Derrick
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- Joined
- Nov 22, 2010
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- 5,085
- Reaction score
- 5
Overall, this game is quite disappointing. It seems to try to do too much, to please too many, and is instead likely to alienate most.
Spore has been some time getting to us, some very highly hyped time. So was the hype justified? Read on and find out.
One of the first things to keep in mind about this game is that you must have an Internet connection in order to activate it.
The object of the game is to evolve a primitive organism right up to galactic colonisation.
You start in what is called the Cell Stage, playing an amoeba-like creature floating around in primeval soup. You compete with other such organisms, vying for DNA. As you evolve, you make decisions about your creature’s nature, such as whether it is a herbivore, a carnivore or, if you manage to get it right, even an omnivore.
These decisions are made by adding parts to your creature, such as mouth types and other bodily parts, which determine not only your creature’s appearance, but also its abilities, including but not limited to movement speed, attack and defence attributes, and special abilities like spitting poison, for example.
As you play,you prey on your food, be it plant matter or smaller animals, and avoid predators. The style of play is fairly arcade-like, and the graphics are quite charming in an abstract sort of way.
Once your creature has collected enough DNA and grown sufficiently, (this taking around two hours or so to achieve), it can crawl out of the ocean.
Once on land, you redesign your creature, now a full-fledged animal. Some traits are retained, such as dietary alignment, but new abilities can now be bestowed. You get to design how it moves around (initially only land-based locomotion is available, but later on you may add wings and the like), whether it can jump, sneak, charge, bite, and so forth.
As you play through the Creature Stage, again you get to collect parts to enhance and customise both your creature’s appearance and abilities. Again, you make choices, such as whether to compete with other species (by hunting them for food and driving them to extinction), or to cooperate with other species, creating symbiotic alliances. Here the object is to grow the brain toward sentience. Once this has grown enough, (after a couple of hours’ play), you get to make final adjustments to your creature as it enters the next stage. The Tribal Stage sees your creatures banding into primitive societies and looking to advance themselves even further.
Now controlling not merely a single entity, but a village, you seek food to grow your population. Along the way you learn to use various tools, either by once again cooperating witho ther tribes, or by conquering them. No longer able to customise your creature’s design, now you tinker with their clothing. Several hours later you can advance your culture to the next stage. Once the tribe has reached a certain size, it enters the Civilisation Stage. Here you get to customise clothing, uildings and vehicles.
As you take control of more cities, your technology advances, allowing you to take to the seas, the skies and, finally, space (which launches the Galactic Stage.) As before, there are peaceful and warlike ways to approach this stage. Along the way you will be able to redesign your vehicles to make them more effective. Gaining control of your entire world lets you move on to the next stage, after (once again) a couple of hours’ play. The Galactic Stage is the final one in the game, and is essentially almost an entire game in its own right.
Here you are presented with a huge galaxy to gain dominion over, by whatever means you see fit, though careful balancing of peaceful and aggressive strategies is advisable.
Planets must be colonised, which can be quite a painstaking multistep process requiring you to fly your spaceship back and forth to procure the requisite resources.
Irritatingly, at each new colony you must redesign your basic buildings, meaning that more than likely your creations become ever more rushed and bland as you itch to get on with things. You can also redesign your spaceship. This phase of the game is quite deep, and many casual gamers may find it intimidating, while seasoned strategy or “4X” (exploit, explore, expand, exterminate) gamers are likely to find it frustratingly lacking in the necessary management tools. This part of the game can take many hours, even days.
THE VERDICT
Overall, this game is quite disappointing. It seems to try to do too much, to please too many, and is instead likely to alienate most.
Casual gamers will likely enjoy the first few stages, but find the last stage too demanding (in terms of skill requirement and time commitment), while hardcore gamers are likely to find it lacking in depth, and ultimately unfulfilling. The graphics start off appealing, but fail to evolve with the subject matter, remaining fairly “primitive” throughout (likely in an attempt to appeal to casual gamers).
