Terraria- Not a 2D Minecraft

Platform: PC
Rating: PG, E10+
Release Date: Out now

What is Terraria? Terraria is a 2D, side-scrolling, indie game developed by Re-Logic. The game is described as an action/adventure RPG. There are several people who have watched the trailer and played the game who say it is just a 2D version of Minecraft. There are others who will argue that it isn’t. Well let me tell you, it isn’t. Yes, there are some features that appear in both games, like a day/night cycle, mining and gathering resources, fighting monsters (but doesn’t every game have that these days?) and building things. When I say building things I mean building a house so you have a safe area. These features that seem to appear in both games don’t make them the same. It’s like saying every FPS copied Catacomb 3-D because it is played in a first person perspective and you can shoot stuff.

Now that I have cleared up the Minecraft comparison let’s get to some gameplay. The first thing you do in Terraria before you go into your first randomly generated world is create your character. You can customise his hair style, hair colour, skin tone, shirt colour, pants colour and colour of the shoes. After that you name your character and are ready to go. The good thing about these characters is when you play a new world your character doesn’t lose any of his items you find in other worlds. In other words, let’s say I made a light saber (well it isn’t called a light saber but it acts like one) in my single player world, I could take it with me to another single player world or to my friend’s multiplayer world. This concept is very cool and I think more games should have it. I don’t think there is a limit to the amount of characters you can make too.

When starting out with a new character you are given a pickaxe and a hatchet/axe. Weapons never run out in Terraria so the only reason you have to craft stronger weapons is if you want to mine certain things that require a stronger weapon. The first thing you do in a new world is search for trees. With trees you can get wood (the foundation for most things in Terraria). Before you even start to create something the next thing you need is dirt. Why dirt you ask? Well even though the game is 2D, monsters can still get in your house/ safe area if you don’t have any walls. To create the walls you must open your inventory and scroll down the handy list on the side of the screen which shows you what you can create with the items you have in your inventory. After making a large amount of dirt wall you place it in one of your ten hand spots and left click to place it on the wall. Resources are very abundant in Terraria. The reason why this is is because you need so many resources to craft items. For example, you need 3 iron ore to craft an iron bar and you need about 7 iron bars to craft an iron sword. That means you need about 21 iron ore to craft the iron sword.  So when you think about it, everything evens out in the end when it comes to resource collection to creation.

You can collect coins from monsters and jars you find underground. You use these coins to buy items and health when NPCs come to live in your house. To have an NPC stay with you they need their own room. This room must include a door, bed, table and chair. The NPCs I have met are; a nurse, a demolitions man, a merchant and an arms dealer. There is also a guide who automatically spawns at the start of the game. Right clicking on the guide gives you some hints and tips about survival in the game. All NPCs (except the guide) can be killed by monsters that lurk in the world of Terraria. But don’t worry; they spawn again after a few minutes anyway.

Terraria plays a little bit like the old Mario games. You can’t jump up through most objects in Terraria. But you can craft wooden platforms and place them on walls etc. The platforms act a little like the big mushrooms that you can jump on in Super Mario Bros. These are the only objects you can jump through. These prove very useful when trying to get up from caves that you have dug (or you could just go deeper and kill skeleton to get a hook to create a grappling hook). Another thing you could say it has in common with Mario is that mushrooms keep you alive; well they don’t work the same but still. In Terraria you start with 5 hearts which each equal 20 health. Meaning you start with 100 health. You can find giant hearts in caves that increase the maximum number of hearts you can have.

When you die in Terraria there isn’t much penalty. You will lose some coins that you are carrying but other than that all your items you are carrying are safe. You can decide whether that is good or bad when it comes to the difficulty. There is only one level of difficulty in Terraria too.

Where Terraria goes a stray from Minecraft (besides everything I mentioned before) is that you are more focused on digging for resources to create weapons and items to help you kill all the monsters in Terraria. The amount of monsters in Terraria is amazing. From zombies to flying eye balls to killer worms, this game has them all. There are even boss fights (which are hell with just one person)!

The controls are very basic. You use the Arrow keys to move left, right and down. You use space to jump and ESC opens the inventory; although I recommend changing that to E. You can scroll through your hand inventory using the mouse wheel or you can choose the slot with the number keys. Left mouse click performs most actions in Terraria and unlike Minecraft you must be holding a weapon to attack. For example, when holding a torch you can’t attack enemies, you can only place them.

The music in Terraria fits the scene perfectly. At times when nothing is happening there is peaceful music that makes you feel like you are safe. The further underground you get the more the music becomes dramatic. During the boss fight me and my friend encountered the music was really fast moving, it made the scene feel ‘epic’. When mining ores you here a sound of metal hitting metal (what you would expect to here). Even the laser sword sounds like a light saber should. It may not seem important to some people but music and sounds in a game can sometimes make or break it.

