Whirlin
12-12-2013, 09:36 AM
Welcome to the next installment of reviewsbyWhirlin. Today we're going to be reviewing the new game: Starbound.
Starbound is currently still in beta, and comes to us from the creators of Terraria, which was released in May 2011. Terraria was initially marketed as a 2 dimensional minecraft. This was more due to Minecraft's record breaking success in 2009-2010, where it was becoming the highest selling game, despite being an indie title.
Terraria took some elements of Minecraft in their 2 dimensional world. Break a block, gather a block, break down blocks, make some things. On the surface, it sounds very similar. However, that's pretty much as far as the similarities go (arguably, that's a pretty big similarity).
While Terraria had these building mechanics, the emphasis of the game quickly becomes more about digging deeper and deeper into the randomly generated world, gathering resources, upgrading gear, and killing stronger monsters, much more akin to a open world game like Skyrim. Terraria also introduced summonable bosses, which drop special gear/resources, shortly after the release. The game quickly changes from building to gathering / upgrading, to a platforming combat game. Additional endgame content may even still be being created for the game. Honestly, it's been years since I've looked.
http://static1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20131208002850/terraria/images/8/8d/Player_in_combat.jpg
So... that's Terraria, but this review is about Starbound... what gives?
Starbound is the next evolution of Terraria. The look/feel/mechanics of the game are mirrored. But Starbound takes it to the next level.
Starbound is like taking the entire world of Terraria, recognizes everything that occurred in that game as a single planet, and then giving players the ability to explore a universe. Multiple solar systems, multiple planets, moons, etc. All that you can dig on and explore with your personal starship... which runs on coal, uranium, or... well, I don't even quite know what else yet! So simply find enough coal on the planet you're on, and you can jump to the next one.
This allows for randomly created biomes to exist on each world. You can go from a scorching hot desert (where you'll need to wear heat resistant clothing), to ice planets (where you'll need to wear warm clothing!), to strange planets where brains grow on trees. Each planet having a distinct difficulty rating, so you can balance out risk/reward.
The progression is also a little more straight forward in Starbound relative to Terraria. Items correlate to tiers, with upgrade paths rather than discrete crafting.
Both Terraria and Starbound have multi-player support. Similarly to Minecraft, infinitely more fun to play with friends.
The game is currently still in Beta, and updates are being pushed out on a daily basis. But I do not expect any changes with what's been mentioned here.
Conclusion
Starbound is the successor to Terraria. If you liked Terraria, you will like Starbound.
If you did not play Terraria, then I would take a look at the current prices of the two games (and/or any upcoming Steam sales!). If Terraria is dirt cheap and there's still a decent price tag on Starbound, I recommend picking it up Terraria, and playing it out for a few hours. If you enjoy it, go ahead and pick up Starbound.
Overall, 7/10. Good game, perfect successor to the predecessor. It's a Mario Bros 3 compared to Mario Bros 1, none of this Zelda 2 / Mario 2 nonsense here!
Starbound is currently still in beta, and comes to us from the creators of Terraria, which was released in May 2011. Terraria was initially marketed as a 2 dimensional minecraft. This was more due to Minecraft's record breaking success in 2009-2010, where it was becoming the highest selling game, despite being an indie title.
Terraria took some elements of Minecraft in their 2 dimensional world. Break a block, gather a block, break down blocks, make some things. On the surface, it sounds very similar. However, that's pretty much as far as the similarities go (arguably, that's a pretty big similarity).
While Terraria had these building mechanics, the emphasis of the game quickly becomes more about digging deeper and deeper into the randomly generated world, gathering resources, upgrading gear, and killing stronger monsters, much more akin to a open world game like Skyrim. Terraria also introduced summonable bosses, which drop special gear/resources, shortly after the release. The game quickly changes from building to gathering / upgrading, to a platforming combat game. Additional endgame content may even still be being created for the game. Honestly, it's been years since I've looked.
http://static1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20131208002850/terraria/images/8/8d/Player_in_combat.jpg
So... that's Terraria, but this review is about Starbound... what gives?
Starbound is the next evolution of Terraria. The look/feel/mechanics of the game are mirrored. But Starbound takes it to the next level.
Starbound is like taking the entire world of Terraria, recognizes everything that occurred in that game as a single planet, and then giving players the ability to explore a universe. Multiple solar systems, multiple planets, moons, etc. All that you can dig on and explore with your personal starship... which runs on coal, uranium, or... well, I don't even quite know what else yet! So simply find enough coal on the planet you're on, and you can jump to the next one.
This allows for randomly created biomes to exist on each world. You can go from a scorching hot desert (where you'll need to wear heat resistant clothing), to ice planets (where you'll need to wear warm clothing!), to strange planets where brains grow on trees. Each planet having a distinct difficulty rating, so you can balance out risk/reward.
The progression is also a little more straight forward in Starbound relative to Terraria. Items correlate to tiers, with upgrade paths rather than discrete crafting.
Both Terraria and Starbound have multi-player support. Similarly to Minecraft, infinitely more fun to play with friends.
The game is currently still in Beta, and updates are being pushed out on a daily basis. But I do not expect any changes with what's been mentioned here.
Conclusion
Starbound is the successor to Terraria. If you liked Terraria, you will like Starbound.
If you did not play Terraria, then I would take a look at the current prices of the two games (and/or any upcoming Steam sales!). If Terraria is dirt cheap and there's still a decent price tag on Starbound, I recommend picking it up Terraria, and playing it out for a few hours. If you enjoy it, go ahead and pick up Starbound.
Overall, 7/10. Good game, perfect successor to the predecessor. It's a Mario Bros 3 compared to Mario Bros 1, none of this Zelda 2 / Mario 2 nonsense here!