This should have been a Medal Of Honor review, don’t tell EA. It’s no one’s fault but my own, I knew I’d love Minecraft, I read the hype, I’ve seen the YouTube videos. I knew it would be addictive. It is.

But a game about Mining? ‘Are you mental, Mister?’ I can hear you yelling down your laptop. Even if you’re not. Yes, a game about mining without a Chilean in site.

Left alone on an island, in a world of unknown size, you have to survive. It sounds boring, it sounds a little simple, even. It isn’t. Once you have some wood, you end up digging into mountains and then down, as far as your hand-built pick axe will take you. Each block of concrete bursting away to reveal another simple grey block behind it.

Hours vanish like seconds and the next thing you know you’re stuck at the bottom of a granite labyrinth, surrounded by strange corridors you built, down pits you dug. Along the way you’ve picked up iron ore, coal, diamonds, even gold.

After that, you find yourself laying train tracks into infinity and building elaborate houses and palaces. And, if you like, you can take it all online and join other people doing the same thing. So, no, Minecraft is not simple but it’s easy to understand and that’s why it’s addictive.

I haven’t even mentioned the werewolfs, zombies and giant spiders, or the joy of tunnelling into a natural cavern system. Or the new bond you forge with your short-term memory and sense of direction as you navigate your mess of effortless hard work.

Minecraft excels because it borrows the environment editing joys of The Sims and easily fuses it with the infinite genius of a bottomless pit of Lego. Once you fully grasp Minecraft, however, the possibilities are endless.

Worryingly, though, for my free time, Minecraft is only in its alpha period. It’s an indie game, too, so it’s got no backing from a money-soaked games publisher. It’s purely net-powered. This means it’s still being developed and the game I’m playing isn’t the full version. It’s frightening.

What’s more worrying for you is playing Minecraft is free. It costs nothing. Visit Minecraft’s website and away you go on a crafty, slim-lined version of the alpha game. But, trust me, you don’t need to spend the abhorrent amount of money to get access to the full alpha. But if you want to blow £8 on the most compelling indie game this year, be my guest.

Minecraft won’t help you finish that book you were reading or give you time to play any other game, for that matter. It may look oddly retro and blocky, it doesn’t have any obvious purpose and you may have to look at the Minecraft wiki, or this video, for tips on how to actually play it, but it’s addictive. It’s brilliant.

A Medal Of Honor review is just around the corner, I promise. I only have to finish digging this tunnel out and I’ll get right on it. OK, maybe after the next tunnel.

Oooh, gold!