Final Comments:
Terraria is a fun cheap game that can provide hours of entertainment in single player and multiplayer. Most computers are fast enough to run this game so I recommend you jump on Steam and purchase it. The resource collection to creation is evened out fairly well and Re-Logic are constantly putting out updates for it.

Rating: 8/10

Battlefield: Play4Free review

Platform: PC
Release: Out now
Players: Online only (32 players)
Rating: ESRB- T
           PEGI- 16+

Minimum Hardware Requirements

Operating system: Windows XP or Windows Vista

CPU: Intel Pentium 4 1.7 GHz

RAM: 512 MB (1 GB on Windows Vista)

Video card: 256 MB, Pixel shader 2.0, DirectX 9.0c

Sound Card: DirectX 9.0c compatible

Hard Drive space: 1 GB

Internet connection: 256 kbit

Battlefield: Play4Free is an online FPS by EA games. The game is free, as the title suggests, and is currently an open beta. As many of you may have guessed, Battlefield: Play4Free’s game play is similar to that of Battlefield’s. I’m not sure how much time EA will actually put into this game because I’m sure that Battlefield 3 would be number 1 on the agenda. I’ve never played a Battlefield game but have seen it being played. The Battlefield series is one of the best war simulation games out and I think Battlefield 3 will rival CoD once it is released.

B:P4F’s game play doesn’t change much compared to the other Battlefield games. You create a soldier and choose what class you want him to be then join a match. The classes are; Assault, Medic, Engineer and Recon. The Assault class carries an assault rifle and has the ability to supply team mates with ammo. The medic carries a LMG and can heal team mates. The Engineer carries a RPG and submachine gun and has the ability to repair vehicles. The Recon class has a sniper rifle and uses a motion sensor to show enemy locations to their team mates. They also have claymore mines to set traps.

On the map there are various vehicles that players can operate. There are tanks, helicopters and speed boats, just to name a few. One of the maps can be a real pain if you are without a vehicle because people jump in a plane or helicopter and bomb you from above. And unless you are an Engineer with a RPG, you can’t do anything about it. I was actually surprised by the amount of vehicles on the maps. Sometimes there were about 5 tanks firing at each other. This game excels other games in war simulation and FPS mainly because of what it looks like when you are driving a vehicle. The first time I jumped in a car I was amazed. The reason I was amazed was because the view you get is the windscreen. You can move your head to look around but while driving you stay in the First Person view.

The HUD shows you which button to press for each weapon/tool you are carrying, which was a big help. There is no kill cam or even a moving camera when you die. All that happens is you get a front view of the person who killed you. It’s a shame that there is only one game type. The creators said this new game type stops campers, but it doesn’t. All you have to do in one of the maps is capture the command post and then station some snipers and a medic on the roofs. There are only 2 maps in the game as well so if you don’t like a particular map then you aren’t in luck because every second game will be on it.

Your soldier gains XP for loads of things in B:P4F. Kills, healing, repairing, assists and tracer assists are just some of the

many ways to earn XP. You even earn XP every time your bullet hits an enemy. When you level up you gain 1 training point. You use training point to upgrade skills and learn new ones, depending on what class you are. There are quite a few skills to develop and it will take you a while to unlock them all. While competing in matches you gain in game currency. You can also purchase Battle Funds with real money. As with most free online shooters, when you buy guns you only get them for a certain amount of time. With Battle Funds you can buy guns to own forever. With normal currency you can only have them for a maximum of 3 days before you have to buy it again.

The default controls for B:P4F can make your hand sore after a while. To crouch you have to hold ctrl. This gets very annoying when you are trying to walk without being seen. It would be good if they added an option that allows you to stay in crouch with just one press of the ctrl button. You use the mouse to aim down the sights and shoot, just like most other FPS. You use the numbers to select weapons and tools. The bad thing about this is that it gets difficult to melee people. When you select the knife button you don’t hold the knife, you use it straight away. This gets tricky in mid combat. This is the same with grenades. Countless times I nearly blew myself up because I forgot that pressing 6 (my grenade button) threw the grenade straight away. But other then that the controls are set out pretty good.

Final Comments:

You don’t need a fast computer to play this game. My computer is can’t play most PC games because it is only has a Celeron 1.66GHz CPU. But this game ran fairly well if I turned down the graphics. The game is fairly balanced but needs more maps and game types if it is to become successful. This is a great game to play if you want a change from CoD and Halo before Battlefield 3 comes out. The teams need to be a little more balanced though. Sometimes a team has no medics and about 7 Recon soldiers.

