Chitika

Friday, April 29, 2011

Mods:
Mods are a huge part of Minecraft. This is partially due to the fact that Minecraft is made in Java, and Java is not the most difficult language to learn. That being said, here is my "series" entitled "The Mod Showcase", a brief compilation of my favorite mods. Also, thanks to my friend and fellow blogger Bob, who joined me for some pictures, I hyper linked his name, so go check him out.

Today's Special: Planes, made by Jamioflan. You can pick it up here. Here
So I have some pics of a play with this run through, and I have some categories to grade it with, which I will use  in future reviews.
-Background

-Ease of Installation
This mod is not the easiest mod to install. It involves opening up the minecraft.jar, and putting files in the .minecraft file. It also involves many different "precursor mods to install". Really not much more to say on this.
Score:

-Balance
I would say that this mod is pretty well balanced in the way of materials needed to make, and in not being to overpowered. The guns on the plane aren't too powerful, but are still good, and the easier to craft planes have less features. Not to mention that there are different grades of engine. The faster ones being harder to craft. My only complaint is that it th bombs are a bit too hard to difficult to obtain, and the spitfire needs A LOT of iron.
Score:

-Creativity
I thought this mod was quite creative, keeping closer to the whole, "medieval" idea, and going with older planes like the Fokker, Camel, and Biplane, but also bringing in the new technology which is very difficult to craft, creating a sort of tech tree like feel
Score:

-Aesthetics
The planes really follow the idea of Minecraft's blocky feel, while being able to pull off a more elaborate shape. The sounds of the planes while accelerating, taxiing, and shooting also add a great feel to the planes. However, on the spit fire, the cockpit is too low causing some sight problems. Other than that, it looks pretty good.
Score:

-Other
There is one thing about this mod that really blows it out of the water on many other mods, the ability to have multiplayer. Utilizing SDK's multiplayer modloader, planes are in fact available in SMP. While the planes are not as good as in SSP, and are worse if you are not on a good server, the idea is great and it does work.
+3 Diamonds for MP

Pictures:


Preparing for takeoff
An enemy fighter appears


Shot down, I begin the walk of shame to base camp :(

Going in for a landing



Runway, fire is not optional

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