Terraria
Publisher: 505 Games / Re-Logic Developers: Re-Logic / Codeglue Platform: PC Players: 1-8 (LAN) Release: 2013 Genre: Sandbox / Adventure Rating: 8.6 \ 10.0: Great
Above are three players residing in their large house
If you're a Minecraft fan who thinks like me, when you first see Terraria, you may think, "Minecraft rip-off!!!" just because there's (admittedly charming) retro-style graphics, mining, crafting, and resource-gathering. But that's a lie. Sure, Terraria and countless other games, some of which are actual rip-offs (I'm looking at you, Survivalcraft!), may have borrowed those few ideas, but Terraria does it better then the rest by adding a large twist on Minecraft: The game is played from a 2D perspective. That one change makes a big difference. This can make the game feel a bit limited, but that's a minor issue. Also, you'll find that the gameplay is much different. When you first play the game, you must create a character. You can customize this character's appearance to your likeness, from hair to clothing color, and name it whatever you please. You can create multiple characters, each of which can travel to any of your up worlds without losing any gear, allowing you to gather items from one world to bring to another. It's a unique system that really helps. When you create a new character, you start off with a copper pickaxe, a copper shovel, and a copper sword. Anyone who's played Minecraft will be comfortable with having to gather supplies, and any strategy you may have developed when you create a Survival world in Minecraft still might work. However, the same level of comfort may not apply to the 2D control scheme. I didn't have a problem with it, but others may. When you create a world, there will be an NPC guide. You can chat with this guide to get advice. Among this advice is how to get NPCs to move in. There are various NPCs, all of which serve a different purpose. Here are the requirements for an NPC to live with you: You must have a large enough house with a door, a wall in the background, a light source, a table, and a chair. A nice touch is the fact that when you die, you respawn with all your items to alleviate frustration. Those seeking a greater challenge can play Hard mode to change this. Minecraft has quite a few items, but Terraria has far more. There is a huge variety of tools, weapons, armors, ores, and miscellaneous junk. If you don't like the appearance of your armor, you can use something better looking, such as a jungle rose for your hair, as a vanity item. Where Minecraft only has swords and bows, Terraria has spears, shuriken, blowguns, grenades (one of which I accidentally killed myself with), and far more. Even potions have far more variety. There are potions to make you luminous, allow you to reverse gravity or breathe underwater, and some that improve random stats like ranged attack accuracy. In every world, there is a dungeon. These dungeons can hold untold riches, and all hold the near-unbeatable Dungeon Guardian, a massive disembodied skull that can kill you instantly. When you speak to the old man in front of the dungeon at night, you can summon the Skeletron, a massive disembodied skull with massive disembodied arms! Defeat it, and you gain access. The game features other odd and amusing bosses including a massive flying eye and a literal wall of flesh, the oddest of all being the Easter-themed Lepis. Part of the Easter update, this monster is a massive, pink, grinning bunny that lays eggs that hatch small man-eating bunnies (meant to be ironic because bunnies are usually just sliced in two from fun by players), and occasionally, large eggs will be lain that hatch another Lepis! These can be destroyed before they hatch. This specific boss claimed the life of my NPC guide and roommate, Jeff, who was soon replaced by Ben. In short, the bosses are crazy hard! Even so, they add to the game's quirky humor. Also, it takes awhile to get all the survival necessities. As with Minecraft, the mobile version of this game omits a lot of content, the console version has most of it (but for a higher price), and the PC version is almost undeniably the best. Even low-end modern computers can run this game at a stable framerate, so it's best not to buy it on one if portability isn't a concern to you. However, newbies can play the tutorial. But, like the tutorial Minecraft: Console Edition, there are far too many valuable items to give you a clear idea of what the game is like. Regardless, I recommend this to any Minecraft or survival game fan seeking a slightly different experience.
Ups
Charming retro graphics
Not a Minecraft rip-off
NPC system
Toms of items
Creative bosses
Quirky humor
Downs
Crazy hard bosses
Overly easy tutorial
Small world limit
Missing content
Also available on Xbox 360, Xbox One, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, 3DS, Wii U, and mobile devices.
