Who wants to go exploring?

With Starbound's release fast approaching I thought it would be the perfect time to review the developer's first success - Terraria! For those of you who don't know, Terraria is basically 2D Minecraft but 10 times better in my opinion. There are so many different aspects to this game that this review could literally go on forever but I'll try not to bore you with all the ins and outs that i find interesting.

Terraria is an indie game, developed by Re-Logic, and is one of the few games inspired by the extremely popular, endless building and exploration game - Minecraft. Just like in Minecraft, you play in a randomly generated world that is made of blocks. Also like Minecraft there are no set 'rules' to Terraria, basically your imagination is the limit when it comes to building things. The endless exploration allows you to find a number of different blocks such as stone, sand, clay, wood and many others which you use in creating your weapons and house materials. You craft items to then simply craft better items which will help you to defeat tougher monsters like werewolves and zombies that only come out at night.

First of all, Terraria and Minecraft might sound alike but there are actually a number of differences, the main one being that Terraria is 2D whereas Minecraft is 3D. At first thought, this may seem like a disadvantage for Terraria as the world may not seem to be as 'open' and 'never-ending' like in Minecraft but it is actually quite the opposite. The 2D works incredibly well and allows you to be able to see both in front and behind you at once so no enemies can sneak up on you, unless you're lost underground somewhere with no light. The ability to see your house from the 2D perspective is also quite effective as you not only see the outside shape but you can see all of the rooms and their contents which can make you feel a real sense of accomplishment.

Crafting is far better and easier in Terraria as you don't have to remember endless objects and how to create them. Basically, how it works is, if you have the necessary items it shows up what can be made with them. You then create whatever object you want by standing in front of the forging station such as a crafting table or an anvil, which all make different things. Items range from weapons, all with different stats, to decorative items that just look amazing in your house.

Sadly there are no more updates for this favorite game of mine but the past updates introduced some amazing things such as the ability to have 'hallow' in your world by defeating a Wall of Flesh, literally. This then introduced new enemies, new objects and much harder things to accomplish. It also introduced the pure substance of hallow which made some parts of the world look very beautiful and colourful and this then grows further and further across your world. The downside to this was that it also made the corruption spread. which could sometimes put your house/base in danger. I defeated the Wall of Flesh once but found it too annoying with corruption and hallow spreading so i wouldn't necessarily recommend doing this as you don't gain that much extra stuff.

Rare items are found in chests scattered throughout the world such as flippers, a magic mirror which transports you to your bed, and other items that help general mining and building. You will also experience things such as Goblin Armies which you can defeat and recover rare items such as rocket boots and pieces of rare clothing.

As you develop through the game you will unlock more NPC's that will move into your house, providing you have a space for them; a room containing a table, chair and light. They can be used to purchase items from such as potions or bullets for guns and offer advice about in-game content.

There is a dungeon to defeat in every world no matter what size and they are always filled with hundreds of goodies, but also filled with pretty tough enemies so be careful. There is a lot of almost 'story' content to this game and it has far more direction than Minecraft with more obvious bosses to defeat and certain areas to explore. These aspects of the game aren't required to complete the game (if that can even be done) but it is nice to have some sort of goal to the game and it gives you more of a sense of accomplishment, which is nice after playing a game like Minecraft.

For me, Terraria is the ultimate exploration game and surpasses Minecraft in more than one way. The 'friendlier' game style makes you enjoy playing and not want to stop because you die and loose all your hard earned supplies such as in Minecraft. The more obvious objectives and ability to discover new NPC's is another motivating factor and encourages you to further develop your game. I think Terraria is one of those games you will play in phases. For a month straight you will be hooked; figuring out what kind of house to make, where to place it and what to build it out of, trying to find the rare items that you so desperately need and attempting to defeat all the bosses you can and be able to say that you have 'completed' the game in sense. But then at the same time, you''ll hit a wall (maybe of flesh) and just be tired of it and need a game with actual objectives, quests and a story line. That being said there is no doubt you will come back to Terraria at some stage and it will still feel like you're exploring the depths of another unknown world, just waiting for its secrets to be discovered.