If you like Minecraft then you may be interested in playing Terraria, so here is our review.
This is how Terraria is described, and the game is pretty much what it says on the tin:
Welcome to the world of Terraria! DIG, FIGHT, EXPLORE, BUILD! Nothing is impossible in the special edition version of this action-packed sandbox adventure! Over a dozen environments and hundreds of items to craft and enemies to defeat! The world is your canvas – make it your own.
Originally released in 2011 for the PC by creator/developer Andrew Spinks’ Re-logic studio, Terraria has received universal, critical acclaim and over 2 million “Terrarians” have struck out on their own adventures and fallen for its mix of side-scrolling, action-adventure gaming and emphasis on crafting and exploration.
Now it has been released on the console, and for those who played it on the PC it has also been updated. What the PC version was sorely lacking was a tutorial, you just got thrown in to the world and left to it, where as the console version finally has that tutorial and if you are new to Terraria I highly recommend that you take the time to play through it. It doesn’t take very long and it introduces you to the basics, including building, gathering and crafting, all skills you will need to play the game. You could figure it all out on your own but why when you can have it explained to you!
The other major new feature is the world map. This can be used to see just how much of the world you have explored and it gives you a sense of achievement, and purpose to carry on exploring.
If you are a fan of Terraria on the PC, you will also notice there are a lot of new pets, items, enemies and music, so it’s certainly worth playing Terraria on a console to have even more fun.
Terraria is a side scrolling game that looks like a 2D version of Minecraft. And that isn’t a bad thing at all. It looks and feels very retro, the sort of game you may have played when you were a kid if you are my age (and that’s pretty old, so don’t ask).
After creating your character you are dropped into a randomly generated world and the first thing you have to do is collect some resources and build your shelter.
The whole point to the game is to explore the world, find and collect resources and craft things – and that’s exactly what you do. It can take a little while to get used to some of the controls if you are not used to these sorts of games, but before you know if you are digging, collecting and fighting off monsters. Occasionally there are some issues with exactly where you want to craft something, and even though you have selected the exact spot you want to craft it just won’t do it. But try not to get too frustrated as it doesn’t happen too often!
Crafting is relatively easy – combine that resource with this resource and build that. A lot of resources of readily available, such as wood, sand, stone, even spider webs, but some of the rarer resources you will need later in the game can only be found underground, so you have to dig down to find them. The further down you go, the more monsters you will encounter and you dig far enough you will end up in Hell!
Time does pass in your world – there is a separate day and night. In the day you can explore and collect and a lot of the monsters you come across can be defeated fairly easily, but at night, well, that is a completely different story. If you are out and about at night, the game changes from one of exploration and collection to one of survival. My advice, keep an eye on the sun in the background as it does move and will go down and just make sure that by the time night comes you are safely tucked away in your shelter.
As you get further into the game and you create more things, you will eventually interact with various non player characters, or NPCs. Some of them are there to help you, offering to heal you when needed and also trade items with you, but they all want something so make sure you keep them happy.
If you don’t want to play on your own there are two multiplayer modes in Terraria. The first is local multiplayer which enables up to 4 players to play. This is done by splitting the screen into 4 equal parts so make sure you are playing on a large enough monitor or TV or it will be a little hard! This is also a new feature for the console versions.
The second multiplayer mode is online, and that enables you to play with up to 8 players. The problem here is that you can only play with people in your friends list, you cant just join a random game. This is fine if your friends are playing Terraria, but if they aren’t then you may find yourself sitting and waiting a lot! The great thing about multiplayer though is that you can trade items with your friends and go together to explore and attack. And for some of the bosses it’s so much better with a friend, or 7! There is even voice chat included so you can talk to everyone while you play,
Terraria is a lot of fun and you will soon find that you have spent many, and I do mean many hours player the game. Even when you are 40 or 50 hours into it there are still new things to find and new places to explore, you just have to get through those first few hours, which do drag a little, but its worth it.
Developed by Engine Software and published by 505 Games, Terraria is available now for 1,200 MS Points on the Xbox 360. There is also a demo you can download too! There is also a PlayStation 3 version however it hasn’t yet been released in Europe. And a PS Vita version has been announced too for release during the Summer!
Have you played Terraria yet? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
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