Format: iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch
Developer: Igor Kalicinski
Wow is what I think is best to start this review with. I was completely taking by surprise with Survivalcraft. I will fully admit right away that I just blew this off as yet another Minecraft clone. But boy was I wrong and ignorant to do this. Yes the game is clearly inspired by Minecraft, but I dare say that I actually had more fun playing this.
As far as the visuals go at a glance you could easily mistake this for Minecraft. But if you love that art style then you will love this. I get that some people do not like these kinds of graphics and that is cool. And there is nothing here in Survivalcraft that would make you change your mind. But for those of us though who do like Minecraft then this is a great looking game.
So why do I like this better than Minecraft? Well for me it is all about the setting of the game. You are stranded on a mysterious island and you need to survive. And that really is all there is to it in terms of story. It may not sound like much, but I am a sucker for these survival type scenarios. So right from the start Survivalcraft had me well and truly hooked.
In order to survive on this island you will need to do numerous things. You will need to build yourself a shelter. Mine for resources to make tools and so on. And you can even go on a freaking cattle drive if you so wish. It may sound like life here really is an island paradise, but there are many different animals that will kill you if you are not paying attention to what you are doing. Wolves were the main thing that seemed to stalk me, but there are other animals as well. A recent update has added the ability to find horses and ride around on horse back.
You need to make a strategy to survive. What I found worked was that I would go out during the day and get some items from around the island. And then at night thanks to some torches I would mine. One other thing that I would highly recommend is using the glass walls on your hideout, home or whatever you want to call the place you stay. The reason for this is that it lets you see if it is safe to venture out there at that moment.
In all I had an absolute blast in this game. There are many different things that can kill you which may sound annoying, but it actually is not. As much as you just want to explore this island at your leisure you cannot and always need to be on your guard. I cannot recommend this game highly enough.