Hello and welcome to Week in Review! Last week, I introduced a new animation style for the video version. I learned an important lesson from that. Namely, that I'm not willing to spend 30 hours a week making a white cube bounce around and flap his arms for your enjoyment. Deal with it! :P

But don't worry, I'm not giving up animation any time soon; I'm just not going to do it on a weekly basis for the rest of eternity. But, be that as it may, I've got some really cool things to show you this week. Please sit back, relax, and don't forget to check out the Week in Review - Video Archive. Enjoy!

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Who here likes chocolate? Don’t be coy, we all know you love it! Everybody loves chocolate. And it just so happens that the best map of the week is a chocolate wonderland titled Chocolate Origins, created by MrSmithMC.



Indeed, this map is all things chocolate condensed into a chocolate monastery surrounded by an ocean of swirly, chocolatey chocolateness. It’s very thematic and it’s very easy to understand exactly what this map is all about.



One of the things I love about this map is the fact that MrSmithMC was smart enough to surround the monastery with a tundra terrain. Why would he do this, you might ask? Because if it were in the middle of a hot savanna terrain, then we’d be talking about chocolate soup, not a chocolate kingdom. If you want to live in a chocolate paradise, you’ve got to do it in Canada, I’m afraid.



But, getting to the actual build, this project incorporates a lot of different motifs, each of which adds an extra dimension of chocolate. You’ve got roofing made of ice-cream cones, a chocolate crane, designed to hoist chunks of chocolate wedged in the red and white ocean of what may or may not be ice cream, and rainbows. I’m not sure what the rainbows bring to the table, but nice touch nonetheless.



All in all, this architecture is fantastic, the terraforming is clever, and there’s a veritable ocean of M&M’s floating in the water like a sea of life-preservers. What an amazing effect that gives to one of the sweetest builds I’ve seen in ages.

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Every week, there’s never a shortage of rustic medieval villages here on PMC. So this week, I’m going to throw the rustic village community a bone, and say that the best mega-build of the week is Ezanau, created by Caminelot.



As far as medieval cities go, this is top notch. Built atop some rigid cliffsides, this massive city is adorned with dozens of unique structures, lining some expertly decorated streets and alleyways. This is a downright profuse application of rustic detailing right here.



But the true centerpiece of this map is the massive castle, which is separated from the main city center by a precariously hanging bridge. The castle is so compounded with details and structural anomalies, that it actually appears to be a pile of houses. It’s certainly not a simplistic rendition of a castle, and that’s a good thing.



This is exactly what a medieval city is supposed to look like. It’s not neat and orderly, and it’s not symmetrical. It’s rough around the edges. Some call that messy; I call it nuanced.

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Getting back to the basics of terraforming, the best terrain of the week is a mountain range titled Heziar Mountains, created by creepi26.



If you’re familiar with Week in Review, you should instantly know why I like this so much. It’s got texture in the form of material combinations, and that’s something most terrains lack these days. This is pretty much something straight out of the terraforming playbook of veloticy. This mountain is not big, nor is it mindblowingly epic. Instead, creepi26 focused on the small stuff.



This mountain is not an amalgamation of stone, it’s an amalgamation of multiple resources. You’ve got shades of gray, patches of green, and a sprinkling of brown here and there. The result? These mountains are splotched with patches of color which create an illusion of natural texture. It’s not easy to do, but when it’s done right, the effects are quite noteworthy.



And when you look at the map from above, the sharp ridges look stunningly realistic. This is a map that can be viewed from multiple angles, and each angle gives the viewer something new and intriguing to discover.

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Alright, just a quick warning. This next project is pretty crazy, so buckle your seat belts. The best organic work of the week is Triangular Ascension 2.0 - Cyberpunk Hangar, created by Denzarou.



Large scale interior spaces are not an entirely novel idea here on PMC. In fact, over the months, I’ve shown you guys the interior of homes, boats, planes, and hell, even the Millennium Falcon. Still, this is something special, as you can plainly see.



This appears to be the interior of a technologically advanced hangar bay, and boy is there a lot to digest. Every surface of this room is packed with cylindrical apparatuses, panels, tubes, wiring, and an assortment of things that I can’t even identify. And at the back, there’s a sort of spinning exhaust fan that’s shooting alpha-particles into a tube. Not sure what that’s all about.



