Terraria will always be refered to as a 2D version Minecraft. And while a lot of that is true Terrarria still manages to do so unique things. Some of it better and others worse. Focusing more on things like exploration and combat instead of building, Terrarria manages to do its own thing and manages to stand out of the crowd of supposed “Minecraft Clones”.
Narrative sandbox, or wasteland. It’s all up to you.
Terraria doesn’t have a story. Instead it lets the player roam the earth and do what he or she wants. The story is what the player makes of it. There are bosses in the game and requirements to make them appear but all of it is optional. Players can choose a pacifist’s live focusing on building a house and farming. Or players can go on an adventure trough caves and ruins fighting monsters as they go along. Terraria’s story is all up to what the player wants so if you are the kind of player looking for something with even the slightest hint of a story Terraria will not be for you.
If you are looking for something of a story, you will be disappointed.
A big focus on exploration.
Terraria will immediately be compared with Minecraft and while it’s extremely similar Terraria focuses more on the exploring and combat rather than building. When you start the it can be a bit of a drag. Most tools are just enough to do what they’re supposed but things like mining take long and you are very ill-equipped to fight monsters. Things do start to pick up once you craft stronger versions of these items and after a while none of the previous complaints will be a problem. That doesn’t mean however that the game gets easy. You can get killed incredibly fast and while stronger gear will help it doesn’t make everything a cakewalk. Exploring the world of
Terraria is fun and there will always be something to do as long as you set goals and objectives for yourself.
Combat is more of a focus here rather than building.
Generic with slight touches of style.
Terrarria isn’t the best looking game. It’s 2D pixel-art but it’s style is very bland and dull. Sprites looks what like an interpretation of how Snes games looked rather than capture the actual style of games back then. Animation is minimal and sound effects are unimpressive. All the sounds made in the game feel flaccid and might as well not even been there. The music however is great. Most tracks do a well enough job of accentuating the environments it goes with and are pretty catchy. Overall Terrarria looks pretty bland for the most part with the exception of the backgrounds and some areas and the sound lacks any impact. What doesn’t lack impact tough is the soundtrack which sounds great and is a joy to listen to.
The game doesn’t have a particularly original artstyle, but sometimes it manages to look nice.
| The good: | The bad: |
| +Exploration | -Starts slow |
| +Multiplayer | -Visually lacking |
| +Great music |
Terraria starts off as a drag. Your gear and armor are both slow and weak so it takes ages to actually do something. However once your stuff improves Terrarria becomes a playground of exploration and creation. People who need something of a story or some sort of guidance will find no joy in this game. However for those of you with a thirst for exploration, adventure or creation will certainly find something to enjoy.
4 out of 5
3DS:
The 3ds version is a decent port of the game. It runs flawlessly at 30 which is totally acceptable considering the 3ds has to render the entire world. The game has some more clunky controls. A lot of this is because of the freedom PC players have with a mouse and keyboard. The multiplayer aspect is still in the game and can be used however at the moment it seems to be a ghost-town so if you want to play online you will be better of bringing friends. Overall Terraria manages to still be an enjoyable experience on the 3ds.
