Minecraft Story Mode – Episode 7: Access Denied Review

<p class&equals;"western">Even though <strong><em><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;telltale&period;com&sol;series&sol;minecraft-story-mode&sol;">Minecraft&colon; Story Mode<&sol;a><&sol;em> <&sol;strong>&lpar;created by <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;telltale&period;com&sol;">Telltale Games<&sol;a>&rpar; has turned into a series with an overarching plot without a major presence&comma; it was clear the series had to end at some point&period; It was obvious they had to one day conclude everything&comma; although they wouldn&&num;8217&semi;t necessarily need much time to accomplish it satisfyingly&period; So&comma; it being the last episode before the finale of this series&comma; <em>Episode 7&colon; Access Denied<&sol;em> actually had the peculiar freedom to set up the finale or not&period; It decided on the former&comma; fortunately leading to an elevation in quality&period; Although the phrase &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;polishing a bronze trophy” springs to mind&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"western"><strong>&lbrack;There will not be any spoilers for <em>Minecraft Story Mode – Episode 7&colon; Access Denied<&sol;em>&comma; but I may end up discussing <em>Minecraft Story Mode – Episode 1&colon; the Order of the Stone<&sol;em>&comma; <em>Episode 2&colon; Assembly Required<&sol;em>&comma; <em>Episode 3&colon; The Last Place You Look<&sol;em>&comma; <em>Episode 4&colon; A Block and a Hard Place<&sol;em>&comma; <em>Episode 5&colon; Order Up<&sol;em> and <em>Episode 6&colon; A Portal To Mystery<&sol;em>&comma; as well as the review of all six &lpar;which you can find&comma; respectively&comma; <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;minecraft-story-mode-episode-1-order-stone&sol;">here<&sol;a>&comma; <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;story-without-soul-minecraft-story-mode-episode-2-review&sol;">here<&sol;a>&comma; <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;minecraft-story-mode-episode-3-review&sol;">here<&sol;a>&comma; <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;plot-whiplash-minecraft-story-mode-episode-4-review&sol;">here<&sol;a>&comma; <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;minecraft-story-mode-episode-5-order&sol;">here<&sol;a> and <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;minecraft-story-modeepisode-6&sol;">here<&sol;a>&rpar;&period; However&comma; the rating at the bottom will be spoiler-free if you wish to skip there&period;&rsqb;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"western">In a turn that happens oddly sooner than expected&comma; the characters grow weary of jumping into random worlds at a whim <em>Scooby Doo<&sol;em> style&period; So&comma; full of great ideas&comma; your team decide to leap into a blood-red portal with the hopes that something good will be on the other side&period; There lies a desert with a sentient computer who&comma; hell bent on utilitarianism extremism&comma; wants to rob you of your thoughts and body with a chip so you may be made useful&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;110687" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-110687" style&equals;"width&colon; 1920px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"wp-image-110687 size-full" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2016&sol;07&sol;30191218&sol;20160728022542&lowbar;1&period;jpg" alt&equals;"Minecraft&colon; Story Mode&comma; Telltale Games" width&equals;"1920" height&equals;"1080" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-110687" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">&lpar;<em>Minecraft&colon; Story Mode<&sol;em>&comma; Telltale Games&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"western">In a manner that may be familiar to those who have read prior <em>Minecraft&colon; Story Mode<&sol;em> reviews by me&comma; I expected so much and received so little from the narrative&period; I admit&comma; I became hopeful for a slipped-past-the-radar facing off against the robot&&num;8217&semi;s philosophy&comma; even in a cheesy &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;I AM HUMAN&comma; I HAVE FEELINGS&comma; YOU CAN NEVER EXPRESS EMOTION AND THEREFORE YOU LACK EFFIENCY&excl;” style&period; Sadly&comma; it kept par for the course to deliver the plot and nothing else at all&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"western">The plot that did exist&comma; well&comma; is serviceable&period; It doesn&&num;8217&semi;t try for some twists&comma; a deeper meaning or an impactful moment&period; Instead&comma; the episode just delivers a story that is able to begin to set up a finale with the Old Builders and escaping the portal corridor&period; It has no thrills&comma; in any sense of the word&comma; to the point that a day later there are severe gaps in my memory where the plot once was and I have to use screenshots as a photo diary to remind myself&period; Although&comma; in what is a 1 &half; hour episode&comma; I do recall some narrative padding in what is already a very light plot&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"western">Through all my complaining&comma; there are glimmers of interesting characterization in the narrative&period; Not only does the episode breathe life into the established characters&comma; including Jesse&&num;8217&semi;s past mistakes&comma; but also into the newly introduced Harper&period; This exploration isn&&num;8217&semi;t deep enough to create gasps or to gut-punch you&comma; but does yoink your interest by your collar&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;110688" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-110688" style&equals;"width&colon; 1920px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"wp-image-110688 size-full" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2016&sol;07&sol;30191415&sol;20160728020853&lowbar;1&period;jpg" alt&equals;"Minecraft Story Mode&comma; Telltale Games" width&equals;"1920" height&equals;"1080" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-110688" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">&lpar;<em>Minecraft&colon; Story Mode<&sol;em>&comma; Telltale Games&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"western">That isn&&num;8217&semi;t to suggest the technical side is free from errors amongst all this&period; Music and sound effects cut out at a whim&comma; and the game seemed to think I was using a tablet to play as I was egged on with touchscreen directions&period; It never really got in the way to the point where it hampered the experience hugely&comma; but it existed nonetheless&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"western">The final score of <em>Minecraft Story Mode – Episode 7&colon; Access Denied<&sol;em> is a 5 out of 10&period; In the Philippines&comma; they have a saying that could sum up the episode&colon; Pwede na&period; The direct translation is &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;that&&num;8217&semi;ll do&comma;” but with more emphasis on doing the bare minimum to create what is a working project but nothing more&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"western">While <em>Access Denied<&sol;em> goes in and accomplishes the absolute minimal required end product in a narrative sense&comma; it seems to avoid all opportunities to do something more&period; It avoids the Pixar moment of entertaining adult and child alike&comma; but rather fixates on keeping your <em>Minecraft<&sol;em>-loving young &&num;8216&semi;un busy for a while&period; While it technically works&comma; its bare minimum effort shows a cold heart that uses a license to print money rather than to bounce off from&period; Despite this&comma; <em>Access Denied<&sol;em> is saved from dipping below a mediocre 5 by some neat minor characterization moments that liven up an act whose soul feels deceased&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"western">I hope the finale will liven things up and perhaps show that <em>Minecraft&colon; Story Mode<&sol;em> wasn&&num;8217&semi;t just Telltale&&num;8217&semi;s attempt at wringing the fans for cash&period; Although&comma; at this point&comma; I&&num;8217&semi;m not betting on it&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;