Minecraft Console Edition has been available for a long time now, especially on the older consoles, but I have to admit… I still play it more than any other game. And the sandbox extravaganza recently received new life with the release of the monstrously massive Minecraft 1.8.8 update, the largest ever for the Console Edition. The push brings the game closer to parity with the PC version than it has ever been before and brought tons of new features to Minecraft. And those new features have fully reinvigorated what makes the game so exciting.
Minecraft 1.8.8 Review: The Best Console Update Ever
Now available on all console platforms besides Wii U (for which the update will come later), Minecraft 1.8.8 introduces a whole slew of new features to the Console Editions of the game. It corresponds loosely with the Update That Changed The World and the Bountiful update. The new update also brings some key new features to the game… especially new biomes. Savannahs, red deserts, ice plains, ice spike plains, dark forests and deep oceans all joined the game, along with such local denizens as rabbits, acacia and dark oak trees and new types of stone (not technically denizens). Most of all, the update introduced Ocean Monuments.
Best of all, the changes are rolled out to existing worlds, although only into previously unexplored locations. That’s part of why the update is so fantastic: It incentivizes exploring, heading far off into the horizon to discover a new kind of world. And Minecraft’s joy has always been in its simplicity. The mere addition of new kinds of trees and colors of wood opens up worlds of possibilities for beautiful new creations. Combine those with the backdrop of the new biomes themselves, and I feel like I have a whole new canvas to work on. It’s the same Minecraft, but fresh and new, with many new colors of paint available.
New biomes and the desire to settle them are the immediate pleasure of Minecraft 1.8.8, but Ocean Monuments are the endgame. They’re probably the toughest nut to crack in the whole game, but conquering them is only half the fun. The presence of Ocean Monuments further incentivizes exploring, but it also encourages settling and the creation of new bases from which to lead an expedition on the monument. For a player who hasn’t dealt with them before, Ocean Monuments are formidable indeed. Like preparing for the Ender Dragon for the first time, getting ready for the Ocean Monument is a major undertaking, an exercise in logistics and redundancy and strategy and tactics and supply lines as much as anything else. And the rewards are massive: A whole bunch of entirely new blocks to make structures out of!
To the uninitiated, Minecraft 1.8.8 sounds like it just adds a bunch of new land types and blocks. To those of us who love the game, that’s the most exciting news imaginable. Variety is the spice of life, and Minecraft 1.8.8 brings variety in spades, and it has something for everyone from the hardcore Minecraft homesteader to the fierce warrior to the village trader. It’s truly the update that changed the world, and I’ll be playing it for a long, long time.
