Review – Terraria

When there is a successful game, you can bet there will be copies, twists and sequels thrown into the universe to capitalise on the trend before it sinks. Terraria is the first Minecraft inspired game, before Minecraft has been officially finished or released.

Recently Steam was having a sale and my friend decided to gift me a copy of Terraria. The game is a 2D side-scroller. No creepers to sneak up behind and explode on you here. There are plenty of zombies, skeletons, floating eye-balls and slimes to hack away at though.

After creating a character and randomly generating a world you set off with some copper tools. Daytime will pass slowly into night however so you’ll need to get chopping on some trees with your trusty axe.

There is no final aim to the game, it’s open ended. Will you brave dungeons and monsters to get better material to craft weapons and gear? Or will you build a lovely house and sculpt the world into a shape that is fitting to rule over? The choice is completely yours.

Creation is a big part of the game, expanding your base actually counts for something. If you build extra rooms on your house, NPCs will spawn: a merchant who you can buy nifty gear from, a nurse who can heal you

THE GOOD

The crafting system is pretty good, much easier than Minecraft, no great need to troll through online guides to find. When the crafting window is open, there is a menu showing what is available to craft with the items you have on you.

There are a number of different weapons from swords, bows, bombs and even the Minishark (mini gun). Playing with some mates was great fun, digging down, fighting with each other to get the gold ore. Your player is saved on your machine so any loot you get on another server you can still take with you when playing solo. Boss fights with the ‘Eye of Cthulhu” and other enemies are rather fun, banding together and stocking up on potions to get the good loot.

I’m playing on a medium sized level, I have hardly even scratched the surface and I’ve been down to some crazy depths.

THE BAD

The multi-player was a bit weird to organise with port forwarding and such. I ended up having to use Hamachi to get it going. There is little in the way of a tutorial, there is a little guide who gives one-liners of help. The problem with standing still while reading is you leave yourself open to attack from slimes and demon eyes.

The sound and music are rather lovely, the problem is they get very old rather quickly. There just isn’t enough variety. This game is really only fun when played with others, alone it leaves much to be desired.

THE VERDICT

The game is rather simple and even repetitive at times. Still, I found hours slipping away. When digging I kept finding new chambers to explore and new challenges such as the first boss I’ve been able to defeat, ‘Eye of Cthulhu’.

If you are able to convince a friend to play with you, the game gets even better. Alone it may just get a bit samey. A steal at less than $10 per copy. Buy Two and give one to a friend.