When comparing Cataclysm Dark Days Ahead vs Minecraft - Pocket Edition, the Slant community recommends Minecraft - Pocket Edition for most people. In the question“What are the best offline Android games where you can build your own city, kingdom, etc... ?” Minecraft - Pocket Edition is ranked 2nd while Cataclysm Dark Days Ahead is ranked 3rd. The most important reason people chose Minecraft - Pocket Edition is:
Each new world a player starts is randomly generated, making for a different experience every time a new world is started. There are 38 biomes - snowy, cold, medium/lush, dry/warm, and neutral biomes, each with numerous sub-biomes (such as mountainous, rivers, forested, swamp, beach and more). These biomes each have their own set of blocks and configurations, and each frozen river biome will be different from the next frozen fiver biome you see.
Specs
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Pros
Pro Classic computer gameplay that offers a lot of nostalgia
Get taken back to when games were completely made of ascii letters and your imagination. Venture forth as an @ and survive the wild. With the classic ascii art, it is hard to ignore that this is not a graphical powerhouse, but of course that is part of the fun, allowing your imagination to fill in this void.
Pro Open source and very moddable, making for a game that anyone can change to their liking
The mod community is pretty active on this game, and you can create some really cool things with the tools they already provide. This way anyone can change their game to how they like.
Pro Super involved gameplay that allows the user to dive deep into the mechanics of the game
Everything from weather to crafting to martial arts are accounted for in Cataclysm. You can spend hours mastering the depths of this games systems that allow you to play however you want.
Pro Being in constant active developed allows the game to constantly grow
Experimental releases exit a few times in a single day. Many people are working on finding bugs, and developers are quickly fixing them and adding new features. This makes for a situation where the game is constantly growing and improving.
Pro Free for anyone to download and try, which leave no one out
The game is free of cost as well as open-source, meaning that anyone can download the game, install it and play it.
Pro Graphics can be used instead of ASCII, for those that would enjoy something more visual
Not supported on every version of the game, but you can have a graphical experience if you want by using a graphical tileset for the game. This will need to be done manually.
Pro Completely new experience with each generated world keeps the game fresh
Each new world a player starts is randomly generated, making for a different experience every time a new world is started. There are 38 biomes - snowy, cold, medium/lush, dry/warm, and neutral biomes, each with numerous sub-biomes (such as mountainous, rivers, forested, swamp, beach and more). These biomes each have their own set of blocks and configurations, and each frozen river biome will be different from the next frozen fiver biome you see.
Pro Great freedom of expression thanks to the sandbox gameplay
In Minecraft you can really do whatever you want. If exploring different landscapes is your thing, creative mode lets you do that. Building castles or villages, or even sculptures, computers (complete with redstone logic), or unique builds can be done such as roller coasters or replicas of objects like the Enterprise from Star Trek.
For more combat focused gameplay, enter survivor mode and you can fight monsters, gather resources, craft weapons, build traps and farms and much more.
Pro Local multiplayer option for when there is no internet connection
Minecraft can be played with other people locally over Wi-Fi. This is great for those that have friends or family they would like to play with locally, or when there is no way to connect the device to the internet.
Pro Plenty of fun customizable skins for those interested in customizing their look
Minecraft for Android offers player skins, so users can customize their avatar's look. While some of the skins are free, there are others that cost money through in-app-purchases offered as skin packs. All skin packs are $0.99 a piece.
Pro Active development means plenty of new features and fixed bugs
There are updates to the game all the time, new features do get added at a good pace, which means that not only do bugs get fixed but that the game will constantly be growing as the platform grows with it, which allows more demanding features to be added with time.
Pro Plenty of expansive mods available if the core game gets too boring
Minecraft can be modded in order to bring extended functionality to the game. Using mods created by the community, users are able to theme the game to their liking, such as theming the game to look like Grand Theft Auto or adding extra crafting objects.
Pro Addictive gameplay makes the title difficult to put down
There is always one more thing that the player can get done before turning off the game. Building a structure and wanting to complete it - oh but you ran out of materials. Well you will therefore need to go down into the caves again. Oh you died in a cave and need to go back before your items disappear - better get down there again. And so it continues. There is always one more thing to do before you are "done", which is the underlying appeal of the game, never wanting to stop playing.
Pro Monika
This is cool!!
Pro Good controller and button mapping support allows the game to be easily played with many different controllers
For those who would like to play with a controller, support was added in July 2015. Anyone with a HID supported controller can easily connect through Bluetooth. They can then go into the games settings to map which buttons they want to use. This customizability means that you can now adjust the controller to your liking when using an HID controller.
Pro Do not log
Cons
Con Lacking hardcore survival feel
The game gets to be rather easy once you spend a little time with it. Basements full of everything one needs to survive in every other house, and stores that look like they were left as seem out of place since in a disaster scenario most items would probably have been taken already.
You can tweak the options to suit a more hardcore experience if you so desire. The options allow for a wide variety of difficulty and playstyles.
Con Difficult to learn at first
This could be a pro for some but for many this will turn them away from the game.
Con Laggy multiplayer gameplay
Depending on the speed of your device and graphics quality, this game tends to lag and load slowly when using the multiplayer function.
Con Not as deep as other versions
Minecraft - Pocket Edition does not have as much content as other versions due to the app needing a limited size for mobile devices and their small storage. This means there is missing content in the mobile version over the PC or console versions. It is getting comparative better, but still is lacking due to the platform.