This week we are going to talk about a recent PC release: Spore.
Spore is the latest endeavor my Maxis studio's Will Wright. Wright is most notably the creator of The "Sim City", and original "The Sims" games. Spore was unveiled four years ago and has received numerous "Game of The Year" awards.
Spore is comprised of five main "Phases": Cell, Creature, Tribal, Civilization, and Space.
Each phase uses a different base game mechanic, that is tied together by a similar theme of growth. I say growth, because evolution of your creature is only a small part of the overall progress through the game. A bigger part of the game is the sociology and relationships that are established with other creatures of the game.
Spore's meta-game is almost a history lesson of PC gaming. The cell stage could be compared to a flash based browser game. The creature stage is similar in feel to an MMO like World of Warcraft. The Tribal phase is a basic RTS similar to the Age of Empires games. The Civilization stage is like, well, Sid Meier's Civilization games. The Space phase is more in line with Galactic Civilization games, where world conquering modes are prevalent. I will explain more on these when I break down the levels.
The most extraordinary part of Spore are the various creators that you are given through out the game.
The first creator you experience is the simple Cell creator, which allows you to modify the creature you start the Cell phase (and game). This creator only allows you a limited amount of customization of your creature( The cell stage is on a two-dimensional plane). You can attach different weapons, flagella, and orifices for food to your cell. Each part makes your creature better at a single aspect of its existence; Speed, maneuverability, consumption, attack.
The second creator, the Creature creator, is truly where, IMHO, Maxis and Will Wright put their best efforts. The creature creator has approximately three hundred different parts that you can use to customize you creature. These parts include: mouths, eyes, noses, ears, hands, arms, feet, legs, details, and Weapons. You can also specify the number of vertebrae in your creatures spine, as well as its curvature, and the density of each vertebrae. With approximately 17 million creatures in the Sporepedia there are some very off the wall, wierd, complex, funny, and plain creatures. Once you have decided on all the appendages and phalanges your creature needs, the game procedurally generates the creatures movement and mannerisms.
Later in the game, you encounter creators that allow you to create buildings, vehicles, space ships, among other things.
Once you progress to the creature stage, the game begins populating your world with content from the Sporepedia. Some of this content is created by Maxis, but the vast majority of it is player created. Who knows, you may actually see one of your friends creations in your world!
Later in the game, you encounter creators that allow you to create buildings, vehicles, space ships, among other things.
Once you progress to the creature stage, the game begins populating your world with content from the Sporepedia. Some of this content is created by Maxis, but the vast majority of it is player created. Who knows, you may actually see one of your friends creations in your world!
A brief explanation of the phases:
CELL: In this phase you start out as simple cellular organism, and must kill other creatures, or destroy meteor rock to unlock parts to upgrade your creature, till you amass enough DNA to progress to the next stage. This two-dimensional stage is simple, but fun as it gives you a glimpse of the customization to come. From the offset you choose whether you are a Carnivore, Omnivore, or Herbivore. If you choose Omnivore, your actions (how much plant matter as apposed to cellular matter you consume) affects what you will be in the next phase.
Check out the following video to see it in action:
CREATURE: This phase begins with your cellular creature developing legs and moving from the primordial goop to dry land. The play-scape changes from 2D to 3D and the world opens up. you acquire parts and DNA as in the Cell phase, but your relationship dynamic with the creatures around you changes. In this stage, you must either befriend, or subjugate the other creatures to allow your creature to evolve. You can also form a party of (eventually) up to 3 other creatures to help you impress or suppress the other creatures. Your attitude towards other creatures, hostile or friendly, affects your social skills in the next phase.
Check out the following video to see it in action:
TRIBAL: In the Tribal phase, you switch from controlling a single creature, in WOW style gameplay, to Controlling a group of creatures in an RTS style mode. In this mode you will gather resources to help you build more creatures, Buildings, and equipment for your creatures. You can either ally with the other species on the planet, or annihilate them. Your actions in this mode, affect your civilizations behaviour in the subsequent mode.
Check out the following video to see it in action:
Having only progressed to the Tribal phase of the game, I will now give you my impressions of the next levels.
