Spore is a game from 2008 that was created by Maxis, the master of such addictive games as SimCity and The Sims. This game got quite a bit of hype before it hit shelves but once it had emerged proved to be less than people were hoping for. I decided to give it a go and, as it turns out, I pretty much agree with the critics on this one. While Spore is entertaining in the beginning, its attempts to do too much with the game fall flat. I actually grew so bored and annoyed with the constant changes to gameplay that I didn’t even managed to finish the game.
Basically, you are the master of a new organism on a strange planet. You start out as a cell and devour your way to becoming larger and more evolved. Eventually, you pass beyond a certain point and climb out of the sea and onto land. From there, you have to run around and become master of your domain, either by making friends or killing off the competition. When you do that for so long, you evolve yet again. Finally, your organism grows a brain and moves on to creating its own civilization.
All the while, you design what certain things in the game will look like. This is actually one of the funner parts of the game, but it gets tedious after a time. You get to make your own creature and change it up with each evolution, eventually giving it clothes, jewelry and other decorations. You also design the buildings in your villages and cities. For the artistically minded, this can be loads of fun and provide hours of gameplay, but when you are forced to design every single building (as it gets in the civilization phase), it becomes a hiccup in the game flow.
Spore presents each stage of the evolutionary process as its own sort of mini-game. And while this is fun and interesting at first, the game changes so much that by the time I hit the civilization phase, I just didn’t enjoy what Maxis had brought to the table. I had more fun running around devouring other cells than I did trying to conquer other cities. This was the game killer for me.
It seems more as if Spore was designed with younger kids in mind. The mini-game format and the constant design of window dressing elements could have great appeal if you don’t care much about consistency. For me, it was a huge hindrance. Maybe it gets better beyond the initial civilization phase? I will never know, for I won’t be going back to give this one a second try. If you need a time waster, however, I’d recommend at least giving Spore a try to see what you think.
Photo Credits -
Spore courtesy of gamesradar.com
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