I guess this is just one of those things that’s filled to the brim with an endless amount of creativity. Denzarou executed absolutely no restraint here. Restraint be damned! This is just pure insanity, and I love it.



And the color patterns are pretty wild here too. Credit to Denzarou for having the courage to incorporate shades of pink, teal, purple, and orange into what is already an absolutely crazy array of, well, craziness.

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Who want’s to eat at Taco Bell? What? Nobody? Okay, I guess Taco Bell isn’t exactly the number one choice when it comes to, well, quality ingredients (or even real ingredients for that matter). But luckily you don’t have to eat at Taco Bell to appreciate the best land structure of the week, which is a scale reproduction of Taco Bell - Palmdale, created by Yazur.



This is what small-scale land structures are all about: detail, structural accuracy, and more detail. What I love about this particular structure is that Yazur didn’t settle with creating the restaurant in and of itself. Instead, he took it to the next level and gave us parking lots, elaborate roads, and over a dozen individually-tailored cars.



Yazur went all out with this one, and spared no expense with the interior, the exterior, or anything else for that matter. The exterior is spot-on, and gives a thematic feel of exactly what you’d expect to see from a Taco Bell as you’re driving by one in the mid-afternoon. You’ve got cars speeding by on the highway, turning into the parking lot, and sitting, single file, in front of the drive-thru window.



On the inside, Taco Bell is equally impressive. The kitchen, the seating arrangements, the drive-thru area, and even the drink station are all perfectly designed, and executed with some careful restraint to avoid making it look muddled.

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This was a good week for air structures, particularly in terms of creativity. Leading a list of unique aircrafts was a plane titled Z-313 AEW&C, created by L4UTY_Z3R0.



And, if you’re wondering, AEW&C stands for Airborne Early Warning and Control. This is something that I don’t think I’ve ever seen done in Minecraft. I mean, we’ve all seen our fair share of Boeings, fighter jets, and blimps, but this feels like a breath of fresh air.



As far as exterior details go, L4UTY_Z3R0 did a fantastic job with the black radar dish, the engines, and the tail wings. Adding the cobwebs to the tips of the wings and the engines was a special touch that really adds an extra dimension of realism to this build.



The interior is equally impressive. The whole thing is elegantly decorated with rows of computers and control stations. This is really a step up compared to what you normally find on the interior of an aircraft.

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Not unlike last week, the best water structure of the week is a rustic, wooden boat titled S.S. Rusty Gaff, created by Nels7.



The hull is beautifully decorated and bears a nice curve that gives the ship a lot of character and uniqueness. The deck is adorned with a lot of machinery and a lot more detail than what is commonly expected from a ship of this size.



And as if the sails weren’t beautiful enough, Nels7 took the extra step and created a version with the sails raised and a version with the sails down. It’s that extra bit of work that gives something a more interactive and functional feel.



In terms of interior work, there was a lot of thought put into the makeup of the interior space, both below deck, and in the cabin. Overall, this is one of those things that shines inside, outside, and from every angle.

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Every once in a while, you see a hub or a server spawn that really grabs your attention. That is, after all, the point of server spawns. They’re the first impression for people browsing in endless search of something worthwhile to connect to. This week, there was something that grabbed my attention, and it’s called The Colour Factory, created by hub master extraordinaire, Solari.



This is a massive survival spawn, filled with tons of industrial structures and motifs. Every piece of architecture, be it the massive crane, the elevated railways, the steam chutes, or the blimp, is well built and fits the overall theme brilliantly.



In terms of layout, this is a really complex spawn, with multiple platforms and elevated areas that are accessible through a myriad of stairways. It’s not the typical, radially symmetrical hub that you usually expect to see.



I think the thing that’s most noteworthy here is the fact that this looks nothing like a hub. I suppose that’s sort of the goal when it comes to spawns. You want to fool people into thinking that it’s more of a stand alone masterpiece, rather than just another mundane lobby. This is definitely not mundane, that’s for sure.

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And finally, after months of creating mindblowing, detail-oriented plots that defy the norm, veloticy has finally won a medal in the plotting category, and it’s for a plot titled Riverside Lodge.



Leave it to veloticy to compress so much detail and so much decor into such a small space. And we’re not just talking about interior decor. The whole plot, inside and out, is covered in a generous application of texture, foliage, hanging sheets, and some beautiful scenery.



