McDonald’s Pro Gamer Move: A Minecraft Meal Review

At the end of March, McDonald’s released a series of exclusive adult Minecraft Happy Meals, a Minecraft themed McFlurry and a Kids Happy Meal featuring toys from A Minecraft movie. This collaboration not only targets film enthusiasts but gamers as well.

Although McDonald’s is no stranger to partnering with film franchises and celebrities to appeal to their predominantly young audience, this is the first time the fast-food chain has extended the promotion to adults, releasing the first-ever adult Happy Meal in the United Kingdom. So, we just had to try one out.

This past weekend, we visited one of the many McDonald’s restaurants in the fantastic city of Liverpool to get our hands on one – especially in the name of investigative journalism.

As we’d already eaten by that point, we opted to share a medium Big Mac meal between the two of us. For dessert, we selected a mini-sized Apple Cake McFlurry – one of three exclusive Minecraft menu items available for a limited time. Our meal also came with the “Nether Flame” hot sauce, but, unfortunately, we didn’t quite have enough room for the Cheesy Garlic Bread Dippers.

We were only made to wait a few minutes before our order number was called at the counter to collect our food, which meant it was quite the surprise when we returned to our table and the Big Mac burger was lukewarm at best.

The “Nether Flame” sauce, though, was a game changer

That was more than could be said of the fries, which were cold to the touch and soggy as if they’d been sitting and waiting to be served for quite a while. It’s safe to say that we didn’t manage to finish either.

The “Nether Flame” sauce, though, was a game changer. Not only did it make the soggy fries edible, but I am pleased to report that it is one of the greatest-tasting fast-food restaurant sauces I’ve ever tried. Sweet to start before leaving a fiery kick long after you’ve finished your mouthful. I’d be happy to make the trip to my local McDonald’s for the sauce alone before the Minecraft meal expires on Tuesday 6th May.

It’s just a shame that the “Nether Flame” sauce aside, the most appetising aspect of the meal was the bottle of water I’d opted for instead of a soft or hot drink.

The small apple-flavoured McFlurry, priced at £1.69, combines the typical McDonald’s soft-serve vanilla ice cream with apple candies, shortcake pieces, and a sour apple sauce. The regular-size McFlurry comes in at £2.19.

Although the Minecraft-esque neon green sauce wasn’t the most appetising colour, the taste saved the dessert. Think sour apple sweets. Although the treat is certainly tailored more towards those with a sweet tooth (despite the sour nature of the sauce) due to the pure sugar apple candies, it helped to combat the fiery kick of the “Nether Flame” sauce – a good end to what had been a slightly disappointing start to the meal.

With this meal, adults will receive one of six iconic McDonald’s character toys, including Grimace, Hamburglar, and Birdie the Early Bird, each of whom has been given a Minecraft-inspired makeover. Each collectible figurine also comes with a character card that can be scanned and provides an in-game skin to the players.

Gone are the days when McDonald’s was a quick, cheap option

Unfortunately, with our meal, I received a duplicate Grimace rather than the Hamburglar zombie figure that was seemingly advertised to accompany this meal and the cute Birdie figure that I’d had my eye on.

The entire meal came to £9.78, which feels quite pricey for what you get in return. Gone are the days when McDonald’s was a quick, cheap option for busy parents or for those whose children couldn’t walk past one of their restaurants (myself included) without demanding a Happy Meal. Nowadays, McDonald’s is no cheaper than most other fast-food restaurants on the high street.

Despite this, it is exciting to see McDonald’s collaborate with another video game franchise – this time going one better and introducing exclusive meals and collectable toys for adults too.

McDonald’s certainly knows what they’re doing in crafting a meal that takes us back to that childhood excitement spurred by those weekend trips to the restaurant, hoping to secure that new Mario, Lego, or Pokémon toy.

It is always pleasing to have some of that excitement back in our adult lives, and an adult Happy Meal is the ideal way to accomplish that. Good move, McDonald’s.