Minecraft: Story Mode

Episode 7 – Access Denied

After the events of Episode 6 – A Portal to Mystery, Episode 7 – Access Denied begins Jesse. Lukas, Petra and Ivor exploring many of the various portals in the portal hallway but returning unsuccessfully to find their world.  After a disagreement the group enter a portal made of Redstone.  The group arrive in a desert and encounter a zombie that they find is stronger and faster than normal zombies and able to walk in the sunlight.  They encounter more zombies which approach them but don’t attack yet the Order of the Stone follow them to the nearby town of Crown Mesa, which they discover is nearly deserted.  They encounter a loner before they are attacked by a group of individuals.  They are taken to a giant computer named PAMA who is revealed to control all of the people and monsters with the use of a Redstone powered device on the back of their heads.  PAMA plans to expand to other worlds to be “useful” (actually control the world’s inhabitants) and assimilates both Petra and Lukas.  Jesse and Ivor present PAMA with a paradox that temporarily distracts it.  The woman they met before appears and is revealed to be PAMA’s creator, who helps Ivor and Jesse escape. The woman distracts the mob while the two find her laboratory.  They discover that water can be used to deactivate the devices.  The woman’s name is Harper who is revealed to be an Old Builder and partially responsible for the construction of the Portal Hallway.  Before they can get to Harper’s laboratory, they are attacked by the “chipped” Petra, Lukas, and mob and although Petra is saved Harper is kidnapped.  Jesse acquires Harper’s headset which can hack PAMA’s system and he takes control of several monsters, but unsuccessfully tries to rescue her.  Harper does manage to inform Jesse of the PAMA’s core, the Redstone Heart.  With Petra and Ivor’s help Jesse manages to gain entrance to PAMA’s core.  Jesse destroys the three Redstone spires and saves Harper but before he can remove the Redstone Heart is stopped by Lukas.  After an extensive battle Jesse deactivates PAMA freeing Lukas and all of the inhabitants of Crown Mesa.  Harper agrees to help the Order of the Stone as they enter the rebuilt portal.  In the portal hallway, Harper informs the group of the Atlas, which can navigate the various worlds.  Episode 7 – Access Denied ends with Harper showing the group a secret stairway leading to the Old Builders and the Atlas.

The Verdict:  In the end, Episode 7 – Access Denied is just a crazy thrill ride and a really good change of pace.  Although the stakes are really high the episode itself doesn’t feel as epic as it could’ve been. Harper is a great character.  PAMA is a great antagonist and a great threat.  Episode 7 – Access Denied gets 4 out of 5.