Terraria

Let's take a trip back in time to computer games far removed from virtual reality and CGI graphics, we're talking about the early days of Super Mario, but on of the latest and extremely successful games. A 2D game called Terraria and it is addictive.

“Sandbox” is the term used to describe the display but if you think of a worm farm, aq sort of aquarium filled with soil and worms, when we look through the glass wall we can enjoy an underground view of how the worms escavate, tunnel and mine through the earth; this is the best way to describe the format of Terraria.

The concept is based on survival and living off the land. It is a very low cost game and a little thin on the ground (pardon the pun) when it comes to direction and instructions so here's a brief walk through before you move into the virtual underground world of Terraria.

Life on Terraria isn't going to be easy and you begin with no possessions, you'll need begin building a home and collect all the other trappings for survival in Terraria. It is important that you quickly start a search for some very basic items in order that you can find food, implements and tools..

Mining is about excavating for ore, these are minerals such as Copper, Iron, Silver and Gold, and all the metals are required for tools, utensils and weapons but in order to extract metal from ore you need to smelt it in a furnace, so be on the look out for ways to achieve a method of intense heat to smelt your ores.

Demonite is another ore, this can be taken by defeating a 'Boss', Meteorite is also an ore that is derived from fallen meteors and finally Hellstone ore can be found in The Underworld of Terraria.

To survive your character has be fighting fit and well sustained, there is a lot of hard work ahead so gathering food, healing potions, money, arrows and bombs is tremendously important so you search inside caves for pots, not clay pots mind you but the ones that contain the essential booty.

Chests too are crucial, higher in value than pots because of their important contents.

Mushrooms aren't just food, there is plenty of them, often in clusters, some have healing properties. Normal red mushrooms for example have medicinal purposes, and will grow again soon after picking.

Blue glowing mushrooms with healing properties grow deep underground. These glow through solid objects because of their bright light-emitting quality. Be cautious of vile purple mushrooms growing on polluted land.

Collect stars at night for Mana crystal, you will did this later on in the game so collecting now is strongly advised.

If you find lucky Crystal Hearts break and "consume" them to boost your health.

Sooner or later you will cross paths and fight zombies as well as 'demon eyes', ensure you have an arsenal of bow and arrows.

You will need to craft a bow and have some choices what material to use such as Wood, Copper, Iron, Silver, Golden, Demon and Molten.

When making arrows you also have a choice of materials; wooden, flaming, unholy and jester's. Their individual power is added to the power of the bow and provides combined fire power. Once shot they can also be collected and re-used so gather all your used arrows.

It is essential keep that you checking your character's health so monitor your score at the top right-hand corner of your screen the number will reduce when you are injured. When it reaches 0 you will die. It is important to top up your health, get nutrition that is available from the item bar at the top of your monitor. You can see it slowly increasing as you are nourished.