Terraria review (iOS / Universal)

10 word description: Dig, fight, explore, build. Indie sandbox adventure. Monsters, bosses, Game Center. 

10 word review: Addictive, easy to figure out. Decent controls. Plenty to do.  

You will like this if you enjoy: The mining & crafting sandbox genre. 

The good news: Great port of the popular multi-platform game. Loads of content. Graphics are good, if not stunning. Controls are a good attempt at what could be achieved on touch screen and they begin to feel quite natural after a bit of time spent getting used to them. Death doesn’t feel too punishing; I like the fairly easy enemies that begin to get tougher the further you explore or dig. Crafting is easy too, with good explanations about what you need to do. 

The bad news: No iCloud sync – a shame. Controls do initially feel a bit loose with jump being “up” on the floating joystick. Feels quite fiddly on the smaller (iPod 5) screen. 

Arcadelife verdict: I hadn’t played this before on any other platform, probably something to be thankful for considering how quickly I got hooked playing it on my iPad 4. It’s a lot of fun and I like the fact that I didn’t need to start Googling crafting recipes and “how to play” guides the instant I started. I haven’t needed to do that at all, in fact, which is great for a game from this genre. Its flaws are very minor, nothing to prevent me recommending it.

Arcadelife rating

Presentation – 9/10
Visuals – 8/10
Controls – 8.5/10
Content – 10/10
Fun – 9/10
Final rating – 9/10

GREAT

Rating categories explained here.

Version reviewed by Arcadelife is ? (Doesn’t appear to mention this on the app store)

Terraria website link

Arcadelife played and reviewed this game on:
5th gen iPod Touch (iOS 6.1.3)
4th gen iPad (iOS 6.1.3)

This review was typed on a Das Keyboard Model S mechanical keyboard – check them out, they’re really rather groovy.