erraria is a unique 2D side scrolling sandbox platforming game that was inspired by Minecraft. For those who played Minecraft can easily become friends with Terraria since the concept is for the most part the same. There is no end goal to the game other than to live, create, survive and just have fun.

Terraria came out on the PC in May 2011. Terraria ended up being quite successful and now it is time for the console fans to experience what PC gamers played 2 years ago. How well does Terraria fit the console controls, feel and playability?

In this review, I will cover the game’s strengths, weaknesses, presentation and overall verdict. However, this time I will also be doing a trophy section of the review for those who enjoy trophy hunting/achievements on their consoles.

I will be giving an overall feel and difficulty of the trophies, the trophies DO NOT affect the review score, and it is just a bonus for the readers. As always, I like to start my reviews with presentations, so let us hop right into that.

"Going with 16-bit pixelated graphics will definitely get everyone's attention and people will start wondering what is so special about this game. "

Presentation:

Terraria is presented as a 16-bit 2D side-scrolling platformer sandbox game. If you enjoy good pixel graphics, nostalgic classical old-school video game music and that feel of engagement and appreciation of pixel characters then Terraria will easily satisfy your needs. The music fits the game perfectly; there are different themes of music depending on where you are in the game world.

Music changes as you go deeper underground or if you are climbing your way back up to the ground level areas and upper levels. The tunes themselves are quite catchy and put a smile on my face because it fits the game’s play style perfectly. I have no complains for the soundtrack part of the game or even its sound effects due to the simplicity of the game, it just works really well.

The graphics in Terraria are reminiscent of 16-bit games. People mind be wondering why we still see 16-bit games these but the matter of fact is Terraria is a type of game that proves graphics doesn’t always make a game and the gameplay can still be great and addicting. Terraria is not trying to be a current generation experience, instead it is trying to create innovation and be unique from everything else that there is on the market. Going with 16-bit pixelated graphics will definitely get everyone’s attention and people will start wondering what is so special about this game. If you love platforming, cool boss fights and addicting gameplay then Terraria is for you.

Overall, I like Terraria’s look, feel and music. Everything comes together in this game, from enemy designs, gameplay style, catchy music and 16-bit graphics make this a perfect nostalgic package for those who enjoy long hours of creativity and fun.

Gameplay – Strengths and Weakness

How does Terraria play exactly you may ask? Well, the game may look very simple but it is actually quite in-depth and there is a ton of stuff to do. However, the core of the game is based on crafting, exploring underground dungeons, killing nasty bosses, building your own house and of course just exploring the random generated world. This is the type of a game where you will need many hours in a day to actually accomplish something.

"My only gripe with the crafting system is the UI; it is a bit cumbersome and hard to navigate through especially on a console. "

The game has different difficulty levels, you can even play in hardcore mode that activates permanent death for your character. The start of the game is quite simple, you make a custom character by choosing gender, clothing,  skin, hair colors and even hairstyles. Once you have made your character you will choose what kind of a world size you want the game to generate. Terraria allows you to have multiple characters and more than one world, if you truly enjoy this game then there are plenty of ways of experiencing a different layout every-time. Overall, the customization options are quite nice for a 16-bit game and I do not really have any problems with it.

The crafting system is the core of the game. At the start of the game, your character is equipped with pick-axe, chopping axe and a basic sword to protect yourself from the game’s baddies as you explore the underground world. Right at the start of the game, you can start digging tunnels into the underground to find ores and stones. There are a ton of crafting materials and it would be impossible for me to list them all here.

The chopping axe allows you to chop down tress and gather wood. As you progress through the game and encounter creatures underground, you can collect even more materials to start crafting rare items such as armor, weapons and special axes that are used to mine specific types of ore.

Eventually you will be able to summon horrific bosses, defeating these bosses will reward you with more drops and basic progression. As you gather materials, you will start getting full on your inventory, however, you can create chests to store your items.  My only gripe with the crafting system is the UI; it is a bit cumbersome and hard to navigate through especially on a console. It works, but I believe it could have been designed much better for the controller since consoles do not use mouse like PCs do.

In Terraria, players can also build houses for themselves to live in. You start by building blocks, walls and then doors. You can decorate your house with different kind of items such as torches, armor statues and a ton of other stuff. You can build your house in any way you want, whether you want it to have multiple floors with many exits or just a small shelter.

As the player progress through the game and continues expanding their house, NPC’s will start moving in. These unique NPC’s can sell you special items for crafting and they are part of the game’s overall progression. However, it takes a while before you are able to get all the NPCs to join you.

Building a house is fun and it is a part of your progression because it is where you will be spending most of the nights in the game. The game has a day and night cycle as you play. During the night it is very dangerous to be outside because more monsters start to spawn and they try to find and kill you. This is where the survival part comes in the game. If the player decides to venture off in the night then he or she has to be well prepared with weapons, ammo (for bows) and health restoration items such as potions and so on. At night, you can also encounter special monsters that normally never appear during the day in certain areas.

