Terraria is my latest obsession, to the point of almost literal addiction
-3). In an attempt to make you all buy it, I've decided it can be the subject of my first review.-Quick Stats-
Genre(s): Action-Adventure, RPG, Sandbox
Publisher: Re-Logic
Platform: PC (downloaded via Steam)
Price: $9.99 USD (Don't care about other currencies
-General Overview-
Terraria is more or less Minecraft in 2D. Only better. You play as a custom character in a randomly generated world (you can choose from small, medium, and large sizes though) overrun with monsters. The main point of the game is building shelter for you and eventually up to 7 NPC's (Non-player Characters for those who don't know) so you don't get surrounded by monsters. Once that is accomplished, the player explores, mines for materials to build/upgrade things, expands their home, hunts monsters, fights bosses, etc.
-Profiles-
The game can support many different characters and many different worlds. No character is limited to just one world, or vice versa, but a character's inventory stays with them between worlds. For example, you can make a crazy sword made of lava in one world and use it in a different one. In the character selection screen, you can choose a hairstyle as well as colors for various clothing items. There is a limit to how dark clothes can be, however. This menu is also where you name your character and dictate difficulty level ("Softcore" characters drop money upon death, "Mediumcore" characters drop entire inventory, and "Hardcore" characters will die for good and need to be remade).
-Multiplayer-
Multiplayer on Terraria is based on servers. Any randomly generated world can be used as the basis for a server, and joining a server requires only typing in the host IP. You choose a character to play in multiplayer, and they have the same inventory as they would in single-player. Multiplayer can be co-op or competitive; the distinction lies only in who is playing.
-Setting-
The world is randomly generated, but it contains several different settings referred to as "biomes". The spawn point is usually a forest biome, and others include desert, beach, an underground jungle, hell, and more. There are also areas referred to as "the Corruption" that house hard-to-mine blocks and crazy badass enemies. There are boss enemies that can be summoned through various means, but the most common way is by crafting at a demon altar, which you can find inside Corrupted areas. There are days and nights, tracked by the movements of the sun and moon respectively, or by a watch if you craft one. At night, zombies and demonic eyeballs spawn near the surface, and mana-increasing items fall from the sky. Every so often, a night will host a "Blood Moon", wherein there are more monsters and they can open doors and thus hurt your NPC friends. Enemies also get more powerful in different biomes.
-Plot-
It's a sandbox game, so it really doesn't have one or need to. The closest you could really get is "cleanse the Corruption and fight bosses and stuff."
-Gameplay-
There's a lot to be said about Terraria's gameplay, but this section will be relatively short for two reasons:
1- I don't want to spoil too much about what you can do, as exploration is key to fully enjoying this game, and
2- I already covered a lot of gameplay elements in the other sections.
Anyway, items can be found in a number of different ways (killing enemies, mining, or just finding them lying around) and used in many more. Weapons and furniture can be made or upgraded using crafting tools such as the workbench, furnace, and more, and NPC's can also sell useful items. The Guide NPC can tell you what items you can make with any given material. Destroying any object will put it in your inventory, though some blocks cannot be broken. There are many different tools, each with their own uses. The pickaxe mines, swords fight enemies, axes chop down wood, and hammers destroy background elements like walls and furniture. There are other tools available later in the game. Also later in the game, you will have mana power with which to cast spells and use special weapons.
-Graphics & Design-
Graphics are pixelly. Nothing much new there. Some enemies are generic, but the bosses are pretty awesome.
-Music-
There's a day track, a night track, and tracks for biomes like underground layers and the Corruption. It's repetitive, but I've been playing for months without being even slightly annoyed by it. You might be different.
-Difficulty-
Unlike Minecraft, tools are easier to use in that they never break. That saves a lot of hassle. The real difficulty lies in the crazy numbers and abilities of the monsters. The difficulty is well-paced as well, where you will receive a great challenge in farther-away or Corrupted areas, but mobs are unlikely to get in your way while you are simply building resources or gathering low-level materials like iron.
-No, It's Not Minecraft-
Just so you get the distinction between the two games, I'll list a few differences. First up, Minecraft is 3D and Terraria is 2D. On the one hand, 3D offers a bit more exploration, but on the other, Terraria has much less lag. Terraria offers more diverse options than Minecraft, with crafting items that include not only a workbench and furnace, but also a loom, sawmill, Hellforge, Alchemy table, Demon Altar, keg, and probably a few more that I'm forgetting. There is also a difficulty difference, where in Terraria, death is less of a problem, you can get more powerful weapons, tools never break, and it's easier to return home when lost. However, this is balanced by having more powerful enemies as well as randomly spawning disasters like Blood Moons or sudden goblin raids, making Terraria equally as challenging, but without having to stop every hour to restock armor and weapons. Terraria also has many more crafting materials. Where Minecraft tools can only be made out of wood, stone, iron, gold, or diamond, Terraria's tools can be made out of:
-Wood
-Copper
-Iron
-Silver
-Gold (which actually is powerful in this game)
-Demonite
-Meteorite, and
-Hellstone, in addition to special weapons that use items like Jungle Spores or something. All in all, Terraria offers the better base experience, but Minecraft has much better long-term potential due to its expansive texture-pack and mod compatibility. Layman's terms: If you think Minecraft is fun, but can't see yourself getting any mods for it, get Terraria instead.
-Final Tally-
-Gameplay: 9/10
Great overall, but some minor design flaws and guessing-based exploration can leave players in the dark about many of the game's greatest features.
-Design: 8/10
Not unique, but it gets the job done. Certainly doesn't hamper anything. No points off for pixelliness though, I'm sure if this game had realistic graphics, it'd lag so much everyone would die of frustration. As it is, my computer has no lag.
-Difficulty: 10/10
Well-paced and it suits the needs of whatever reasons you play this. Looking for a challenge? Explore until a giant worm rapes you. Just want to build something awesome? Do it.
-Overall: 9/10-
Certainly worth $10 for months on end of fun. Obviously, if you're into that whole "durr minekraft causes awtism" thing, you can just take my opinion with a grain of salt. But if not, it's a blast and you should definitely get it!
No seriously.
-Final Tally-
-Gameplay: 9/10
Great overall, but some minor design flaws and guessing-based exploration can leave players in the dark about many of the game's greatest features.
-Design: 8/10
Not unique, but it gets the job done. Certainly doesn't hamper anything. No points off for pixelliness though, I'm sure if this game had realistic graphics, it'd lag so much everyone would die of frustration. As it is, my computer has no lag.
-Difficulty: 10/10
Well-paced and it suits the needs of whatever reasons you play this. Looking for a challenge? Explore until a giant worm rapes you. Just want to build something awesome? Do it.
-Overall: 9/10-
Certainly worth $10 for months on end of fun. Obviously, if you're into that whole "durr minekraft causes awtism" thing, you can just take my opinion with a grain of salt. But if not, it's a blast and you should definitely get it!
No seriously.
Buy it.
I need people to play with.
I need people to play with.
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