Terraria was developed by Re-Logic, a developing studio that as far as I know, consists of only four people. That is quite impressive. The game literally sprung up out of nowhere, but has quite the sales already.
I really am seeing the developers interacting with the fan-base quite a lot so far, and that is a good sign as long as they keep it up. The developers have been doing Lets-Plays on Youtube since Alpha, and at this point some other popular Youtube Gaming stars are releasing videos as well. (Totalbuiscuit, OMFGcata, Yogscast) I recommend checking them out.
Graphics~
Terraria is designed specifically to be an "old-school 8 bit kind of game" but really is not set back at all by that. The hand-drawn spriting and coloring really add to it, making it quaint and in some cases, creepy. The really cool effect that I liked was the torch and furnace flickering.
Settings~
The settings are one of the two parts I think need work. The settings menu feels clunky, there are no video options, it doesn't seem to resize well to fullscreen, and every so often it crashes on me while I navigate back to the main menu. Definitely could use some work.
Combat~
The combat in Terraria is swift, simple, and hard. In the daytime, you are bombarded by weak slimes, but in the night, harder, more difficult enemies attack your home. You find yourself slowly becoming more comfortable leaving your home, and slimes become more of a slight nuisance after a couple of in-game days.
There are a great array of weapons to choose from, like the rare guns, the expensive shuriken, the swords, bows, fire arrows, bombs, staffs, on and on and on. Its an excellent system and I enjoy it a lot.
Progression~
The progression system is also very good. You advance quickly from wood all the way up to Iron, but from there it becomes much more like running up a steep, steep hill. As your mining cave becomes deeper and deeper, you start to encounter monsters like worms, harder slimes, and skeletons. I have not gotten to the Hellworld yet, basically the Nether of the game, but I have heard it is very hard and fun.
You also are constantly changing the appearance of your character, although I must say that copper armor looks absolutely dreadful.
You always are feeling like your right next to the high level areas, and indeed you are. Within the first five minutes of the game, you could travel to the Corruption. (An area of land above ground that contains many high-power monsters) Thankfully, they are also very easy to avoid. Personally, I think that makes everything that much better when you finally can handle those places.
Sound~
This is another part I dislike about the game. The music is exiting for about ten minutes, but soon becomes very repetitive and you just wish to turn it off. ( I actually did) The sound effects are not half bad, in fact they really add to the arcade style of the game, but the music is just ridiculous. I'm guessing none of the four developers knew how to properly design music, in which case I'm sure after the popularity of the game they will have the money to hire a music developer. (hint hint, hire c418, MC's music developer)
Replay~
With a sandbox game it is very difficult to judge the replay ability, because your never really re-playing it. With that in mind, I would say that it would take a very long time to get bored with this game. Once you get to the highest tier of weapons and armor, you can spend time building structures or start again, this time with friends. And as with every game, other people makes it much, much more hilarious. (Hint: enable PvP)
Multiplayer~
The multiplayer has no official servers as of yet, but what it does seem to have is very similar to Minecraft. You set up a server, you enter the IP, and the stability of the server depends on your location and your Network power. You can except what you put into it.
Overall~
Overall, this game is fantastic. Its much more a game than Minecraft, while definitely still being inspired by it. Two thumbs up to the developers, and 5/5. I will keep playing this for a long time to come, just as I did with Minecraft.
