Minecraft’s Universal Studios DLC Provides Some Shockingly Good Theme Park Recreations

From its debut in 2011, Minecraft is a recreation that is by no means stopped evolving. Over time, that has meant a very ridiculous variety of inventive servers delivered to life by followers, in addition to packs of downloadable content material that convey every thing from Star Wars to SpongeBob Squarepants and even the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to the sport. Now, you’ll be able to make a journey to Universal Studios in Minecraft, because of the sport’s latest DLC pack filled with rides, video games, and loads of film characters.

With the Universal Studios Experience, which was formally launched on February 13 and is obtainable now, a few of the most iconic theme park rides of all time–including two that now not exist within the United States–have been faithfully rebuilt in Minecraft, together with a bunch of minigames and a whole theme park to discover.

It is essential to notice that, in contrast to 2021’s Walt Disney World Magic Kingdom DLC, the Universal Studios expertise is not a recreation of a single park. As a substitute, the map borrows parts from each Universal Studios Hollywood and Orlando, whereas additionally bringing in new parts from the films the in-game rides are primarily based on. You may see a map of the in-game theme park under.

Now, let’s discuss these rides. Clearly, with a Universal Studios-based DLC, you is likely to be questioning concerning the Wizarding World of Harry Potter and Tremendous Nintendo World–two of the best-known properties at Universal’s parks. Sadly, these aren’t owned by Universal, so they don’t seem to be within the recreation. What’s within the DLC pack, although, is a superb sampling of Universal’s previous and current.

As a part of the Universal Studios Expertise, you will get to journey Minecraft recreations of points of interest like The ET Journey (Orlando), The Mummy (Orlando), Cranium Island: Reign of Kong (Orlando), the World Well-known Studio Tour (Hollywood), and Jurassic World: The Trip (Hollywood), together with beloved former points of interest Again To the Future: The Trip and Jaws.

Whereas it will have been simple to create a fast and sloppy recreation primarily based on dumbed-down variations of those rides (see 2001’s Universal Studios Theme Parks Journey), a large amount of labor went into capturing the points of interest of their new Minecraft varieties.

To correctly choose the Universal Studios Expertise, I used to be in a position to go to the Orlando park in individual, driving quite a lot of the rides featured within the DLC. Whereas I like theme parks, I am not at all a straightforward customer–doubly so, the place Minecraft is worried. Not solely have I spent far too many hours within the official and unofficial Disney theme parks within the recreation, I built my own theme park on a Minecraft Bedrock server through the pandemic. At this level, it’ll take loads to actually impress me.

That mentioned, the Universal Studios Expertise is a nice shock. The element and a focus that went into recreating these points of interest is top-notch. Actually, I used to be genuinely shocked how a lot work went into one thing like The ET Journey, which is the oldest attraction at Universal Orlando Resort–and the only real remaining journey from the day the park opened.

Even with a journey like this that may be thought-about historical alongside trendy theme-park marvels, each element was accounted for, together with the overly-colorful Inexperienced Planet residence of ET and the solid of alien characters we meet there. You may try a take a look at the ET attraction under, however a phrase of warning: The sound within the video isn’t ultimate. We requested Universal and Microsoft concerning the journey audio within the DLC pack and have been assured that the rides have the sound results and music you will doubtless expect all through the park. So, sure, chances are high ET’s instructor Botanicus will converse to you inside this Minecraft recreation, which is fairly cool for theme-park nerds.

The rides aren’t all there’s to do within the Universal Studios Expertise, although. There’s additionally a collection of minigames impressed by the rides. Upon arriving on the park, you could discover some letters from the Universal Studios signal are lacking, and the one option to get them again is to finish a collection of video games that pit you towards iconic film villains like Bruce (the shark from Jaws), dinosaurs, and even the Mummy as you try to save lots of the theme park.

I did not get to pattern this a part of the sport, however it definitely appears like a chaotically good time. In addition to, after the shark from Jaws terrorizes you on a ship, why would not you need slightly revenge?

As you’ll be able to inform from the map picture above, there are additionally quite a lot of eateries and retailers within the park, the place you should purchase trinkets and snacks to your Universal Studios Expertise journey.

Finally, these theme park-based DLC packs from Minecraft try to scratch an itch many people have once in a while. Whether or not we now have reminiscences from our childhood of going to theme parks to journey our favourite rides, or are merely searching for an escape that will not break the financial institution, recreating these real-life experiences inside video video games we are able to play at residence supplies a welcome degree of availability. In spite of everything, we went by a reasonably tumultuous time the place we have been all caught at residence with out the thrill that these theme park Minecraft expansions can convey.

Whereas they is probably not picture-perfect recreations of the points of interest we love, given the constraints of Minecraft, they do carry the spirit of the rides sufficient to attraction to a facet of you that you just may not even know exists. And, if nothing else, this DLC pack may clarify to you the ridiculously advanced ET lore many individuals don’t know exists.