CastleMiner Z review: Craftalike with some braaaainnnnnsss – Extra Guy

Extra Guy writes: By now it’s apparent to most gamers on Xbox Live that the Indie Games channel is a modern-day Tin Pan Alley, buzzing with the frantic static of developers iterating and reiterating worn gaming concepts. Extra Guy has followed this phenomenon down the dim side street of Craftalikes, our term for games that look, play, feel, and even sound like Minecraft. It’s an exciting channel, full of potential, that often disappoints us with its rather uninspired brand of coyly-similar-to-Minecraft titles that add little or nothing to the concept. In a sense, Minecraft’s unpredictable success has been detrimental to future development of its own genre, as developers see money and not blocks in their eyes when they look upon what Notch and Mojang have made with cubes.

Nevertheless, it was only a matter of time before someone came along on the XBLIG channel and added something you couldn’t get just playing Minecraft. And while a plethora of Extra Guy commenters pointed out that a lack of Minecraft on 360 makes these clones permissible, I feel that the true test of worth in the 360 Craftalike genre is a game that encourages you to stop playing Minecraft, and start playing a new game.