ESRB: T Content: Alcohol Reference, Blood & Gore, Cartoon Violence, and Mild Suggestive Themes (PARENTAL WARNING: This game contains large amounts of animated blood) Price: $14.99 (Download)
If you're a Minecraft fan who thinks like me, when you first see Terraria, you may think, "Minecraft rip-off!!!" just because there's (admittedly charming) retro-style graphics, mining, crafting, and resource-gathering. But that's a lie. Sure, Terraria and countless other games, some of which are actual rip-offs (I'm looking at you, Survivalcraft!), may have borrowed those few ideas, but Terraria does it better then the rest by adding a large twist on Minecraft: The game is played from a 2D perspective. That one change makes a big difference. This can make the game feel a bit limited, but that's a minor issue. Also, you'll find that the gameplay is much different. When you first play the game, you must create a character. You can customize this character's appearance to your likeness, from hair to clothing color, and name it whatever you please. You can create multiple characters, each of which can travel to any of your up worlds without losing any gear, allowing you to gather items from one world to bring to another. It's a unique system that really helps. When you create a new character, you start off with a copper pickaxe, a copper shovel, and a copper sword. Anyone who's played Minecraft will be comfortable with having to gather supplies, and any strategy you may have developed when you create a Survival world in Minecraft still might work. However, the same level of comfort may not apply to the 2D control scheme. I didn't have a problem with it, but others may. When you create a world, there will be an NPC guide. You can chat with this guide to get advice. Among this advice is how to get NPCs to move in. There are various NPCs, all of which serve a different purpose. Here are the requirements for an NPC to live with you: You must have a large enough house with a door, a wall in the background, a light source, a table, and a chair. A nice touch is the fact that when you die, you respawn with all your items to alleviate frustration. Those seeking a greater challenge can play Hard mode to change this. Minecraft has quite a few items, but Terraria has far more. There is a huge variety of tools, weapons, armors, ores, and miscellaneous junk. If you don't like the appearance of your armor, you can use something better looking, such as a jungle rose for your hair, as a vanity item. Where Minecraft only has swords and bows, Terraria has spears, shuriken, blowguns, grenades (one of which I accidentally killed myself with), and far more. Even potions have far more variety. There are potions to make you luminous, allow you to reverse gravity or breathe underwater, and some that improve random stats like ranged attack accuracy. In every world, there is a dungeon. These dungeons can hold untold riches, and all hold the near-unbeatable Dungeon Guardian, a massive disembodied skull that can kill you instantly. When you speak to the old man in front of the dungeon at night, you can summon the Skeletron, a massive disembodied skull with massive disembodied arms! Defeat it, and you gain access. The game features other odd and amusing bosses including a massive flying eye and a literal wall of flesh, the oddest of all being the Easter-themed Lepis. Part of the Easter update, this monster is a massive, pink, grinning bunny that lays eggs that hatch small man-eating bunnies (meant to be ironic because bunnies are usually just sliced in two from fun by players), and occasionally, large eggs will be lain that hatch another Lepis! These can be destroyed before they hatch. This specific boss claimed the life of my NPC guide and roommate, Jeff, who was soon replaced by Ben. In short, the bosses are crazy hard! Even so, they add to the game's quirky humor. Also, it takes awhile to get all the survival necessities. As with Minecraft, the mobile version of this game omits a lot of content, the console version has most of it (but for a higher price), and the PC version is almost undeniably the best. Even low-end modern computers can run this game at a stable framerate, so it's best not to buy it on one if portability isn't a concern to you. However, newbies can play the tutorial. But, like the tutorial Minecraft: Console Edition, there are far too many valuable items to give you a clear idea of what the game is like. Regardless, I recommend this to any Minecraft or survival game fan seeking a slightly different experience.
Ups
Charming retro graphics
Not a Minecraft rip-off
NPC system
Toms of items
Creative bosses
Quirky humor
Downs
Crazy hard bosses
Overly easy tutorial
Small world limit
Missing content
Also available on Xbox 360, Xbox One, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, 3DS, Wii U, and mobile devices.
ESRB: T Content: Alcohol Reference, Blood & Gore, Cartoon Violence, and Mild Suggestive Themes (PARENTAL WARNING: This game contains large amounts of animated blood) Price: $14.99 (Download)
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