I initially went to write this review of Terraria's latest and long awaited 1.2 update at about 11.30am this morning. I then thought I'd better put a half hour into the game - having only put 7 hours in since its launch on Tuesday - just to see if I'd discover yet another new addition down amongst the pixelated stone and dirt dungeons. 2 hours later I stopped for lunch. Then when I went to start writing a little later on I somehow managed to put in a further hour. Welcome to a repeat prescription of my life circa October 2011 when I first downloaded Re-Logic's 2D adventure/RPG masterpiece to my PC.
Much of last week was spent finishing the chapter of my gaming life that was Terraria 1.1; After some 120 hours of play I'd left the Wall Of Flesh battle and Hardmode as something to be achieved at some undesignated 'later date' about a year ago, but realising that the game as I knew it would cease to be I plucked up the courage, some 300 or so Fallen Stars and my trusty Star Cannon and beat that mother down in the bowels of hell. This was then followed by a rather exciting and tense and hair-pullingly frustrating 12 hour stint where I tried to mine the new elements scattered around the world map, save my house from being consumed by the encroaching Corruption (I lost at least two floors to the ebonstone tide of doom before giving up on that endeavour) and most importantly of all, survive against the hordes of new, powered up enemies all out for my blood.
That 12 hour period alone was testament to a game that cost me the grand sum of £2.99 and has proved to be one of the best purchases of my disposable income-fuelled adult gaming life. Here I was, two years on, discovering a whole new way to play, new items to craft, new enemies to run away from. And I was on the eve of even more magic, mystery and days lost to this incoming update.
And in modern terms the Terraria 1.2 patch is indeed an update although if this were the early 90s the changes provided might have had us calling this Terraria 2! Andrew 'Redigit' Spinks has polished, rounded and tweaked odd elements of his accomplished game, ensuring that this is clearly the Terraria that millions know and love, but he's just decided to add about 1000 new items, 100 new enemies, 4 new bosses and a few other bits and pieces while he was at it.
I decided to start afresh, from the beginning with only the items that the game initially provided and this time go for the largest world build available. In just changing and enhancing the background artwork the world of tiny blocks seems bigger and more vibrant. It's then you start to notice that those tiny blocks are just a little bit harder to distinguish than they had been before the update. Where before your walking/running progress would have been hindered by a single pesky block placed on the ground, Spinks has played with the physics to enable you to hurdle or run over such obstacles without the need to jump and even allowed for angled sloping or half-sized block graphics to make Terraria's landscape have a fuller, undulating feel to it. This seemingly tiny change makes one huge difference to navigation and has you looking a little more carefully on whether you can squeeze through that underground gap, or whether your trusty pick axe may need to come out.
I decided to start afresh, from the beginning with only the items that the game initially provided and this time go for the largest world build available. In just changing and enhancing the background artwork the world of tiny blocks seems bigger and more vibrant. It's then you start to notice that those tiny blocks are just a little bit harder to distinguish than they had been before the update. Where before your walking/running progress would have been hindered by a single pesky block placed on the ground, Spinks has played with the physics to enable you to hurdle or run over such obstacles without the need to jump and even allowed for angled sloping or half-sized block graphics to make Terraria's landscape have a fuller, undulating feel to it. This seemingly tiny change makes one huge difference to navigation and has you looking a little more carefully on whether you can squeeze through that underground gap, or whether your trusty pick axe may need to come out.
My first truly new experience came when I discovered the Snow Biome in all of its slippery white glory, penguins waddling and eskimo zombies lurching about the place. To cap it off the weather - yes, Weather! - took a change for the worse when a blizzard broke out. Snow and rain have been added to the mix allowing for some amusing customisation when it comes to the enemy rotation - you'll spot the occasional zombie sporting a fetching raincoat or giant slime holding an umbrella when the heavens open - but otherwise leaving the general gameplay untouched.
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| The Snow Biome has new enemies and slippery surfaces |
Speaking of the enemies, it appears that not only has the roster been boosted significantly, but also the range of threat amongst them all. Playing on the easiest level I was noticing a certain level of panic setting in when faced with certain zombie-folk who appear to take a little more punishment than the others and dish out the pain a little harder too when it comes to the earliest copper and wooden weapons available. This falls in line with the varying level of threat that previously just came from all the different coloured slime and adds an extra dimension to running about in the Terrarian night air.
All this of course was before I had even wandered into the alternate environment to the Corruption, the menacingly scarlet-hued Crimson. In this new locale it seems that death likes to descend from the skies as the many Crimera wasted no time in picking the flesh from my bones. This was a nice reminder that it takes time to build up your armour and weaponry before you can wander to the far reaches of your world map and set me on the task of building my home base, mining for materials and looking for those all important Gold Chests that hold highly desirable treasures whilst not straying too far from the safety of three walls, a floor and a door!
Terraria is a game where mining forms the backbone of the gameplay - it could be (and has been) described as the two-dimensional Minecraft - and discovering chasms and chambers amongst the massive walls of stone, sand and ores still brings with it that terrific sense of adventure and mini puzzle solving as you try to navigate across spans and gaps without impeding later progress by throwing bricks and blocks everywhere. Starting from the beginning with no additional items to help me climb and fly to those hard to reach places saw me absentmindedly hitting the spacebar twice for a double jump, only to realise that a) I wasn't in possession of a Cloud In A Bottle yet and b) that I was just about to make a lovely red smear on an undiscovered part of the cave floor followed by a respawn miles away back at base.
And this is where the joyful and embraceable frustration of Terraria's wonderful open world truly comes back into effect in this update, especially when tackling it all from the beginning again. Without a Magic Mirror to beam me home from a tight spot unscathed I was oh so vulnerable to all of the dangers lurking in those dark corners, unable to run away fast enough without Hermes Boots or cling to the ceiling without a trusty Grapple Hook. And in order to obtain those items I would have to tackle the very threats that seek to dismember me in those dark corners so very far from home. Thanks to the huge number of new items to discover and great new biomes to explore which have helped to widen what was already an expansive game. As it is I'm a slow Terraria player, opting to take my time with the item trees and boss fights, but I imagine that quicker players will also be impressed with what we've been given by Mr Spinks and his colleagues, and let us not forget, this has cost us all absolutely nothing!
I can already see that I'm going to end up sinking another 30-40 hours into Terraria and that's the bare minimum thanks to this new lease of life that it's been so caringly provided with. The graphical tweaks in Terraria 1.2 have been subtle and are effective, the new enemies are entertaining and varied and the huge item trees and the looming inevitability of a Hardmode push will keep things feeling fresh as the days roll on. Are there a few niggles? Yes there are; the combination of the new 'single block walkover mechanic' and the sloping/shaped blocks can cause frustration when you walk up into a tight tunnel to turn around and then discover you need to pickaxe your way out of the same hole, while the translucent inventory can occasionally be difficult to distinguish against heavily detailed backgrounds. But these are indeed simply niggles; bearable and hardly hinder my enjoyment of such a superb update!
Right, can't stop I need to keep laying down my rope elevator from the surface to the Underworld. Happy gaming all!
And this is where the joyful and embraceable frustration of Terraria's wonderful open world truly comes back into effect in this update, especially when tackling it all from the beginning again. Without a Magic Mirror to beam me home from a tight spot unscathed I was oh so vulnerable to all of the dangers lurking in those dark corners, unable to run away fast enough without Hermes Boots or cling to the ceiling without a trusty Grapple Hook. And in order to obtain those items I would have to tackle the very threats that seek to dismember me in those dark corners so very far from home. Thanks to the huge number of new items to discover and great new biomes to explore which have helped to widen what was already an expansive game. As it is I'm a slow Terraria player, opting to take my time with the item trees and boss fights, but I imagine that quicker players will also be impressed with what we've been given by Mr Spinks and his colleagues, and let us not forget, this has cost us all absolutely nothing!
I can already see that I'm going to end up sinking another 30-40 hours into Terraria and that's the bare minimum thanks to this new lease of life that it's been so caringly provided with. The graphical tweaks in Terraria 1.2 have been subtle and are effective, the new enemies are entertaining and varied and the huge item trees and the looming inevitability of a Hardmode push will keep things feeling fresh as the days roll on. Are there a few niggles? Yes there are; the combination of the new 'single block walkover mechanic' and the sloping/shaped blocks can cause frustration when you walk up into a tight tunnel to turn around and then discover you need to pickaxe your way out of the same hole, while the translucent inventory can occasionally be difficult to distinguish against heavily detailed backgrounds. But these are indeed simply niggles; bearable and hardly hinder my enjoyment of such a superb update!
Right, can't stop I need to keep laying down my rope elevator from the surface to the Underworld. Happy gaming all!
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