CIVILIZATION: The Civilization Phase switches you from Creature units, to vehicular units and focuses on building and conquering cities. Based on your actions from the previous phase, you will be either a Religious, Economic, or Military power. Each "power" allots you vehicles that correspond to your alignment. You can convert to your religion, build trade routes, or destroy with force, respectively, based on the alignment.
Check out the following video to see it in action:
SPACE: The space stage, for me, appears to be the most interesting stage. In this stage, you progress from commanding vehicular units to being the captain of a spaceship. With this spaceship you can abduct creatures from other planets, terra-form uninhabitable planets to lush paradises, invade and conquer enemy worlds, among other things. In all your world conquering goodness, you may even come across a tribe of creatures that you created (maybe abducted from your planet when you where in a previous phase?).
Check out the following video to see it in action:
Now that you know a little bit about the game, why not check out my family's creations so far:
All in all, spore is a great game (should be after 4 years of hype...) but it still has, what some might call, failings. For one, you can install spore only three times per box. After that, you must wade through EA technical support before you can reactivate the game a 4th time. This may not seem like a big deal, but to someone who reformats their machine often ( I do once every 6 months, barring any incidents.) this could be an issue. On top of that, say you bought one copy of the game for your household, and you and your significant other each want to have an account to share your creations. Well, too bad, as EA only allows one account per activation key.
Despite all this, I still love the game, and highly recommend it to pretty much anyone.
And now for this week's releases (there were a lot. :) )
Cabela's Dangerous Hunts 2009 - 360, PS3, PS2, Wii
LEGO Batman: The Videogame - 360, PS2, PS3, Wii ~ my pick of the week. N. DQ4 is good too.
Igor - NDS, PC, Wii
Cabela's Legendary Adventures - PS2, PSP, Wii
Brothers in Arms Hell’s Highway - PS3, 360
Line Rider 2: Unbound - NDS, PC
Armored Core for Answer - 360, PS3
Baja: Edge of Control - 360, PS3
BUZZ! Master Quiz - PSP, PS3
SimCity Creator - NDS, Wii
Battle Fantasia - 360
Birth of America II: Wars in America - PC
Brain Quest - Fifth & Sixth Graders - NDS
Brain Quest - Third & Fourth Graders - NDS
Crysis Warhead - PC
DanceDanceRevolution X - PS2
Dark Horizon - PC
de Blob - WII
DRAGON QUEST IV: Chapters of the Chosen - NDS ~ my pick of the week. K.
Dropcast - NDS
Football Mogul 2009 - PC
Ford Racing Off Road - PC
Hell's Kitchen: The Video Game - PC
Kirby Super Star Ultra - NDS
La Tale - PC
Lost in Blue: Shipwrecked! - WII
Mazes of Fate - NDS
Mount & Blade - PC
Namco Classic Fighter Collection - PS2
NARUTO: Ultimate Collection - PS2
Nikopol: Secrets of the Immortals - PC
PAC - MAN Power Pack - PS2
Peggle Nights - PC
Pirates: Duels on the High Seas - NDS
Rebel Raiders: Operation Nighthawk - WII
Red Baron Arcade - PS3
Red Bull BC One - NDS
Sid Meier’s Civilization IV: Colonization - PC
Speed Racer - The Videogame - PS2
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed - WII
Starpex - PS3
The Witcher Enhanced Edition - PC
Time Hollow - NDS
TNA iMPACT! - WII
Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning (War) - PC
Wario Land: Shake It! - WII
If you have comments, you know where to stick them.
Now, go out and pick up spore, or one of these other great games!
~K
Check out the following video to see it in action:
CREATURE: This phase begins with your cellular creature developing legs and moving from the primordial goop to dry land. The play-scape changes from 2D to 3D and the world opens up. you acquire parts and DNA as in the Cell phase, but your relationship dynamic with the creatures around you changes. In this stage, you must either befriend, or subjugate the other creatures to allow your creature to evolve. You can also form a party of (eventually) up to 3 other creatures to help you impress or suppress the other creatures. Your attitude towards other creatures, hostile or friendly, affects your social skills in the next phase.