The interior, as you well know, is similarly saturated in details. The placement of every single piece of decor is meaningful and serves to create an incredible atmosphere.



But the atmosphere is not just contained to the interior space. The whole plot bears an immersive atmosphere that transcends what you typically find in a plot.



Veloticy has some strange, magical ability to flood an area with an overwhelming amount of elements, without muddling it. It’s a really remarkable skill that transforms the ordinary into something truly extraordinary.

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One of the ways you can tell when you’ve stumbled upon some truly magical interior work is when it evokes a feeling or an emotion. To me, there is nothing more evocative than Four seasons of Garden, created by hiiragi_san.



This is some absolutely brilliant decor. I mean it. This is an astounding achievement, and something that pushes the boundaries of how we think about interior work.



In short, this is a small, 20x20 Japanese garden, shown from behind two sliding doors. The vantage point, in and of itself, is an interesting take that forces the viewer to see the project from a fixed point of view. It makes the placement of every piece of decor all the more important.



Speaking of placement, hiiragi_san does something almost totally unprecedented here. Instead of simply showing a beautiful garden, this project shows the garden in four seasonal variants. In doing this, hiiragi_san has taken this project to the next level, and given more meaning to a simple 20x20 area.



The variability of each seasonal layout is remarkable, and each scene perfectly fits the season it’s meant to depict. This is a really powerful idea, and one that is executed just about as well as you could possibly imagine.

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Sometimes it’s just fun to use redstone to create devices that serve no real purpose other than looking cool. Such is true with All In One Room, created by Eucldes.



This seemingly simple room is actually far more complex than you’d imagine. Through some redstone wizardry, Eucldes has engineered 12 hidden doors and mechanisms that grant the player access to all of the tools one would need in survival mode.



The crux here is that there really isn’t any point in hiding everything in your house, but who really cares about that? It’s cool; that’s all that matters.



Now, with the push of a button, you can summon a furnace, a nether portal, some storage space, an armor stand, lights, some beds, an anvil, a crafting table, an experience dispenser, a potion laboratory, an enchanting area, and a 2x2 door.



But let’s get down to what’s really impressive about this device. The amount of space Eucldes used on the exterior to make all of these magical hidden doors possible is just crazy. This is about as compact as you could possibly make all of this, and it speaks to not only his knowledge of redstone, but also his ambition in finding every niche and every shortcut to make it as small as possible.



And again, there’s nothing really necessary about this. It’s like a science project. It’s just there to look cool. And it accomplishes that task flawlessly.

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Adventure maps are probably one of the most under-appreciated types of projects on PMC. And it’s important to celebrate truly good ones, especially when there’s quality content behind the alluring title images. This week, there was an adventure map that serves as a shining example of hard work, and it’s called The Journey for the Enchanted Crest, created by mick_5.



I’ll say this: I’m not typically impressed by adventure maps. I’m not really that into them, if I’m being completely honest. But this one defies even my inherent bias, and it does so because of how large-scale and professionally made it is.



The map is massive, full of dozens of areas, and thousands (yes, THOUSANDS) of command blocks. Why are there thousands of command blocks? That’s the unfortunate price of engineering an epic adventure with side quests, scripted events, cutscenes, custom mobs and items, a currency system, interactive items and environments, a fast-travel system, and dungeons full of traps and puzzles.



To be sure, this map represents a tremendous show of hard work and determination, and it presents the player with a professional-grade gaming experience that you would expect from something you actually payed for.

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And finally, at long last, I now have a coaster that actually embraces aesthetics and gives me some more substance to talk about. That coaster can be found in a map titled Carnival MobArena Map, created by RoloFolo.



This was designed as a PvE arena, but in truth, this is so much more than that. This is an aesthetic achievement, not just an interactive one. And this is more than just a coaster. It’s an immersive carnival environment, and one of the best I’ve seen in recent memory.



Speaking purely in terms of the coaster, the track is curvy, realistic, and very well structured. But, be that as it may, the coaster is but one of many attractions in this map. RoloFolo used his incredible building style to construct a ferris wheel, a merry-go-round, and a variety of tents and spinning rides.



And, once again, this is exactly the kind of effect you want to see from a multiplayer environment. It should be well-designed enough to stand alone as an aesthetic achievement, and this one is a shining example of that.

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Thanks very much for reading! I really appreciate all the support, and I'll see you guys again next week.