After a number of games, there is one thing that Minecraft: Builder & Biomes does very right, keeping its players making important choices. From the very beginning to the last cube taken before scoring, this game gives players a lot of things to chase and work towards without being too cumbersome.
Let’s talk pros about the game first. The best thing about the game is the unique set-up, number of choices, and scoring system. For example, a player may want to build a lot of items on the desert pieces to score a lot in the first round but then go around hunting for monsters that will give them even more points because of the number of desert pieces they have. Whereas, a player may not care for the scoring in round one and look specifically for animal dwellings that are more expensive, but pay off big time in the end. These and other strategies allow players to work toward various goals at the same time, always giving them opportunities to make a very active and important choices every turn. The pieces all look and feel great, especially the wood blocks used for building. I also loved the pacing of the game; players would often know what they wanted to do when it came to their turn and would make slight changes as other people took their turns. It keeps the game going and people engaged.
Now, the cons of Builders and Biomes. The game has a lot to set up, a lot. Basically every card, tile, block and sheet is used, and you’ll need a lot of room to play it. Also, because it is a lot of freestanding pieces and tiles, they easily get knocked around, and the area can get pretty busy and messy after two or three turns. Another issue is the level of complexity. There are a lot of different things happening at once, and it can be pretty difficult to learn it all in one session. I would say it takes a full game to feel comfortable actually playing. Complexity can be good, but having three scoring rounds, each card having a lot of game specific symbols and mechanics for building, moving, battling and individual areas/score cards, it is just a lot to handle all at once.
Even though my cons section is almost as large as my pros section, it in no way means this game isn’t fun and pretty cool. It may have a heavy learning curve just to know what you’re doing, but that is normal for the board game world. Overall, it is a pretty fun game and for sure worth trying out, just be patient and pay attention.