"Terraria is a rare-gem, its unique, entertaining and just really a good game at its core. "

Terraria even has co-op multiplayer and player PvP. I found co-op multiplayer enjoyable, however, the only problem I had with the co-op is the fact that you cannot play with random people; you are only allowed to play with friends. To be honest though, it is not that a big of a deal to me, most people will play co-op with their friends to begin with rather than some random person, but having the option would still be nice. PvP can get fun; you can goof with your friends and trash talk. PvP in the game is not meant to be taken seriously, but it is there if you want to mess around and have a fun time.

Trophies

Trophies in Terraria are quite good. They range from starting and finishing a tutorial, surviving your first night and all the way to beating bosses and collecting vanity items such as pets and clothing. If you manage to get all of the NPCs to move in to your house you will get a bronze trophy. Unlocking hard mode difficulty in the game will reward you with a golden trophy.

What I like about Terraria’s trophy list is that the trophies make you play the game to its fullest exploration aspect. The trophies are not too difficult or too easy, but instead they are rather time consuming. However, time-consuming trophies make perfect sense for this type of game because Terraria itself is time consuming in terms of gameplay and rewards. If you are a trophy hunter, enjoy 16-bit games that actually have depth and good presentation then you will be happy with the trophy list that this game has to offer.

Final Verdict

Overall, Terraria can be a very addicting game. The game rewards those who have a lot of patience, enjoy exploration, survival aspects and creating. This game is not for everyone, not every person will like and appreciate Terraria for what it is and what it is trying to achieve. The only issue this game has is the cumbersome crafting UI which can turn some people off.

However, I personally enjoyed it and I actually cannot wait to go back to play it at a slow pace and enjoy my time in the game and collect all the trophies. I think Terraria is a rare-gem, its unique, entertaining and just really a good game at its core that I would recommend to anyone if they enjoyed Minecraft or like sandbox games.

This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 3.

So what happens when you mix Tim Schafer and Ron Gilbert together to make a game? You get a side-scrolling platformer with plenty of humorous narrative and puzzle solving called The Cave. The Cave is a nice break from other games that have been coming out for the past few months. If your in a mood for humorous, interesting quirky characters, a lot of puzzle solving and you enjoy side-scrollers then this is the game for you.

At the beginning of the game you are introduced to 7 different stereotypical characters. There is the Knight, Scientist, Time-Traveler, Adventure Girl, Twins, Hillbilly and the Monk. The Cave has general levels that you play-through regardless of the combination of the 3 characters you choose. However, each character also has their own personal story levels, with new puzzles and content.

For example the castle level is a level that is only available to the Knight. This is where the Knight gets his own personal story, his goal is too make the princess fall in love with him and prove the king that his daughter loves him by providing the king with an amulet that she gives you as a sign of her love.  There are different puzzles that you have to go through in order to achieve this goal.

The addition of these character-specific levels is great because not only are you playing through the general cave levels, but you also exploring new personal stories and puzzles. This adds more content to the game and the levels themselves are actually really unique, fun and don’t feel tacked on.

The puzzles in The Cave are not too hard or easy, which is a good thing in my book. They’re fun to figure out, some may take more time to figure out than others. Also, each character gets a special ability that no other characters can which makes the puzzle aspect more interesting, especially in the character-specific levels. My personal favorite is the “Mine” level, where you are tasked with figuring out how to get the mining carts back to the miner so you can keep on moving to explore the cave. The miner asks you to retrieve 3 different carts, 1 with food, gold and the last one being an empty cart, each cart is it’s own puzzle that involves multiple characters to work together.

The entire game can be played via co-op with up to a total of 3 players online, each player controlling different character. This game me the feeling of Trine, Trine was a beautiful looking side-scroller, with a lot of puzzle elements and actual combat. However, Trine was best played with other players, The Cave co-op is online which makes things a lot easier. Playing The Cave with other players makes things go a lot faster, since you don’t have to switch different characters anymore while playing solo to try to solve a specific puzzle by positioning the character in a proper area.

However, the game does have some technical issues when I was playing it on the PS3. There are some areas where you have to swim underwater to get to another spot, when your character goes underwater the framerate starts to dip down very noticeably. The game is not even that amazing looking, or heavy on the graphical side, I absolutely do not understand how a game like this can have any framerate loss whatsoever.

I personally think this is unacceptable, this is a side-scrolling platforming game that looks nowhere near as good as other side-scrolling platforming games and it has framerate issues in a lot of the parts throughout the game. While this is not a deal-breaker I still think this should not be happening, especially this late in the console generation.

The Cave overall is a good addition, it has different characters to play with, each character having a “good” and “bad” endings, good puzzles and a great style. I highly recommend this game to anyone that enjoys platforming and puzzles that contains multiple play-throughs. However, if you’re looking for a eye candy side-scroller your not going to find it here, but you will find a enjoyable, humorous and fun co-op experience.

The game was reviewed on the PlayStation 3.