Terraria is an action-adventure/RPG indie game published and developed by Re-Logic for the PC. It is a game where Minecraft meets the type of 2D play you’d expect to find on a release for something in the SNES era; however it is so much more than just a 2D clone of Minecraft. Where many have tried to jump on the rollercoaster success of Minecraft, and failed, Terraria develops on the accustomed gameplay of your usual indie sandbox titles by putting more emphasis on the combat and adventure aspects of the game.
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The game begins with your character creation, choose its name, gender and the colour of its clothes then you’re half way onto the start of your adventure. Next quickly select what size randomly generated world you’d like (small, medium or large), give it a name and your life in a new world begins. You start in the middle of nowhere with nothing but an axe to chop down trees, a pickaxe to mine for stone blocks and valuable ores, and a sword to defend yourself from the evils of the world. Unfortunately this is where the game hits a stumbling block as there isn’t much of a tutorial. You have a guide that starts off near-by when you create your world, if you click on him he does offer you advice but it isn’t descriptive enough to help get you on your way, and if the lack of information he provides wasn’t bad enough and you end up like me, you will be under constant attack from enemy slimes that distract you from actually getting any advice from him. Therefore I’d advise anyone who wants a guide to the game, to search the Terraria wiki (http://wiki.terrariaonline.com/Terraria_Wiki) as it offers you better knowledge than the in-game guide.
That minor negative aside Terraria redeems itself with an exhaustive crafting system that allows you to build all the weapons and items you could think of; you want a throne for your castle? It’s there, flaming arrows for your bow? It has them too, literally the possibilities are endless. But if you want the best of the best you’re going to have to dig deep into the underground to get the rewards. It’s easy to stay on the surface and build a nice little wooden house to protect you from enemy slimes in the day and the zombies at night, but you will be missing out on so much that goes on. The deeper you dig the more enemies and rewards you will find, and the more difficult the game becomes, in fact I think the game is pretty much bottomless because I was digging for about an hour and still came to no end.
Nevertheless the game is much more than digging around in the dirt and building; it is a huge world waiting to be explored with an endless line of tantalizing rewards to be discovered, and that is one of the games main strengths because there is so much to do. Meet non-playable characters other than the guide you initially meet such as the arms dealer who sells you weapons and the nurse who heals you back to full heath. Go deep into the caverns and find yourself battling skeleton armies, go deeper into the underworld and battle fire imps and even tackle terrifying bosses such as the Eye of Cthulu. It doesn’t stop there though find space age armour on meteorites that crash to earth, get a shiny red balloon from the floating islands or even farm Jellyfish in the ocean. You can’t get bored with this game because it just offers so much, and that is just in single player.
Multiplayer again offers a whole new view on the game as it means you don’t have to play alone, and there is no limit to how many people can join your adventure, it allows whatever the server can handle. This makes the game a lot easier because as one person digs the other can light the way with a torch, and if one is mining for precious ores the other can protect the player from attacking enemies. The problem is co-op can be tricky to set up as you need to host a server and share your IP address in order for people to join your world, so it is easier to search online for others playing the game that will allow you to join their worlds; though you might find it tricky getting people to trust you as it’s easy to destroy multiplayer worlds and people won’t like it if you go on a rampage destroying their hard work.
Overall Terraria is a great game that allows you to create a land where adventure and mystery await, allowing you to create your own world as you see fit, the possibilities are endless just grab your tools and the adventure begins. Whether you’re an explorer, a builder or a thrill seeker looking to slay everything that moves; this game has something for everyone because you decide how you want to play it. If you like life easy stay on the surface or just digging around in the dirt layers below, but you’ll be missing out on the wonders that are found even further down.
Coming soon to Retail thanks to MergeGames
EST Retail Price £19.99
For more information about the Retail Release Click Here 
System Requirements
• OS: Windows XP, Vista, 7
• Processor: 1.6 Ghz
• Memory: 512MB
• Hard Disk Space: 200MB
• Video Card: 128mb Video Memory, capable of Shader Model 1.1
• DirectX®: 9.0c or Greater
Disclaimer:All scores given within our reviews are based on the artist’s personal opinion; this should in no way impede your decision to purchase the game.
