Minecraft: Story Mode
© 2015 Telltale Games
Fun but expensive, Minecraft: Story Mode nicely mixes a story with a block play theme. It makes sense that part of the evolution (and cash collection potential) of Minecraft involves stories narrated by famous actors. Designed for game consoles and PCs, the five episodes (sold for roughly $5 each) take you to the Nether, the Farlands, the End, and beyond. You drive how the story flows by choosing what to you say to people, and what you choose to do. In the story, you play as Jesse who travels with Warrior, Redstone Engineer, Griefer, and Architect; each with different skills. Unlike the original Minecraft, you won't be able to just start digging... you follow the branching plotline and interact with the story with a set of fail-safe interaction techniques. To make this series, Microsoft/Mojang hired Telltale Games -- a studio also known for some pretty racy but respected M rated games like Game of Thrones, The Walking Dead, Monkey Island, and Tales From the Borderlands. These are obviously not children's titles, but we have no reason to believe that there will be content any more worrisome than a typical LEGO title. We did notice some mild but unnecessary swearing in the dialog (e.g., "hell no!"). Too bad. Each episode is available via download, for additional purchase. Requires reading. The font size is small on an iPad, it will be harder to read on an iPad mini; it is not recommended for iPhones or iPods (4s or older).
$4.99, Xbox 360, Xbox One, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Windows, Mac OSX, iPad, Android, Kindle
Teaches: reading, logic, problem solving
CTR Rating: 88%