Terraria - XBLA review

GrahamOfTheDead Fri Mar 29, 2013 4:03 pm

TERRARIA
Developer: ENGINE SOFTWARE
Publisher: 505 GAMES
Price: 1200MSP

Minecraft was, and is, a bit of a phenomenon. It has become the poster boy for indie games everywhere and in the process captured the hearts and imagination of millions of gamers. It's probably the biggest success story of this generation.

Inevitably, when you're successful you spawn imitators. Minecraft is no different, but how do you stand out from the crowd? Terraria has found several ways to do so.

Originally released for PC back in May 2011, as of January 2013 Terraria has sold 2,000,000 copies. Now it's arrived on Xbox Live Arcade.

Terraria - XBLA review Terraria1_zpsafe3aa0b

It is a tad unfair on developer and their game to describe it as a Minecraft clone. Yes it has the mining, the building and crafting, but it more than holds it's own. It would probably actually be fairer to describe Terraria as a 'Metroidvania' game. That is the biggest difference Terraria brings to the table....2D over 3D.

Losing a dimension does little to no damage to the sandbox-esque gameplay. It follows a similar pattern to Minecraft by creating a random world (you can choose either small, medium or large.) and giving you the freedom to do whatever you like. This is where the crafting comes in. You start off with three basic copper tools in the form of a sword, a pickaxe and a regular axe. Mining and felling trees gets you your basic materials but as you delve deeper in to the world you're going to need equipment that is a bit more substantial. To forge these new tools you'll need workspace and you'll need to kit it out. A workbench, furnace, sawmill, anvil and more, will be required to get the best stuff.

As you'd expect this isn't as easy as it sounds. The game has a fully-realised day/night cycle and while there are a few bad guys roaming the land in the daytime, at night the game world is lethal. Best to follow the tutorial's advice and build a shelter as early as possible. Zombies can't open doors, unless you're unlucky enough to get a night with a blood moon. All three of your tools can be used as weapons, with the sword generally the best.) Other weapons can be found scattered throughout the gameworld in pots and chests or crafted if you have the materials.

Terraria - XBLA review Terraria2_zpsd7c2d6eb

The random enemies aren't the only opposition you will face. Terraria also actually includes several "boss" fights with some larger foes. Defeating these bosses affects the world as a whole. For example, you may attract other characters to your world. These NPCs (Non-Playable Characters) can then be housed in your shelter, or you can build them their own. These characters all have different purposes. Arms dealers, mechanics, nurses and apparently - if you play it at Christmas - Santa. Defeating certain bosses will also impact the difficulty of the game by spawning tougher enemies.

It's these potential changes and unique elements that make Terraria such a blast to play. You can approach it in different ways. If you simply want to build stuff, then that's fine. However, if you want to treat it like a more linear RPG/platformer you can do that as well by hunting bosses and focusing on getting the best gear.

In terms of sound and vision, Terraria is wonderfully old-school. Looking and sounding like a 16-bit game. This is all done to absolutely benefit the player. By keeping things simple, it makes things a lot easier to keep track of and you never get too overwhelmed with the details. You can customise the look of your character at the start of each game, although that is rendered pretty redundant when you start to equip armour.

Terraria - XBLA review Terraria3_zps1916f593

In terms of multiplayer, Terraria offers co-op for up to 4 players during which you can either go off and do your own thing or work together building your dream projects or taking on the more difficult bosses. There is also the option to activate PvP mode during which you can take on your friends or team up for some 2v2 action. With different armour and weapon variations, it can make for some interesting battles and potentially lengthy gaming sessions. All of this can be done either online or offline.

Finally, achievements. It is NOT a game for someone looking for a gamerscore fix. The 30 achievements on offer reward you for exploring everything the game has to offer from wearing a full set of armour, to defeating certain bosses. You're also challenged to reach both the top and bottom of the play area. There will grinding as you're tasked to mine 10,000 blocks, smelt 10,000 bars of metal and craft 500 items using the anvil. That's the only tiny blot on an otherwise outstanding game, but really most of those will come naturally as you will be coming back to this a lot.

Terraria will appeal to a massive selection of gamers. With the multiple ways to play and depth which isn't all that apparent based on first impressions, you're guaranteed to lose hours at a time digging, mining, building, crafting and fighting. It will take up a lot of your time and you'll love every second of it.

