Terraria: When Metroid Met Minecraft

As much as I hate the tired way of describing something in equation form ("It's like Jaws, but in space!"), there's really no easier way to summarize Terraria than by saying that it's the child of Metroid and Minecraft. Anyone familiar with the PC game knows that it blew up when it hit Steam back in 2011, creating a massive following that prefer its 2D, retro take on Mojang's design philosophy. Two years later, console gamers are going to be able to soon experience what it would be like if Notch was making games in the early '90s.

From the second you pick up the controller, Terraria screams its 8 and 16-bit influences at you. The visuals seem grounded in some strange dimension in between the NES and SNES...let's call it 12-bit. The enemies are ripped from our medium's fantasy bibles of Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy. The melee combat harkens back to the days of spelunking as a Belmont, and yet, there's something very modern about Terraria. It looks and feels like Metroid or Castlevania, but the core mechanics at work are decidedly similar to Minecraft. Everything you pick at, chop or dig through in the environment gives you ingredients that can be used to craft any manner of weapons, armor, potions and even fortifications. There is no central narrative in the game, only the ongoing desire to carve your personal signature into the world. Want to create a massive castle filled with all manner of shops? With the right materials, you can do it. Want to dig an elaborate picture into the ground? Just grab a pickaxe. Like Minecraft, Terraria is all about giving you a suite of tools and mechanics, and letting you run wild in the world.

One of the drawbacks of the original PC version's unfathomable depth was its lack of a functional tutorial. Fans were almost forced to adhere to a wiki in order to learn the nuances of its many mechanics. Thankfully 505 Games have addressed this barrier to entry by including a robust tutorial that eases you into the experience by walking you through many of the more complex systems. This isn't to say that the console version of Terraria is going to be dumbed down -- far from it. If anything, this completely optional training makes the game more accessible, dramatically widening its appeal. As someone who's completely ignorant of how the PC version works, I'm really glad that 505 decided to lend a hand to newcomers. This primer is geared to get you ready for the inevitable hours spent exploring your world with a group of fellow spelunkers. Terraria supports both split-screen and online multiplayer, meaning that you'll never have to form the world by yourself. Gather up a group of buddies to work together and dig through a mountain, or use your world as a battleground for some massive warfare.

Despite Terraria allowing you to ease into the experience, the core game becomes an insanely deep adventure. During my time with console version, I was dropped into a world that had been occupied and terraformed for dozens of hours. It was then that I was shown the map, and truly began to understand the game's scope.

I'd say that Terraria's world map is overwhelming, but that would be a bit of an understatement. If you thought that Konami's dual-castle layout in Symphony of the Night was daunting, then prepare to cower under the weight of Terraria. Even though we were playing on the "small" version of the randomly generated map, its size was absolutely staggering. The ground layer was a hodgepodge of forests, deserts, and snowy climates sandwiched liberally between two oceans. While this expanse was large enough in its own right, Terraria isn't content with simply giving you a world that scrolls left and right. Floating islands exist high above the ground, and towers can be built that attempt to scrape the heavens. But the real magic starts when you begin to dig and realize that a bulk of the map consists of subterranean tunnels and caverns that culminate in a fiery zone aptly called "Hell."

From what I've seen so far, Terraria looks to be one of the deepest digital experiences to ever reach consoles. Between the massive and randomly generated worlds, ample multiplayer options, and the ability to fully craft your own adventure, fans can look forward to putting in an absolutely nasty amount of time in the game. I'm honestly afraid of the prospect of reviewing it, but I'm damn sure excited to play it in a few months.

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