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RobCoyote · 07-09-2008, 07:53 PM

First, I have to say I do like the game overall. However, like many, there's quite a lot I dislike about it.

1) The Dumbing Down: Many people have said it, I'll say it too. Why was this game dumbed down as much as it has been? It looked so promising, it looked to be the greatest sim game ever. Instead, we've basically been given a load of editors with a few arcade games tying them together. This game, the brainchild of the father of Simulated Experiences, has very little simulation in it at all. The only part of it that seems to be what it should have been is the cell stage. While creature is quite fun, I really dislike the random way parts are gathered, I'd like a more structured method of evolution. Tribal and Civ barely have any gameplay at all. I rush through those stages as quickly as I can, because they're just awful beyond belief. I understand the need for some simplification to get a greater audience for the game, but this has been simplified down to pre-school level. What exactly do you learn about evolution in Spore? Nothing, nothing at all. I'm surprised Will Wright isn't weeping at what's been done to his baby.

2) Speed. Every stage prior to Space seems specifically designed to rush you forward into space as *quickly* as possible. I understand that cell stage would be quite short, but the other stages? Creature, Tribal and Civ are over all too quickly. While I do enjoy playing around in creature, in Tribal and Civ everything seems to happen in an instant. New building, erected in seconds.

3) Space: Aside from the frequency of Pirate/Eco Disaster events, which I'm fairly sure is broken, space is, like many people have stated, over-populated with spacefaring races. Jump two systems and you have a neighbour. It's like playing other space games in the smallest galaxies with the maximum number of players...yet in this galaxy there are hundreds of thousands of stars. There's no real sense of exploration, no sense that yours are the first sensory organs to experience some wonder of the universe. Showcase creatures in tribal and civ stages on surrounding worlds. All those other spacefarers really impacts the wonder of what you've achieved.
Both of these problems factor into basically removing what the whole point of the Space Stage was about: mucking about. You can't spend time enjoying yourself in your spaceship (Like Will Wright said you would be able to), just flying around, maybe terraforming a few worlds (Carving your name into them for eternity), playing with other primitive species, maybe uplifting them, maybe not (What happened to the 'Close Encounters' style minigames for communicating with primitive cultures through music and such?)

4) Terraforming: Now, I actually really love the terraforming in Spore, but it is too heavy handed in some places, especially when you want to put signature rivers, hills and walls in. Just click, point, stand back, then scream in frustration as it just undoes previous terraforming you've carefully been working on. it would be nice to be able to scale those things, much like you can scale everything else. I want to be able to make a reasonably small mesa for the island I've just made, not one that completely overwrites what I'd done because it only comes in one size...HUGE.

So, while I'm still having fun with Spore, I cannot help but miss what it could have achieved, what it *should* have achieved. Will Wright tells us he wants to create toys for us, but he feels that toys should have a purpose, they should help us learn as well as entertain. Well, from a man who known for eductation simulations, we have neither. All Spore is, is a pretty, shiny thing that we learn nothing from, and ultimately doesn't really do much beyond being pretty.

07-09-2008, 07:53 PM	#59 (permalink)
RobCoyote Rookie Join Date: Sep 2008 Posts: 5	First, I have to say I do like the game overall. However, like many, there's quite a lot I dislike about it. 1) The Dumbing Down: Many people have said it, I'll say it too. Why was this game dumbed down as much as it has been? It looked so promising, it looked to be the greatest sim game ever. Instead, we've basically been given a load of editors with a few arcade games tying them together. This game, the brainchild of the father of Simulated Experiences, has very little simulation in it at all. The only part of it that seems to be what it should have been is the cell stage. While creature is quite fun, I really dislike the random way parts are gathered, I'd like a more structured method of evolution. Tribal and Civ barely have any gameplay at all. I rush through those stages as quickly as I can, because they're just awful beyond belief. I understand the need for some simplification to get a greater audience for the game, but this has been simplified down to pre-school level. What exactly do you learn about evolution in Spore? Nothing, nothing at all. I'm surprised Will Wright isn't weeping at what's been done to his baby. 2) Speed. Every stage prior to Space seems specifically designed to rush you forward into space as quickly as possible. I understand that cell stage would be quite short, but the other stages? Creature, Tribal and Civ are over all too quickly. While I do enjoy playing around in creature, in Tribal and Civ everything seems to happen in an instant. New building, erected in seconds. 3) Space: Aside from the frequency of Pirate/Eco Disaster events, which I'm fairly sure is broken, space is, like many people have stated, over-populated with spacefaring races. Jump two systems and you have a neighbour. It's like playing other space games in the smallest galaxies with the maximum number of players...yet in this galaxy there are hundreds of thousands of stars. There's no real sense of exploration, no sense that yours are the first sensory organs to experience some wonder of the universe. Showcase creatures in tribal and civ stages on surrounding worlds. All those other spacefarers really impacts the wonder of what you've achieved. Both of these problems factor into basically removing what the whole point of the Space Stage was about: mucking about. You can't spend time enjoying yourself in your spaceship (Like Will Wright said you would be able to), just flying around, maybe terraforming a few worlds (Carving your name into them for eternity), playing with other primitive species, maybe uplifting them, maybe not (What happened to the 'Close Encounters' style minigames for communicating with primitive cultures through music and such?) 4) Terraforming: Now, I actually really love the terraforming in Spore, but it is too heavy handed in some places, especially when you want to put signature rivers, hills and walls in. Just click, point, stand back, then scream in frustration as it just undoes previous terraforming you've carefully been working on. it would be nice to be able to scale those things, much like you can scale everything else. I want to be able to make a reasonably small mesa for the island I've just made, not one that completely overwrites what I'd done because it only comes in one size...HUGE. So, while I'm still having fun with Spore, I cannot help but miss what it could have achieved, what it should have achieved. Will Wright tells us he wants to create toys for us, but he feels that toys should have a purpose, they should help us learn as well as entertain. Well, from a man who known for eductation simulations, we have neither. All Spore is, is a pretty, shiny thing that we learn nothing from, and ultimately doesn't really do much beyond being pretty.