Terraria (PC, X360, PS3) (2011)
Developer: Re-Logic

Review by Faididi and Co.

Minecraft's shitty counterfeit

Gameplay: Sucks All Ass

Re-Logic's Terraria is an open-world game that's basically a 2D copy of Mojang's Minecraft, and it's a shameless one at that. Except for the one fewer spatial dimension, nearly every aspect in Terraria is plagiarized from the earlier game, from the construction of objects using gathered materials to the larger number of monsters that emerge at nighttime.

While the merits of spritework versus blocky polygons may be argued, what isn't open to debate is the limitations of the two-dimensional format. One wonders what Terraria is trying to accomplish when Minecraft already lets you and your friends shape complex worlds in full 3D space, which allows the intertwining corridors and other overlapping structures that are simply impossible in a flat, side-sidescrolling environment.

Hell, Terraria doesn't even handle 2D space correctly. The character physics are inconsistent, because some flying monsters are stopped by surfaces while others can pass straight through walls. The useless NPC allies and shopkeepers who appear as various conditions are fulfilled can't fight back against enemies or even jump. The multiplayer mode can fail to load entire sections of the world for client Players, making them suddenly plummet to their deaths. That's assuming the game manages to connect the Players in the first place, due to a regularly occurring glitch that prevents it from recognizing open sessions hosted by friends.

Controls: Sucks All Ass

Terraria's controls are a joke. The block interaction range changes between the auto-aiming mode and the manual aiming mode, and making fine adjustments is a pain in the ass when you're continuously fighting with the cursor system. The hand-to-hand weapons are either swung or thrust on an arbitrary basis, with no option given to change their attack motions. Worst of all, the menus suffer from a bizarre amount of lag. The inventory window fails to open until you slam on the inventory button multiple times, and that is fucking retarded.

Graphics: Below Average

The visuals don't look like a throwback to 16-bit console graphics as much as they do cheap Flash videos, tacky rotation effects and all. Having more actual frames of animation for the characters would've helped.

Audio: Below Average

The sound effects are few and nothing special, while the music consists of short loops that quickly grow repetitive. Not having any vocal effects is just as well, because the shopkeepers' irritating text dialogue makes them sound like assholes.

Overall: Sucks All Ass

Stick with Minecraft, if you want a truly immersive, open-world game that lets you and your friends build interactive structures to your heart's content. Whatever false 2D nostalgia that Terraria sells isn't worth the restrictions of its flat environment, the absurdities of its inconsistent character physics, the loading problems of its glitchy multiplayer mode, and the infuriating lag in things as basic as its menu controls.