For the past few weeks I’ve spent a lot of time with Terraria for the Xbox One. If you remember, the game first released on PC, and then came to Xbox 360 and PS3. Now that the Xbox One and PS4 have been out for a while, it was only a matter of time before Terraria made an appearance. Who wouldn’t enjoy a 2D inspired Minecraft like game, but with harder features and more creativity? Don’t lie, you know you could sit for hours mining away to build a giant castle, defeat bosses, and visit hell.
Did 505 Games do a good job with updating and bring Terraria to Xbox One and PS4? What makes this game so special? You’ll find out in my review below. Let’s get ready to dig our way to hell and back!
My first chance to play Terraria was with the PC version. I only played a short time before I grew tired of it. With Minecraft being so popular, I felt as if it was only a 2D knockoff and nothing more. However, as time passed, I watched live streams and saw creations made within the game and thought to myself that I’m really missing something here. So when the Xbox One version released I couldn’t help but want to jump back into the game and find out what I overlooked. This version includes many features from the Xbox 360 game and adds to it with some more, including over 1,000 new items to create, more bosses to kill, and bigger maps.
What makes this game special? For starters it’s entirely a 16-bit 2D action game with a mix of Minecraft. (Yes, I know it was the same on PC, Xbox 360 and PS3.) That’s just summing it up in one awesome way. Let’s get into the details of the gameplay, shall we? From the moment you boot up the game at start it’ll tell you what controls will do what, and even without those instructions it wouldn’t take long to figure out what buttons do what within Terraria. The controls are very solid and don’t take much time to grasp, so let’s get going to the game itself. The game throws you in head first to a massive world, and when I say massive, I mean you can select a small world (which is still big), a medium size world, and even a large world. Personally, your best bet is to start small with your first character and then after obtaining better items create a new large world.
You’ll be digging your way down to hell, finding swords, guns, and many enemies. If you’re lucky enough, you’ll find one of the many bosses throughout the world. As you can guess, you can expect a lot of death as you dig farther down and as you explore. As you find new items and do specific tasks, you’ll unlock new people to live in your home. You’ll first need to create many rooms as you play so they’ll have the chance to move in at some point in time. You’ll have quests such as finding your first gun, killing off one of the many bosses, and making a mushroom biome. With so many things to figure out you’ll be wondering if you’ve found all the characters to buy and sell items with.
The audio and graphics to the game are pretty much as basic as it can get it. If you like calming music then you’ll like the days within the game. If you like an up-beat mix, then enjoy the boss battle music. What about when you’re underground? You’ll be treated to trippy, yet nice, music. As for the graphics itself, it’s a 16-bit game; it’s about what you’d expect.
Overall, this isn’t a game to pass up in regards to block based building games. I’ve now figured out what I was missing out on since my first time playing. If you’re looking for action, fun, being creative, and just a game to sit back and play this is something to pick up. I’ve yet to stop playing, and with friends and I coming back for more, exploring or even fighting endless waves of bosses, that’s where the reply value will be. You can find Terraria on Xbox One and PS4.
(A Xbox One code for Terraria was provided for review purposes.)