9/10

Waggly Bean Fri Mar 29, 2013 4:10 pm

Nice review. It's so weird that you've just posted this, I literally finished playing the trial about a minute ago. It seems pretty awesome, and the fact that it has local co-op suggests to me that this will be a winner with my girlfriend, especially as she loves Keflings/Sims type stuff.

Just got to decide whether to drop the 1200MSP on this now, or wait until I've cleared the backlog a bit and hope for a sale price... Razz

Guest Fri Mar 29, 2013 7:32 pm

I need some points!
Great review GOTD

**KENT HAMMER** Fri Mar 29, 2013 8:00 pm

Good work matey!

Not one for the comp then Wink

Colne Crusader Fri Mar 29, 2013 8:37 pm

Great work mate!

This looks ace, but there's no way I have the time needed to devote to it, so I'll give it a miss. Another case of too many others to get through!! Help!!!!!

GrahamOfTheDead Fri Mar 29, 2013 8:54 pm

KENT HAMMER wrote:Good work matey!

Not one for the comp then

Definitely not! I've put at least 12 hours in to it over the past 2 days and got 7 out of 30 achievements.

Tenlo Sat Mar 30, 2013 8:36 am

Great review Graham. I'll probably get this in the future, with very few retail titles grabbing me this year, I'll probably work on the back catalogue of games and enjoy a lot of XBLA titles as well. This will definitely be on my list.

TreeMunky Fri Apr 05, 2013 11:01 pm

Late getting to your review GOTD, well worth the wait. Great review mate will be getting this for sure.

Sumitshift FK Sun Apr 07, 2013 10:12 am

i am literally going through this game and have spent way to much time on it but i never get bored of it because there is always something different like new enemys when you kill the wall of flesh and drills its just pure epicness

Guest Mon Apr 22, 2013 1:12 pm

Started playing this over the weekend and loving it!
Me and my son spent over five hours on this on an epic Sunday gaming session surrounded by popcorn and picnic munchies while Mrs Markav and my daughter went to watch "celebrities on ice" Rolling Eyes

I fucking love Sundays

Colne Crusader Mon Apr 22, 2013 6:22 pm

I fucking love your house Mark. Can I move in? Sounds wicked!

Guest Mon Apr 22, 2013 6:57 pm

I dont want ginger hair on my sofa

Sh00t3rmcgavin2 Mon Apr 22, 2013 7:01 pm

Markav wrote:I dont want ginger hair on my sofa

Hahaha!

Great review Graham!

Guest Wed May 08, 2013 7:34 am

Still not beat the first boss on this.
Spent over ten hours hunting underground for skeletons so I can get a hook and then make my grappling hook. This game will takes ages to get anywhere but by god its good. Its like digital crack

Guest Thu May 09, 2013 7:21 am

I beat the first boss cheers

I also found a hook so I could make a grapple, the game really opens up with the grapple. Essential bit of kit!

Guest Mon May 13, 2013 1:12 pm

I had my first battle with "the goblin army" last night, it was epic!! I also defeated "the eater of worlds" oooh
I even had a meteor crash somewhere so went off trekking to find my first meteorite ore. Oh and I found a magic mirror which can transport me back to the safety of my spawn point in my little house, cool!
Anyone who loves an adventure and doesn't own this game is fucking nuts.

EDIT:this is starting to look like my personal blog, sorry.
I do like this game lots

TreeMunky Tue Oct 01, 2013 8:19 pm

This is reduced to £4.99 in the deal of the week. Brought it finally Markav Smile

Waggly Bean Tue Oct 01, 2013 9:37 pm

Going to have to buy this now I think... surprised to see it on sale so soon to be honest! Smile

Jevil Tue Oct 01, 2013 10:12 pm

Wish I held off now lol, I bought it early on since I have the pc one already and kinda knew what to expect -.- darn you sales -shakes fist-

Guest Tue Oct 01, 2013 11:54 pm

TreeMunky wrote: Brought it finally Markav

You will love it mate.
I am on a break from this as the wall of flesh kept kicking my ass and I got a little obbsessed with it. Great game!

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Terraria - XBLA review

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