This is a game that I truly want to love, as underneath it's faults, a gem shines brightly.
While yes, the game is an obvious 3D to 2D clone of Minecraft, Terraria goes a whole different route.
You start off in a random Biome (A type of land style. Like Tundra, Desert, etc) next to a man named "Guide" who basically gives you tips at what you are supposed to do. This is where you learn of Terraria's greatness, and its biggest downfalls.
While I talked to the guide, learning of the fun this game held (Treasure Chests with actual treasures, unique items, a fun armor system, your pick does not wear out and can be reused indefinitely) I ran into the game's main flaw.
1.The enemies spawn indefinitely
In a game like Minecraft, you may run into the occasional baddy during the day above ground (Most baddies were allergic to sunlight) in Terraria, a constant flow of slimes await you. None of the enemies are hard, but the fact that, by the time I killed the two slimes that assailed me during my written tutorial, 3 more had come to take their place.
At night, I was then greeted by zombies and flying eyeballs that took many hits to die, They had no chance of killing me, but, as with the slimes, they never stopped spawning.
In MineCraft, the light kept away 95% of the enemy spawns, and even when it did not, the flow of enemies was still manageable. Sadly this is not the case for Terraria.
2. Difficulty Curve scales like a cliff face
I live by the idea that... 1 hit kill moves are frustrating and more annoying the difficult. And sadly Terraria employs this for a mandatory boss. During this boss fight, I was doing well, dodging almost all of this major Boss' attacks, Destroyed both his arms, and all that remained was his head. But alas, day broke, and when day break begins, the boss's head spins, flights at you faster then any speed boosting item can move you, and one hit kills you. This would not be so bad, if death did not mean you had to wait an entire game day to fight him again.
It does not help that Terraria suffers NES Knockback Syndrome (A syndrome in which you are always knocked backwards no matter where you are struck from) And the knock back leads to moments where you are killed in seconds while repeatedly knocked back against a wall, Or just rendered unable to move by a basic enemy.
3. Just you wait... No really I mean it
The game's biggest atrocities lies in its days. Days go by much slower then MineCraft, which could be a good thing, but the issue is, some items/enemies/loot only happen during night or day. The game has a bed (Which acts as a spawn point) but you cannot pass the time in it, so with the aforementioned boss, you end up waiting 30 minutes to an hour to fight him again.
4. Bigger is not always better
One thing Terraria could have had going for it was the size of its map. The 2D elements lend color and variety to the underworlds (Mushroom forests, under ground jungles, hell itself) but sadly, the game lacks any real travel power. Yes one treasure allows you to teleport back to your spawn point, but, there's no way to teleport anywhere else. So much of the game especially late game, is you walking from place to place.
5. Know your enemy, and know your way
This one is simple. Like Minecraft, the game has NO map, but in a 2D setting, you have less landmarks and distant vistas to guide you. This gets annoying very fast.
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But for all I penalize it for, the game is still a good clone of a fun game. Variety in weapons, vibrant colors, variety in enemies, the exploration is fun when the bugs and aforementioned problems do not bog you down, and the tiny village building aspect adds more reasons to explore the game.
For now the game gets an "Above Average" rating from this reviewer, if patches come along and fix many issues, then I will happily alter my score. This is a game that I truly want to love, as underneath it's faults, a gem shines brightly.