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When Terraria and I first met I was like many other gamers: „Meh, it’s Minecraft 2D, I will give it a chance but probably get bored after some time”. Believing I was right for a few hours I noticed I ended up doing something way different than in Mojang’s pixel sandbox.

Building complex structures is slower and trickier compared to Minecraft. That means not so long after you have built your shelter to keep you safe from monsters of the night, you will end up discovering subterranean caverns for powerful items and fighting lots of different mobs while descending deeper and deeper underground.

As your strength grows and you stumble upon some special loot you may summon bosses who pose a real threat to you but have some nice drops when defeated. The introduction of NPCs who offer their services is also a difference to Terraria’s 3D counterpart. These people only appear if you build rooms for them this way the game makes sure you build at least a little village overground.

The former sentences describe the PC version as well, but let’s see what is different in the Xbox version. The controls are different of course but it shouldn’t be considered as a drawback. Digging is way faster with this control scheme and you can switch into a more precise mode for detailed construction. Sure, some things are easier to do with mouse/keyboard but overall it works alright. They could have revamped the inventory/crafting interface though.

An automap is also included, making navigation easier. While it can be useful some might consider it unnecessary help. The inclusion of a tutorial is a welcome change. A bunch of new items/creatures have been also added to this release but they are not so interesting. Multiplayer is different because you have to say goodbye to dedicated servers, you can play through LIVE or in splitscreen mode with your buddies instead.

Visuals haven’t changed a BIT (pun intended) they still reflect the SNES era of colourful sprites. Music is catchy but repetitive and sound effects aren’t exceptional either.

If you want to get rid of some useless days of your life, Terraria is a perfect tool. You will soon discover that despite the similarities it’s different from Minecraft in so many ways and it’s fun to play with friends. Happy spelunking!

Terraria review info: