Video Game Weekly: Terraria

This week, I planned to review Super Mario Maker for the Wii U (which I am extremely excited about), but my copy has yet to arrive in my mailbox! So, I am reviewing an older game that I have played for over 100 hours (believe it or not, this is pretty normal for hardcore gamers). It is like Minecraft’s distant cousin.

Platform: This game is available on many platforms, including some of the older game consoles, and it’s pretty cheap (pricing and pruchasing info at the end of this post)!

Rated: T for Teen. There is mild blood, and the game has cartoon violence. For example, when your character dies, your character does kind of explode into body parts. Also, there are some “adult” references that may or may not go over teens’ heads. For example, you can craft ale that will give you character boosts, and there are jokes about licking mushrooms for stamina.

I should also mention the world has a “Hell” area, which is accessed by digging as far down as possible. You can fight demons in Hell, mine “hellstone”, etc.

Single or Multiplayer: Both! The game is way more fun when playing with friends.

Quick Synopsis: Terraria came out for the PC in 2011 when I was in undergrad, and I spent many weekends playing it with friends instead of doing my homework. After its initial release in 2011, Terraria became so popular that it was revamped for other platforms.

Terraria is a survival side-scrolling game with a sandbox feel (if this sounds like gibberish, you can view my definitions post from last week. You begin Terraria by creating a 16-bit character (male or female), and you can personalize everything from their hair to skin color. Each color is selected on a rainbow spectrum, so theoretically, you can have a female character with red hair and purple skin.

After you are done creating a character, you can choose the size of the world you want to explore as well as your difficulty. “Softcore” mode means when your character dies, you only lose half of the money in your inventory, do not lose any of your items, and you will respawn at your home base. “Mediumcore” mode means your character will lose all of the money and items in your inventory, but you will respawn at your home base. “Hardcore” mode is the most difficult mode, because when your character dies, you cannot respawn. Your character becomes a ghost, and will be deleted when you exit the game. I am a wimp and only play on “Softcore” mode, because I like NOT losing everything in a cave.

You can also select the size of the world, and what biomes you want. There are many different biomes and layers to the world, which means there are different enemies, resources, and bonus items.

After you are done selecting a world and difficulty, you are dropped into a forest biome with only a copper pickaxe, copper axe, and copper shortsword. You also have a computer character known as an NPC, who helps you figure out the controls and crafting items.

There isn’t a goal in the game per se, other than survive and kill boss enemies. Players begin with these three tools as a way to start collecting resources from the world. As you collect resources, players can create items ranging from bricks, furniture, swords, shields, armor, potions, etc. The idea is the more resources you gather, the easier it is to make better stuff.

Controls: Terraria is a 2D side scrolling game. This means that your character can only run left, right, jump up, or dig down. The controls vary because it depends on what platform you are using. I play Terraria on my computer, which means I use my keyboard to move my character and activate items in my inventory while I use my mouse to click on objects.

When I say “activate” my items, what I mean is you can only “hold” one object at a time, like a sword or a potion, but you can have “activated” items that affect your character’s health and strength. Take a look at this picture below:

This is a sceenshot of a player’s “inventory”. The top row functions like a shortcut. For example, if I want to hold that awesome pink sword in the top left hand corner, I only have to hit “1” on my keyboard. This is useful for when you are fighting enemies like giant floating eyeballs, and you have to quickly change from holding a sword to holding a health potion.

STEM Appeal: This game is very similar to Minecraft where there is some STEM appeal, but it not as obvious as Minecraft. For one thing, Minecraft lets you download modifications (also called “mods”), which means you have a lot more flexibility to create a STEM focused world for teens to play in (or download it from MinecraftEdu link: http://minecraftedu.com/) . You can download mods for Terraria on the PC, but I personally have not done this. You cannot download mods on other platforms.

Like Minecraft, teens can learn a variety of STEM skills like geometry, circuits, engineering, strategy, teamwork, communication, and physics. While there is no “goal” in Terraria, players often build elaborate home bases both for fun and to protect themselves from enemies. Take a look at this giant castle that I found on Google.

In order to build something this elaborate, players have to collect resources from their world in order to craft “better” objects. So, this castle probably took forever to build because the players had to gather the appropriate resources to create bricks, walls, doors, furniture, etc. Or, they used cheats, but let’s pretend they didn’t.

The one huge difference between Terraria and Minecraft is the inherent reliability on teamwork in order to progress in the game. If you are playing with other people in Terraria, you absolutely have to work together in order to survive fighting enemies and collect resources. Although you don’t have to work side by side in the game world, you naturally communicate your goals, actions, and findings to your teammates. This is what makes Terraria fun to play with friends!

Verdict: I highly recommend purchasing this game for Teen Game Night programs if your teens are tired of Minecraft. Teens will still learn STEM skills like they do in Minecraft, but it has a different world environment that is fun to explore with friends. I also recommend this as a core purchase for video game collections.

by Alanna Graves

Pricing and Purchasing Options:

Available on PlayStation 3 (digital code only) $19.99 on Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Terraria-PlayStation-digital-game-download-card/dp/B00L2FGTA2/ref=sr_1_1?s=videogames&ie=UTF8&qid=1442671282&sr=1-1&keywords=terraria+playstation+3

PlayStation 4 $19.99 on Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Terraria-PlayStation-4/dp/B00MEXP5BK/ref=sr_1_1?s=videogames&ie=UTF8&qid=1442671328&sr=1-1&keywords=terraria+playstation+4

PS Vita $19.99 on Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/Terraria-PlayStation-Vita/dp/B00XR3Z7W8/ref=sr_1_1?s=videogames&ie=UTF8&qid=1442671454&sr=1-1&keywords=terraria+ps+vita)

Xbox 360 $19.54 on Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Terraria-Xbox-360/dp/B00IXMF5CU/ref=sr_1_1?s=videogames&ie=UTF8&qid=1442671561&sr=1-1&keywords=terraria+xbox+360

Xbox One $19.88 on Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Terraria-Xbox-One/dp/B00MEXP5KG/ref=sr_1_1?s=videogames&ie=UTF8&qid=1442672010&sr=1-1&keywords=terraria+xbox+one

Apple Store $4.99 https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/terraria/id640364616?mt=8

Google Play Store $4.99 https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.and.games505.Terraria&hl=en

PC Download on Steam $9.99 http://store.steampowered.com/app/105600/

Filed under: STEM Education, Uncategorized, Video Games