Check out the following video to see it in action:
TRIBAL: In the Tribal phase, you switch from controlling a single creature, in WOW style gameplay, to Controlling a group of creatures in an RTS style mode. In this mode you will gather resources to help you build more creatures, Buildings, and equipment for your creatures. You can either ally with the other species on the planet, or annihilate them. Your actions in this mode, affect your civilizations behaviour in the subsequent mode.
Check out the following video to see it in action:
Having only progressed to the Tribal phase of the game, I will now give you my impressions of the next levels.
CIVILIZATION: The Civilization Phase switches you from Creature units, to vehicular units and focuses on building and conquering cities. Based on your actions from the previous phase, you will be either a Religious, Economic, or Military power. Each "power" allots you vehicles that correspond to your alignment. You can convert to your religion, build trade routes, or destroy with force, respectively, based on the alignment.
Check out the following video to see it in action:
SPACE: The space stage, for me, appears to be the most interesting stage. In this stage, you progress from commanding vehicular units to being the captain of a spaceship. With this spaceship you can abduct creatures from other planets, terra-form uninhabitable planets to lush paradises, invade and conquer enemy worlds, among other things. In all your world conquering goodness, you may even come across a tribe of creatures that you created (maybe abducted from your planet when you where in a previous phase?).
Check out the following video to see it in action:
Now that you know a little bit about the game, why not check out my family's creations so far:
All in all, spore is a great game (should be after 4 years of hype...) but it still has, what some might call, failings. For one, you can install spore only three times per box. After that, you must wade through EA technical support before you can reactivate the game a 4th time. This may not seem like a big deal, but to someone who reformats their machine often ( I do once every 6 months, barring any incidents.) this could be an issue. On top of that, say you bought one copy of the game for your household, and you and your significant other each want to have an account to share your creations. Well, too bad, as EA only allows one account per activation key.
Despite all this, I still love the game, and highly recommend it to pretty much anyone.
And now for this week's releases (there were a lot. :) )
Cabela's Dangerous Hunts 2009 - 360, PS3, PS2, Wii
LEGO Batman: The Videogame - 360, PS2, PS3, Wii ~ my pick of the week. N. DQ4 is good too.
Igor - NDS, PC, Wii
Cabela's Legendary Adventures - PS2, PSP, Wii
Brothers in Arms Hell’s Highway - PS3, 360
Line Rider 2: Unbound - NDS, PC
Armored Core for Answer - 360, PS3
Baja: Edge of Control - 360, PS3
BUZZ! Master Quiz - PSP, PS3
SimCity Creator - NDS, Wii
Battle Fantasia - 360
Birth of America II: Wars in America - PC
Brain Quest - Fifth & Sixth Graders - NDS
Brain Quest - Third & Fourth Graders - NDS
Crysis Warhead - PC
DanceDanceRevolution X - PS2
Dark Horizon - PC
de Blob - WII
DRAGON QUEST IV: Chapters of the Chosen - NDS ~ my pick of the week. K.
Dropcast - NDS
Football Mogul 2009 - PC
Ford Racing Off Road - PC
Hell's Kitchen: The Video Game - PC
Kirby Super Star Ultra - NDS
La Tale - PC
Lost in Blue: Shipwrecked! - WII
Mazes of Fate - NDS
Mount & Blade - PC
Namco Classic Fighter Collection - PS2
NARUTO: Ultimate Collection - PS2
Nikopol: Secrets of the Immortals - PC
PAC - MAN Power Pack - PS2
Peggle Nights - PC
Pirates: Duels on the High Seas - NDS
Rebel Raiders: Operation Nighthawk - WII
Red Baron Arcade - PS3
Red Bull BC One - NDS
Sid Meier’s Civilization IV: Colonization - PC
Speed Racer - The Videogame - PS2
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed - WII
Starpex - PS3
The Witcher Enhanced Edition - PC
Time Hollow - NDS
TNA iMPACT! - WII
Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning (War) - PC
Wario Land: Shake It! - WII
If you have comments, you know where to stick them.
Now, go out and pick up spore, or one of these other great games!
~K
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