Minecraft:Story Mode – Episode 2 Review
Assembly Required, the second episode in Telltale Games Story Mode, came out two weeks after the first episode, much quicker than usual, to the delight of my children. In Episode 1 Jesse and her (or his, depending on what gender you chose for Jesse) crew, who are Minecraft enthusiasts, get sucked into an adventure of their own as a special type of Wither, powered by a Command Block, grows out of control and is threatening to devour the entire world. Episode 1 ends by Jesse and her friends realizing they need to reunite an old team of heroes, The Order of The Stone, if they hope to stop the Wither Storm and save the world.
Episode 2, although short, has two completely different avenues the story can take depending which member of The Order you decided to look for at the end of Episode 1 (and allowing for a completely different gameplay experience). I’ll let my 9-year-old Minecraft expert take over:
I decided to find Ellegaard, the Redstone Master, in Redstonia. Once there, Ellegaard made a speech to the people of Redstonia saying she was working on a new invention and then she went into her fortress. One other person took the Redstone Repeater, hiding the stairs to Ellegaard’s fortress. So, you need to decide to craft a Redstone Repeater or steal one. You walk around Redstonia a bit trying to find the things you need. You’ll see other people and their inventions. My favourite invention was a Cow-A-Pult, which is a machine that launches a cow into the air and pushes it into a little river. It’s absolutely hilarious and it’s my favourite invention.
After I stole my Redstone Repeater, I got into Ellegaard’s and it was neat. There were Redstone traps we had to avoid. We found Ellegaard and she was trying to make her own Command Block. It wasn’t working so we helped her, she might have got it to work but the Wither Storm attacked Redstonia and we had to run for the portal leaving the amazing Cow-A-Pult behind.
We came back to The Order of The Stone’s fortress. Lucas had fortified the old building. Axel went on an adventure of his own to go get Magnus, The Rogue. Ellegaard and Magnus don’t like each other at all, but they are going to have to work together to defeat the Wither Storm. From there the group goes to find Soren The Architect. Instead of finding Soren, they find Ivor, the bad guy from Episode 1. The episode ends when Petra and Jesse lose a fight with Ivor.
I can’t wait for Episode 3. I give this 9 out of 10, only because it was a bit short.
Again this was fun to watch her play through, it’s very light and very humorous. During one sequence we were both laughing at the Cow-A-Pult and when a cow disco caught fire and the cows were turned into tiny bouncing pieces of steak.
Telltale surprised us with the quick turnaround for Episode 2, but I think the regular 5-8 week delay between episodes will only help to build the anticipation. And to the boy in my daughter’s class who said she wasn’t a Minecraft expert, I look forward to reading your game review.
