Summerfields Minecraft HD Texture Pack (32x) 1.9.2 Pre Release Compatible!
It's been quite some time since I reviewed a Minecraft texture pack, let alone a 32x texture pack, but Summerfields is one of the most gorgeous and aesthetically pleasing texture packs I've seen in quite some time. It reminds me a great deal of JoliCraft, both were made by French designers, unless I am very much mistaken and both have a wonderful lightness of spirit, or joi de vivre that a great many players find particularly enjoyable.
Even though this is only a 32x texture pack, it nevertheless requires an HD patcher.
The bark on pine trees is wonderfully rendered, so much so that you actually feel you could reach out and run your fingers over the rough, knobbly flakes that are often associated with such trees. Pine forest biomes feel much less foreboding with the Summerfields texture pack activates, probably because of the bright green grass that carpets the forest floor. There is biome compliant grass however, and autumnal displays of burnished orange and deeper green are never all that far away if you look at them.
The natural textures of stone and dirt are wonderful, very atmospheric. Stone especially appears to have been designed to emulate a rock face, so large cliffs loom quite dramatcially. Ores are designed to have high visibility, so there's pretty much no way you're going to miss them as you adventure through the world. 'Man made' textures like brick, wooden planks and cobble all work well together to create a pleasant aesthetic that makes cottages look particularly cottage-y. Long story short, Summerfields manages to make Minecraft feel like the South of France on a good day.
Mobs have all been re-textured too and you'll find adorable mud spaterred pigs merrily destroying your crops. Chickens are now all of the black and red variety, as you'd find on a French farm. Sheep don't appear to have been touched much, but I have a feeling that they've merely been subtly smoothed to fit into the ambiance of the game. I found cows particularly appealing, whoever made this texture pack has some idea of what a cow actually looks like, so there is a rounded shape to the big pink nose that's very pleasing.
I usually have a few gripes about texture packs I review, but I can honestly say there wasn't anything in this texture pack I didn't like. It has a strong central aesthetic that all elements are tied into, so nothing feels wrong or out of place. It's not a super HD texure pack, so pretty much everyone should be able to use it without any trouble, and it genuinely improves the appearance of Minecraft without going overboard into the now cliched 'RPG' 'Simple' or 'Realistic' styles that are so ubiquitous these days. Summerfields has its very own unique sense of the game and is sure to be enjoyed by most players.