Minecraft is an online game that lacks the fancy graphics of many modern game engines, but more than makes up with it in fun.
Looking at the quality of graphics, you might even assume the game were developed 20 years ago; but you’d be wrong. Truth is, as of this writing, Minecraft is still in beta and isn't ready for a full commercial release. Minecraft is a modern game and the jaggy, polygonal graphics are just part of the game’s appeal.
Minecraft is a game in which you, the player, control how the world is shaped by adding or removing parts of the world -- one block at a time. That level of granularity just isn’t possible with a game with fancy, static graphics.
As flexible as Minecraft is, there is a limit to the amount of work the game designers can put in to their product without creating a bloated game with many seemingly useless features. Minecraft players are in luck, however, as the game leaves it up to third party developers (or modders) to create “mods” to extend Minecraft. These mods allow players many options to enhance their gaming experience.
By far the best animal mod for Minecraft out right now is Mo' Creatures.
About Mo' Creatures
Mo' Creatures is Minecraft Mod made by DrZhark that expands your Minecraft animal set substantially.
This mod isn't just about reskinning existing creatures like other mods you may be used to -- Mo' Creatures provides entirely new creatures with entirely new personalities. The mod also creates new game mechanics which allow you to easily farm creatures to increase the loot you can collect in Minecraft.
Installing Mo' Creatures
Mo' Creatures is now compatible to be installed via TFC's Mod Manager. TFC's Mod Manager allows you to easily modify your Minecraft installation by opening a standard ZIP (.zip) compressed mod in the program.
There is no more messing with directory structure or multiple graphics files as Mod Manager handles all of that for you.
Ground Creatures: Lions, Ogres, and Bears... Oh My!
As good as Minecraft is, it's lacking in variety when it comes to the animals that roam around during the day. Mo' Creatures offers quite a large selection of additional creatures to fix this problem.
For land animals, you have the ability to add: bears, boars, bunnies, ducks, foxes, lions, polar bears, and wolves. All with their own unique models, skins, sound, and personality.
Flying Mobs in Minecraft
Mo' Creatures contains a number of flying mobs that add atmosphere and fun to the game.
Birds can be found flying and walking around during the day above ground, while wraiths can be found at night. A special mob, the Flame Wraith, spawns only in hard mode and has the ability to set you on fire.
Birds can be tamed by offering them seeds.
Werewolf Mod in Mo' Creatures
There are two types of humanoid mobs that come with the current release of the mod: werewolves and ogres.
Werewolves, during the day, can be found in their human form leisurely strolling the countryside. But if you are still outside as the sun begins to set you should start to worry.
After dark, the humans change shape into their dangerous werewolf form. Werewolves are both bipod while standing and quadruped while running -- making them the first multi-stance mob in Minecraft.
Werewolves can only be killed with gold instruments in Minecraft, so unless you have a gold sword laying around, going out looking for them is generally a bad idea.
Block-Busting Minecraft Ogres
Ogres are the second type of humanoids available in Mo' Creatures. There are three types: Normal Ogres, Fire Ogres, and Cave Ogres.
Normal Ogres and Fire Ogres can spawn above ground. Fire Ogres will only spawn on hard mode and have the ability to set the ground on fire causing substantial damage to you and nearby wooden structures.
There is also a third type of Ogre, the Cave Ogre, that spawns only underground and carries diamonds.
Ogres are unique in that they are so strong they can actually smash blocks to get to you. The only thing that can stop an Ogre is Obsidian blocks -- which means if you have Ogres attacking your castle made of Cobblestone, you should probably just get as far away from there as you can.
Sharks in Minecraft
Sharks, obviously, are a water creature. They offer unique game mechanics compared to most of the other creatures in this mod.
Firstly, sharks are available in different sizes. Larger sharks are harder to kill than the smaller ones.
They also drop eggs when you kill them. You can throw these eggs, and if you happen to throw an egg into water, you can even raise your own tamed shark which you can use to defend your castle's moat!
Minecraft Horses
Horses are special in Mo' Creatures in that they can be tamed, they can be bred, and they can be mounted and ridden. Some horses, like the pack horse, can also be used as a second storage inventory.
Horses by themselves offer a huge improvement of gameplay over the standard version of the game.
There are currently 7 types of horses available in Mo' Creatures. In order of rarity, they are: Brown Horse, Black Horse, Unicorn, Pegasus, Pack Horse, Nighmare, and Black Pegasus.
Breeding and Taming Horses
Keeping two horses together while result in breeding and the production of new horses.
You should feed the horses prior to any breeding attempts, and you should leave the horses alone for a day or so -- they will be too nervous to breed if you are in the area.
The rarer the horses that you use to breed results in increasingly rare offspring.
As you can see, Mo' Creatures offers more than just new monster skins to the game. It shouldn't be considered simply an aesthetic upgrade as it provides so much more than that. Mo' Creatures should be the first mod recommended to any new Minecraft players.
Richard Silvers - My wife and I are practitioners of a paleolithic diet. Much of my writing covers the topics of health, nutrition, fitness, and weight ...
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