Survive The Sphere, Minecraft Survival Map Download
This isn't a survival map in the truest sense of the world, ie, as in something you could actually ever hope to survive. It's more of a cage match that you're destined to lose over and over and over again. I suppose its technically possible to win, and anyone who does 'win' is going to be filled with the sort of sense of achievement that used to only be possible when you climbed Mt Everest or similar. Think I'm overstating the difficulty of the Sphere? Think again.
The Sphere is a 25 x 25 block bedrock lined sphere filled with mob spawners. You spawn, start reading the rules and then get attacked by a creeper. Before you can hit 'respawn' your screen is filled with groaning zombies, skeletons and even more creepers who seem to be keen to avenge their dearly departed green friend.
Now this map does have some survival elements to be fair. There's a tree and a source of water, which is nice, and some dirt. That's not enough to survive on, of course, no animals will spawn naturally inside the sphere because they only spawn on lit grass a certain distance away from you. (There may be a way to get around this issue, but that would be a spoiler and I would never, ever introduce a spoiler.)
There's more than one way to 'win' of course. There are achievement points and whatnot, but unfortunately they're listed on the back of the glowstone board in the middle of the arena and guess how long that lasts once a creeper spawns? Approximately 2.5 seconds.
Like many other survival maps, this one comes with rules. 'Don't break any blocks' 'Punch yourself in the face after each death', etc. I'd feel fairly happy breaking any and all rules laid down in this survival map because to be honest, rules aren't really necessary when you're surrounded on all sides by creatures that want to do nothing but hurt you. Most people will let the rules go by the wayside - especially the 'no breaking blocks' rule, because that one makes no sense at all. Might as well make a rule that says 'Stand there and die repeatedly, fool!'
Obviously this map is rather pointless if played on 'peaceful', or perhaps not. In the absence of groaned threats, there is the challenge of trying to stay alive for long in what quickly becomes the 'Sphere of Ultimate Tedium'.
Still, this is a rather innovative and interesting approach to the survival map genre and I salute the creator, Kkky2, for their dedication to frustrating and repeatedly harming the average player.