Imagine what Minecraft might be like if it had been made with pixel-art sprites and released in the Super Nintendo era. That sums up the overall vibe of Terraria pretty well. This devious little indie sandbox game borrows so many ideas that it essentially is Minecraft in 2D, but it also beefs up the...

Improved controls; Deep crafting system; Huge worlds

Unintuitive crafting combos; Limited multiplayer

While many have seen Terraria as a rip-off of Minecraft, that couldn't be further from the truth. In fact, Terraria expands on Minecraft's premise of sandbox survival in nearly every way by adding a huge variety of weapons and armor, ore, and boss fights.

Spelunking in a vibrant 2D world; destructible environments; multiplayer; more RPG elements than Minecraft

"Hard-Mode" bosses are too hard for single player; can feel like you have to grind to get some equipment; lack of tutorial in the PC version creates a reliance on external game guides

It's fair to say that Terraria wears a strong Minecraft influence on its sleeve. As a silent hero in an uncharted world, you'll dig for materials beneath the surface and craft all sorts of weapons and items to help you explore and survive.

+ Compelling 2D tweak on a familiar formula; + Bosses and amusing items give it a fun tone

- Can be a tedious solo start; cumbersome menus, ? Will it be regularly updated the way

Laura digs into the newest PC-to-console craze with Terraria. Find out how it translates to a controller in our full review.

+ So much fun; + Massive amounts to do and see

Takes a while to get used to the controls

The game is sort of broken down into how you need to go about it you'll start of searching and mining and just being an adventurer then you'll get more confident and start going for bosses THEN when you want even more of a challenge you'll start hard mode!

Whenever Terraria is brought up, there is almost always a comparison to Minecraft. In fact some people describe Terraria as a 2D Minecraft. Why do they do that? Because Terraria is set in a 2D world, and it also has crafting.

Terraria is essentially a 2D side-scrolling Minecraft mixed with a Metroidvania. If that doesn't get your hardcore gamer blood pumping, I don't know what will. The game makes the transition from PC to Xbox Live Arcade fairly intact, though with some rough spots due to the control change from...

As always, when a game proves to be a breakout success, similar titles flood the market. Terraria is obviously inspired by the smash Minecraft, but is it able to stand on its own?

The advertising tag line for Terraria is DIG, FIGHT, EXPLORE, BUILD. For many gamers that will draw an instant connection with the highly successful Minecraft. But can this 2D side-scrolling game with RPG overtones live up to that comparison? The first step should be to play the tutorial.

Gaming is a strange beast. As time goes by, everything my experience tells me that I think I know about gaming is gradually being shown to be wrong. I am continually surprised again and again by the innovation of game studios and how they manage to use an already-established idea and evolve it into...