Rating:

7.5/10

Sources:

- http://battlefield.play4free.com/en/

Nathan

WWE All stars Review

Platforms: 360, PS3, Wii, PSP
Rating: PG
Release date: Out now
Players: 1-4

The WWE has been around for awhile now (and by awhile I mean at least 50 years) but nothing has really changed. Each year a new game comes out with up to date rosters and events. There are slight changes and andvances each year but the core gameplay has remained. So when THQ release a game called WWE All stars no one thinks that much differently about it. I’m pretty sure most people who haven’t seen or played the game think it is just another wrestling game. WWE All stars is definitely not just another wrestling game. The first thing you have to do is disregard everything you know about wrestling before you continue reading.

WWE All stars is a multi-platform game developed by THQ San Diego. It is nothing like any WWE game that has been released. The moves are exadurated and the wrestlers have been given an build that makes them look like action figures. This isn’t a bad thing though. The moves that the wrestlers pull off are exadurated but amazing to watch. For example, while playing the trial I had access to only 2 of the 31 superstars in the game (there will be several downloadable wrestlers too). I watched in amazement as Rey Mysterio jumped from the floor to a turn buckle and then jumped about 10 meters in the air before slamming into me and knocking me to the ground. The impacts are huge and the small shockwaves that occur when the wrestlers hit the ground after being hurled across the ring help to give you a feel of how powerful the moves are. The moves are definitely key reason why this game is so fun.

The gameplay is much faster than other Wrestling games aswell. The first time I got knocked down I was expecting a some what long wait before I got back up. But my wrestler got straight up like nothing had happened. As I continued through the match my character took more damage and stayed down for a slight bit longer but this was still quicker than normal. There is no ref in the ring so you can’t get disqualified by accidentally hitting him (or purposely hitting him). And to get disqualified normally you actually have to do 3 illegal things. This means you can grab a chair and hit your opponent a couple of times and not be disqualified. The same game types from older games have been kept. This shouldn’t disappoint though because the added craziness of this game will always keep you coming back. There is also a game mode called ‘Path of Champions’. This is practically the story mode of the game. There are 3 stories to complete; Undertaker, Randy Orton and D-Generation X. I won’t go into much detail on them because I don’t want to spoil the story. The cut scenes look spectacular. There is also create a superstar and another mode called ’Fantasy Warfare’. I’m not sure what this mode is but I think you relive some classic matches from the WWE.

Those who are familiar with WWE rules don’t have an advantage in this game because most of them don’t exist. You can keep your opponent in the corner for as long as you want (I even had my opponent hanging upside down), there are no rope brakes and no count out. Another different feature in this game is the health bar. Now I bet you’re thinking “A health bar in a wrestling game?” Yes, there is a health bar. The health bar is there because it is possible to win most matches by K.O. OR pin. A warning does come up on the screen when you are in danger of being knocked out. There are also plenty of reversal opportunities. One minute you have your opponent in a grapple and are about to slam him to the ground, the next he has reversed it and you are the one being slammed. You can even reverse a move at certain points throughout the move. Which means sometimes you can get a reversal just before you get slammed. There are also 3 levels of difficulty to play on and 6 Arenas to unleash hell in. The gameplay in WWE All stars is a welcome change to a very repetitive series.

The controls in WWE All stars are very simple. The face buttons are used from strikes and grapples. The triggers and bumpers for sprinting and reversals. The Left trigger is a key button in this game as it is used to pin, climb turnbuckles, get out of the ring and get weapons. This can be very annoying when you are standing next to the ring trying to grab a weapon from under the stage. It took me countless tries to grab the weapon because I kept getting into the ring instead of searching for a weapon. Other than that problem the control scheme is great. It is similar to the original controls of the older games.

One of the things that most people don’t think makes a difference in video games is the music and sounds. The music and sounds of a video game make the game seem realistic and in most cases, better to play. The only music you really hear in WWE All stars is the entrance music for the superstars. This isn’t a bad thing though. Who doesn’t love listening to their favourite WWE superstar’s entrance music while cruising the menus? The sounds and commentary in this game are very accurate aswell. What I mean by accurate is the fact that when you get slammed into something, like a turnbuckle, it makes the sound you would expect it to make. And the crowd reacts perfectly to what is happening in the ring. The commentary is brilliant and the voices of Jerry “The King” Lawler and Jim Ross call the match precisely.

Final Comments:
You can get a demo from the X-box live marketplace if you want to test the game out first (it might be in the Playstation store aswell). WWE All stars is great fun for wrestling fans and non wrestling fans alike. It is a much needed change to the WWE video game series. The high powered, out of this world moves gives this game a sense of creativity and really introduce the ‘anything is possible’ saying into WWE. WWE All stars will provide hours of great fun and entertainment for you and your friends.

