[Review] Terraria

OK. everyone's heard of terraria by now. No? Well here's a trailer:

Background
When you first start a new world and character, you start in the middle of nowhere with nothing else than a pickaxe (for collecting dirt/stone/metals) and an axe (for trees/wood). By collecting these materials and processing them through a workbench, you can create better tools, tables, chairs (As long as you have all the requirements).

Everyone says this is a minecraft rip-off, I dare say it is not. Sure, it falls within the same genre, but it has elements Minecraft does not! (And between you and me, I think this game is more fun and more polished than minecraft, albeit minecraft being incomplete, and done in a completely different language than .net/XNA)

Gameplay
If you ever played games such as Wonderboy for old consoles from sega, this game will seem somewhat familiar to you. But done right. You control one character (Which, on creation, you can customize its hairstyle, colors, etc...) using WASD (Classic, eh?) and the mouse for pointing which "square" to hit and/or where to shoot your weapon.

Now, unlike other games, you start off with a helping NPC, giving you tips on what you should do to progress in this game, such as collecting wood, creating a work bench, create a shelter, etc... One thing I did not like about this npc is how he rudely goes into your house and sometimes opens doors for other creatures to go in.

Battles
Battles in this game are fun, to say the least. At starters all you have is an axe to defend yourself, but when you, later on with an anvil, make your own gold broadsword, it is ON! This game has over 20+ different kinds of monsters in different areas, has bosses which drop insanely good loots, but are a bitch to kill, but in the end, come on! You can brag by saying, you killed a boss in Terraria!
To hit monsters is easy make your character face them and swing your sword (or stab them depending on your weapon) if it hits, it removes X ammount of health from them (depending on the attack points your sword or weapon has).

There are tons of weapons in this game, some projectile, some use magic, lots of varieties. One could say, one for each taste!

RPG Elements
Aside from obvious rip-off sprites from old Final Fantasy games, This game has a lot of RPG elements, but no, you don't level up your character. You get equipment which changes your character's stats, and immunities. Most of these items are found underground in rather rare chests!

Music

Found the music in this game kinda catchy, but repetitive too. Until now I have heard at max 5 songs. (Menu song, day, night, underground, hell). One for "Each stage" per se.

PROS:

• Runs great on any decent PC!
• Lots of monster types and power ups
• Has a currency system
• You don't lose your stuff if you die

CONS:

• Takes a long time to generate the maps
• NPCs always opening your doors!
• Needs .NET and XNA frameworks
• Repetitive music

Anyways, definatelly a good game to play.

Website : Terraria

Release date : 16th May 2010

Grade : 95/100

Purchase : HERE