My personal review
As an introduction to my review, I must say that I don't understand how anyone could dislike this; I've played through episode 1 twice, and I'm amazed by what Telltale has managed to come up with.
Graphics: this is probably Telltale's best looking title yet, with very colorful graphics and with really fitting animations.
Story: even though I'm not a fan of the original Minecraft, I immediately got invested into this beautiful world they've crafted (crafted, get it?), with some very interesting characters and a story that, regardless the use of some clichès, still manages to be extremely interesting and entertaining from the very beginning.
Pacing: this episode has the best pacing I've ever encountered in a story-driven title. It perfectly knows when to be fast through action scenes and when to slow things down through dialogue and character development. At times, it is so intense that you could easily compare it to the pacing of a movie.
Sound: the voice acting is excellent, and listening to Ratatouille's Remy (Patton Oswalt) for the first time after so many years made me nostalgic in a good way. Dave Fennoy, Ashley Johnson, Billy West and the rest of the cast all do an excellent job at bringing the characters to life.
The music: I'm a music composer myself, and I found this soundtrack to perfectly catch the Minecraft "feel", with some relaxing and meditative tracks I'd define "experimental", along with some other tracks which always fit the situation. The only complaint I have is the absence of a main theme, but that's not much of a problem.
Gameplay: this is the classic Telltale formula we all know and love, but perfected and brought to an extent. People have often complained on how the choices are more of an illusion, but not this time; I've played through the episode twice, and I've gladly noticed that from each decision come very different outcomes. I also found the QTEs to be quite fun and flawless.
Again, I really enjoyed this game, and found this to be the best opening episode to a Telltale series yet. Feel free to leave your opinions down below; and if you don't agree, keep in mind that this is only my personal opinion.