And although this game is intended as a no-boundaries sandbox, the action is restricted to a few very limited possible courses, so re-playability value is suspect. Perhaps an expansion pack might rescue this game from the spectre of extinction..
Spore has been some time getting to us, some very highly hyped time. So was the hype justified? Read on and find out.
One of the first things to keep in mind about this game is that you must have an Internet connection in order to activate it.
The object of the game is to evolve a primitive organism right up to galactic colonisation.
You start in what is called the Cell Stage, playing an amoeba-like creature floating around in primeval soup. You compete with other such organisms, vying for DNA. As you evolve, you make decisions about your creature’s nature, such as whether it is a herbivore, a carnivore or, if you manage to get it right, even an omnivore.
These decisions are made by adding parts to your creature, such as mouth types and other bodily parts, which determine not only your creature’s appearance, but also its abilities, including but not limited to movement speed, attack and defence attributes, and special abilities like spitting poison, for example.
As you play,you prey on your food, be it plant matter or smaller animals, and avoid predators. The style of play is fairly arcade-like, and the graphics are quite charming in an abstract sort of way.
Once your creature has collected enough DNA and grown sufficiently, (this taking around two hours or so to achieve), it can crawl out of the ocean.
Once on land, you redesign your creature, now a full-fledged animal. Some traits are retained, such as dietary alignment, but new abilities can now be bestowed. You get to design how it moves around (initially only land-based locomotion is available, but later on you may add wings and the like), whether it can jump, sneak, charge, bite, and so forth.
As you play through the Creature Stage, again you get to collect parts to enhance and customise both your creature’s appearance and abilities. Again, you make choices, such as whether to compete with other species (by hunting them for food and driving them to extinction), or to cooperate with other species, creating symbiotic alliances. Here the object is to grow the brain toward sentience. Once this has grown enough, (after a couple of hours’ play), you get to make final adjustments to your creature as it enters the next stage. The Tribal Stage sees your creatures banding into primitive societies and looking to advance themselves even further.
Now controlling not merely a single entity, but a village, you seek food to grow your population. Along the way you learn to use various tools, either by once again cooperating witho ther tribes, or by conquering them. No longer able to customise your creature’s design, now you tinker with their clothing. Several hours later you can advance your culture to the next stage. Once the tribe has reached a certain size, it enters the Civilisation Stage. Here you get to customise clothing, uildings and vehicles.
As you take control of more cities, your technology advances, allowing you to take to the seas, the skies and, finally, space (which launches the Galactic Stage.) As before, there are peaceful and warlike ways to approach this stage. Along the way you will be able to redesign your vehicles to make them more effective. Gaining control of your entire world lets you move on to the next stage, after (once again) a couple of hours’ play. The Galactic Stage is the final one in the game, and is essentially almost an entire game in its own right.
Here you are presented with a huge galaxy to gain dominion over, by whatever means you see fit, though careful balancing of peaceful and aggressive strategies is advisable.
Planets must be colonised, which can be quite a painstaking multistep process requiring you to fly your spaceship back and forth to procure the requisite resources.
Irritatingly, at each new colony you must redesign your basic buildings, meaning that more than likely your creations become ever more rushed and bland as you itch to get on with things. You can also redesign your spaceship. This phase of the game is quite deep, and many casual gamers may find it intimidating, while seasoned strategy or “4X” (exploit, explore, expand, exterminate) gamers are likely to find it frustratingly lacking in the necessary management tools. This part of the game can take many hours, even days.
THE VERDICT
Overall, this game is quite disappointing. It seems to try to do too much, to please too many, and is instead likely to alienate most.
Casual gamers will likely enjoy the first few stages, but find the last stage too demanding (in terms of skill requirement and time commitment), while hardcore gamers are likely to find it lacking in depth, and ultimately unfulfilling. The graphics start off appealing, but fail to evolve with the subject matter, remaining fairly “primitive” throughout (likely in an attempt to appeal to casual gamers).
And although this game is intended as a no-boundaries sandbox, the action is restricted to a few very limited possible courses, so re-playability value is suspect. Perhaps an expansion pack might rescue this game from the spectre of extinction..