Minecraft Beta 1.9 Pre-Release Review | NPC Villagers, Snow Golems and More

Well the Minecraft 1.9 Pre-Release is out and much sooner than any of us (ie, me) expected. It's an exciting release, with the most notable addition being NPC villagers in the game. Let's start with them and move onto the other interesting additions like snow golems, new marsh biomes, lily pads, and netherblocks later on.

I'm not sure what I expected of NPC villagers. I thought they'd probably look much like Minecraft Steve and the NPC villagers that one finds in the popular Millenaire mod. As it is, they look more like elephant men, with weird nasal structures that descend ponderously towards their chests. They wear brown robes (although occasionally you'll come across one with a black vest, who could very well be the mayor) and wander around with their hands clasped together constantly, like monks. Attacking them elicits no aggressive response. They'll simply allow you to beat on them until they fall over and despawn.

If you want to spawn in the middle of an NPC village, you can use the seed 'gimmeabreak'. You will then spawn under the strange and seemingly dissaproving gaze of a NPC Villagers.

Lag in Minecraft 1.9

Yes, it's laggier than ever before.This is what you get for being an early adopter.

You can make a Minecraft snow golem (snowman) by placing two snow blocks on the ground and putting a pumpkin on top. The moment you place the pumpkin, the snow golem will grow stick arms and come to life. Snow golems are known for their playful nature, so expect the odd snowball to be tossed. If you build your snow golem in a hot clime (like the desert) it will not spread snow as it walks. I had heard reports that they would melt in warm conditions, but I haven't seen any evidence of that happening yet in the pre-release.

These biomes (which are new to me at least) with their deep green grass and dark trees and vines, not to mention lily pads, are an interesting addition to the Minecraft landscape. The water has a greenish, unhealthy glow to it and the lily pads don't appear to be of any use to anyone. Like vines, you can walk through them and destroying them drops nothing.

A new building block, the netherblock has been added. There are also netherblock fences, which, unlike wooden fences, do not burn. This is a pretty handy trait. Nether fences will not join up with wood fences.

Water and lava now leak through blocks placed below them. This means you can now check your tunnels for signs of impending floods whilst mining deep beneath the ground in dangerous territory.

You'll spot a Mushroom Biome right away. It's the purple grass that gives it away.

Found only in mushroom biomes, mushroom infected cows known as 'Mooshrooms' can be 'sheared' for mushrooms. Possibly the strangest of all the additions to this latest minecraft update.

Blazeman: Fire elemental nether mob, similar to ghasts. 

Magma Cube: A nether version of the slime. Magma cubes bounce around and if hit, can split into many small versions of themselves.

Netherwarts: Your very first farmable Nether food!

There are also new complex structures built in the nether for you to explore, these can be massive, so bring plenty of warts to eat on your journey!