Evolved? or endangered?
| Platform | OVERALL |
|---|---|
| PC | 8.00 |
| Overall | 8.00 |
|
Spore is a game that was destined to have an inconceivable amount of expectations placed on its shoulders. After all, Will Wright wanted it to be "SimEverything" and the determination to reach that is certainly evident in the game. However, it's also hard to forget that this is just a game, and with that comes the responsibility to deliver an entertaining package. There are five phases of evolutionary progression - cell, creature, tribe, civilisation and space - that the player is taken through on the path to becoming the most dominant race in the galaxy. Each of these phases play quite separately to each other, however, the actions performed in one stage will have ramifications for the later stages. For example, playing as an aggressive, carnivorous creature will earn you certain destructive abilities in the following tribal, civilisation and space phases. The master stroke of Spore is the ability to shape and manipulate every part of your species' appearance, as well as the buildings and vehicles of the later phases. This leads to the mind blowing number of combinations available to the player as well as the efficient and streamlined Sporepedia - Spore's online content sharing portal. The fact that you can encounter a creature in your own game world that was made by someone else is fascinating and you really get a buzz out of seeing new and interesting creations from other people. Also, if you grow tired of spending time creating something new, then Sporepedia also acts as a giant repository of creations that you can 'drag-and-drop' into your own game universe. Another impressive quality of Spore is its ability to make you stop and appreciate the scale of things outside of our own daily lives through its quasi-educational use of academic concepts such as panspermia, predator/prey dynamics, and how forces like religion and commerce can shape the development of societies. While it is no Encyclopaedia Britannica, it certainly goes to show that games can potentially be a source of inspiration and curiosity rather than the usual stereotypical gaming monikers. Getting off the moral high-horse and back to Sporepedia, the idea of sharing content is all well and good, but it merely serves as a window for observation, not in-game interaction with other players. How a multiplayer aspect could be integrated should be left to the experts, but it is certainly a huge avenue of possibility if executed well. This leads us to the overall gameplay aspect of Spore. As mentioned previously, the various phases play as separate entities in the game, and unfortunately, they are rather shallow when considered individually. The cell stage is merely a cute adaptation of Pac-Man where the goal is to eat without being eaten. Creature stage is reasonably fleshed out, with the emphasis on growing your creature and interacting with other species. Tribal stage is essentially a dumbed down RTS with a rather short-lived timespan, and Civilisation is a rough emulation of the game series of the same name. The main problem with Spore is that it places too much emphasis on hurrying the player into the vast (it would literally take a lifetime to explore and colonise all the planets in the galaxy) expanses of Space without giving enough game-time to develop a close connection with the species the player has brought up. Spore would benefit from a much slower and gradual progression to advanced sentient lifeform with each phase requiring more game time overall. Ideally the space stage should have been the grand finale to a long and eventful progression where the entire galaxy becomes your own playground to explore. With the inevitable cash-cow expansions looming on the horizon we can only hope this title will evolve into a more advanced entity in the future. As it stands, Spore is a unique package with many great features that make it superbly enjoyable. It's just a shame that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. |
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Posted by selbie Sun, 25 Oct 2009 15:13:56
Tue, 27 Oct 2009 10:09:05
Spore looks like the kind of game that I'd like to try, but deep down I know I wouldn't play it for more than an hour or two.
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