Andy Naylor reviews Terraria….
Terraria is an RPG/Action/2D/Retro/Adventure (yep, ALL of them) indie game which is currently available on PC (via Steam), Xbox Live and out this week on PlayStation Network. The game contains a whole host of features – exploration, crafting, construction and combat.
Try to picture Sega Mega Drive era graphics and you are in the right ball park; it’s a delightfully retro 32-bit tribute game which is also the video game version of crack. I simply cannot put it down. There’s not enough building, digging, treasure hunting, weapon collecting time in the day for me to get my fix. I’ve not met anyone yet who has played it and doesn’t love it. And I mean love it. Not simply “like it”, but “love it”. And I know some very hard to please gamers.
It clearly has been crafted with dedication and care; it features all kinds of wonderful little bonuses within. I’ve seen people’s characters stumble across a certain brown Fedora, while others have wielded the weapon of the Jedi! My personal favourite has to be the very well hidden Buster sword as brandished by Cloud from Final Fantasy VII. Every little detail about this game is sublime, even down to the SFX and music, and I cannot stress enough how much you should go and buy it.
Yep, it even contains multiplayer! You can explore worlds together online with your friends. Each world is uniquely generated by the game meaning no one will ever experience the same level twice. Quite often you come across games that simply crowbar in an online feature in order to help boost sales. They never feel natural or enhance the experience, Terraria is quite the opposite. This game is even better online. If not a little competitive too, it’s a race against time who can find the greatest treasure.
I’m not even sure what the point of this game is, but you know what, I don’t care. Games are made for enjoying and having fun with and this accomplishes those two things marvellously for hours and hours. Once I discover what I’m meant to do to reach the end of the game then I may consider doing just that, but for now I have 32-bit cubes of dirt to go dig up.
Andy Naylor – Follow me on Twitter
Originally published May 15, 2013. Updated April 11, 2018.
