Is Terraria better than Minecraft or just another clone?

Terraria is the latest in a line of indie building games, similar in many ways to the immensely popular Minecraft game. However, it's more of a Mario styled RPG classic than a 3D adventure. Upon closer inspection, Terraria is a whole new game in itself!

Similarities

Terraria bares many similarities to Minecraft. These similarities led many to believe that Terraria copied Minecraft and jumped onto the popularity of sandbox building games. However, closer inspection shows that Terraria has taken the building and survival idea (used in many games previously; Populous, Civilization, The Settlers) and expanded it into a classic SNES type platformer.

Hardcore Minecraft players believe that it's not the principle of building or collecting resources that points towards a Minecraft clone. Instead it's the large number of similarities to Minecaft that make the two seem all too similar. For example, in Terraria you collect raw resources like wood, stone and gold, you craft items by combining resources (pickaxes, axes) and you fight monsters such as zombies and slimes.

Some Terraria similarities to Minecraft

Collecting resources – wood, ore, stone
Biomes – environments with simulated weather. Forests, deserts, dungeons..
Crafting – combining items to make other items
Building – using materials (such as wood, stone) to build structures
Items – pickaxe, hammers, beds
Monsters – zombie, slime

However, take these things away and Terraria really is quite a different game. Its more action oriented and necessitates instinctive gameplay.

How is it different?

Terraria is a 2D platform adventure
Goal based rewards
It's fast and responsive.
Much larger selection of weapons
Monsters are harder to fight
Multiplayer is fast
It only runs on Windows
It offers something else, you need to play it to see it

What's bad about Terraria

No mod support
Longivity
It's similar to Mario
More focus on fighing then construction
Only runs on Windows (currently)

Minecraft vs Terraria. Which is best?

It's so hard to choose between Minecraft and Terraria because both games are great to play. They both have single and multiplayer modes, they are well supported and offer something unique. The actual choice comes down to personal preference. On the one hand you have a 2D classic platform game and on the other you have a fully fledged 3D adventure which is supported on several operating systems.

If you've played Minecraft before then it's a safe bet that you'll like Terraria. The biomes are big enough to keep your busy, the crafting is detailed and extensive and the monsters are fun to fight. There are also bosses to fight which you do not get in Minecraft.

To sum it up - Terraria is more of a "pick up and play now game" where as Minecraft is a marathon of mammoth construction.

If you've been playing Minecraft and want to try something new then Terraria might be for you. Unfortunately, if you're a MAC or Linux user then sadly Terraria won't be available to you.

Official Terraria Site