Rating: 8.5/10



Sources:
-http://www.wweallstars.com/
-http://photobucket.com/
-http://au.ign.com/

Minecraft gets release date!

Minecraft has finally got a release date. Notch, the creator of Minecraft, wrote in his blog that they planned to release the game on 11-11-11. He said that it wouldn't be much of a release, it would just be a reason to take away the 'beta' label. He said Minecraft would still be updated as usual.

For all those poor gamers who don't know what Minecraft is, Minecraft is a sandbox game for the PC and Mac. You get spawned in a world that is filled with 8bit blocks. Even the animals and monsters are 8bit. There are endless possibilities in this world. Create a roller coaster, your dream house, or just explore every nook and cranny of the world. The main concept in Minecraft is that the only limit is your imagination. the world is said to be 8 times the size of the Earth so there will always be places to explore. Every time you start a new world it is generated differently from the last. In one world might have loads of forests and caves to explore (or create) and another could just have a snowy open field.

Creeper coming for player

The main idea in Minecraft is to get wood. You get wood by walking up to a tree and holding the left mouse button to cut it down. With wood you can make pickaxes, swords etc. These tools helps you find other resources that you use to create more things. But once it hits night time you want to be inside some kind of house or shelter (which you build) because monsters come out. The 3 monsters in Minecraft at the moment are zombies, Skeletons and Creepers. The Zombies just run around and attack you with melee, the Skeletons shoot arrows at you and the Creepers blow up if they get within one square of you. There has been no word of more mobs (monsters and animals) being added but who knows what to expect.

Minecraft also features multiplayer. The servers aren't up yet but Mojang has released the software on their website for people to create their own servers so they can play with their friends. I've been in several multiplayer games and they are great fun. Playing Minecraft is much more fun with friends. You can do the same things as you could in single player, just with more people. The servers get more lagged the more people there are, but that is only natural. I'm not sure what is going to happen with the multiplayer once the game is officially released.

Minecraft is currently in beta 1.4_01. It is 25% off during the beta period. You can buy the game now for approximately $20 AUD. When you buy the game in beta you get the game as it is right now and the full version once it is released. Be quick get Minecraft before 11-11-11 to save.

Seeing as this was kind of a review as well... I give Minecraft 9.5/10. It is a great game that has been developed from a simple idea. The possibilities are endless and I can't wait til 11-11-11.

For more info visit: http://www.minecraft.net/

By Nathan

Xbox 360 Kinect

I know it's a bit late but today I got a chance to play the Xbox 360 Kinect. For those of you who don't know the Kinect is a full body camera for the Xbox 360. For those who are thinking it is like the EyeToy for the Play Station, you are completely wrong. I must admit I had pretty low expectations going into the trial but after about 10 minutes of playing my opinion had changed.

Features:
To put it simply, the Kinect uses a continuously- projected Infrared light to read 3D scenes. The Kinect is simply a really cool webcam! It is described as controller free gaming. It has a built in microphone for voice recognition and other activities like headset-free party chat over Xbox-live. The most amazing thing with Kinect would have to be it's ability to see who is actually playing and who isn't. What I mean by this is that when we were trailing the game there were about 15 of us in the room. The majority of us could be seen in the background but never prevented the Kinect from recognising who was actually playing the game. It also helps by telling the user(s) whether they need to move into the camera's range. It gives directions to the user(s) telling them to either move left, forward, back etc. so that the camera can see them. You also don't have to adjust the camera for height because the camera calibrates and has the ability to move to get the player in the camera.

The Kinect has made it much easier to get multiple people in the range of the camera at once. Some of you might remember the how the EyeToy could really only have one person on screen at once and with two it was really difficult. With the Kinect there is plenty of room for two or three people to fit on the camera.

Games:
There are quite a few games out at the moment for Kinect with a lot still to come. From the look of the games, a lot of them are mini game type games. At the trial we were playing Kinect Sports. The standout for this title would have to be the boxing event. You hold your hands up as the boxing gloves and try to knock your opponent to the ground any way you can. Once the game is over you can look at footage that the Kinect camera has taken throughout the event. It was quite funny watch the recordings of us frantically trying to swing in every direction hoping to land some hits and score a knockout. In the soccer game the Kinect even picked up what foot the user(s) was kicking with.

Kinect Joyride is coming out soon here in Australia and there is a demo on Xbox live if you have it. The game seems like a racing game where you use your hands as a steering wheel. This looks like a really fun game to play.

The Kinect is a really great idea and there has been lots of thought put into it. The gameplay is smooth and the kinect does a great job with accurate movements. The games that are currently out have done a great job utilising the Kinects functions. I think we can expect great things from this device in the future. I'm hoping to buy a Kinect within the year so I can do some game reviews on it.

Final Score: 8/10