base and “borrow” some items from their stash. To all those “For Dummies” people out there: It’s called raiding.

Texture packs are “skins” for your world. They are user-made and there are a shit-ton of them out there. Speaking of skins, the character “customization” is, for lack of a better word, boss.

All in all, Minecraft is a complete package. The gameplay, the infiniteness, the everything. I have spent endless hours of my short, meaningless life playing this game, and I’m glad I did. The vastness of this game is absolutely phenomenal. That is why I, Leomentheus, have nominated Minecraft as Epic Game of the Year!