Terra Tech

A way to describe TerraTech’s unique gameplay would be “Lego meets No Man’s Sky.” This creative mix of sandbox with adventure elements lets you create fantastic vehicles to explore planets alone or with friends, as you scavenge for new parts and mine resources to become a successful prospector.

Build and exploit

As we mentioned before, the goal of TerraTech is to become the planet’s ultimate prospector. To achieve this title, you’ll need to establish an efficient mining empire and to do so, you’ll first need to clear the land and build a mechanized workforce.

TerraTech’s immensely satisfying gameplay loop involves players searching for loot and gathering parts to design their own customized vehicles. These vehicles can be anything from simple cars to futuristic spacecraft. The designing and building aspect of the game looks very similar to how Banjo Kazooie Nuts & Bolts handled their mechanics.

TerraTech uses procedural generation to create its planets. This means that you’ll never find two planets that look the same, adding an extra layer of complexity to the game, and turning exploration into a crucial part of TerraTech.

Simple yet appealing graphics

Being a sandbox game where you can basically build anything, it’s comprehensible that developers Payload Studios would go for a “simple” look for their game. The game is not as barebones as, say, early days’ Minecraft, yet it still feels like the biomes could be a bit more populated.

Where the game excels is in its vehicles. Unlike games like Besiege, where you could easily determine where each block was located in a customized vehicle, the machines you can build in TerraTech are easy on the eyes and are also a blast to control.

The base building aspect of the game still needs some work, particularly when it comes to the camera. In a videogame where base building is an integral part of survival, you better be able to do it as hassle-free as possible. Sadly, the camera in TerraTech is fixed on your vehicle at all times, and if your vehicle is a large one, good luck trying to see what’s going on when you’re building a base.

More than just a campaign

The game’s campaign mode is adequate – if you can deal with how repetitive some of the quests are – but where TerraTech really shines is in its fun multiplayer modes. Just like in Minecraft, you can create a Creative session to build alone or with friends to your heart’s content.

Also available are co-op modes, Death Match, and Sumo modes. Sumo is one of the most exciting game modes of the bunch, as it plays similarly to real-life BatteBots fights. All in all, the game features enough content to make you feel like you paid its money’s worth, and it’ll be a while before you run out of things to do in TerraTech.

TerraTech has all the markings of a stellar multiplayer sandbox game. That said, some of its ideas are still a little undercooked for it to be considered among the greats. Campaign mode gets repetitive really fast, not to mention the simplistic AI enemies will have you breezing through the game’s missions.

Pros:

• Incredibly entertaining vehicle customization
• Vehicles feel and look great
• Good variety of multiplayer modes

Cons:

• Incompetent AI
• Tedious campaign quests
• The world can feel a bit barren