My Spore Review

[RadioElectric]

Hello all, I've been playing for a couple of days now and I've found myself with a lot to say. So I've decided to say it here

I think it's interesting that the reviews I've read on here so far split the game into Cell, Creature, Tribal, Civilization, Space. The stages are so disparate that there's not much I could say about one thing that would apply to another, so I'm going to stick with that

Cell Stage

I played as a herbivore.

I liked this stage very much, though it did feel like just an "introduction" to the game proper. Being chased by giant hungry carnivores is very exciting and there's a very direct problem-solving element to the evolution. Still, I was looking forward to getting out of this stage and getting onto dry land.

Creature Stage

I played as a herbivore, I did hunt one species though to see what the gameplay was like.

I've got two main problems with this stage.

Firstly, because "stats" are so important you end up having to compromise the way you want your creature to look just so you can get the bonuses you need to succeed.

Secondly, the stage felt a bit like a crappy MMORPG to me. Something about having mobs of very fast strong creatures and the odd epic creature that can (and will!) brain you in one hit reminded me of when I tried to get into Minions of Mirth (a free MMORPG that my girlfriend likes). So, aside from the fun of making my creature (compromised by having to give him "ugly" hands and feet to succeed) I mainly wanted to get through this stage and get onto the next stage.

Also, I managed to keep one of the "microbe" parts all the way through the creature phase. I did notice though with the parts that I sold that I couldn't get them back again. Is this right? Are the cell parts still functional in the creature phase?

Tribal Stage

I played as a pacificist, almost. I destroyed one tribe to see what I would be missing.

Uniforms! Very cute. I wish you could give your tribal leader a special outfit though. I was surprised to see another "simon says" game after having one in the creature phase already. I grew tired of this phase particularly quickly. I noticed that there might be things in this phase I could enjoy (I noticed my tribe had "pets" of two of the species I was allied with before, though I didn't see them do anything with them) but I couldn't really take the time to because of the pressure of being attacked.

Civilisation Phase

I played as a religious nation.

I didn't understand how converting worked in this phase at first. Because of this I managed to get quite disadvantaged without realising it and then saved my game. In the end I figured out that all 3 "paths". Have the same strategy: Build a lot of vehicles and spam the other cities one-at-a-time. Again I noticed that though there may be potential for "sandbox" kind of play, you're completely distracted by the shallow game mechanic (and God help you if you try to ignore it!). Needless to say I raced through this phase hoping space would be more fun.

Space Phase, or, "Oh God, how wrong I was."

I was told my race were Shamans.

After designing my spaceship (Does the design matter at all? Do any of the parts you put on it make a difference?) I went through the tutorial fine. I quickly discovered though that I was surrounded by followers of Spode. Followers of Spode that all wanted my money. I couldn't afford it of course and they promptly responded by declaring war. Thanks. Branching out I managed to find races of philosophers, scientists and traders to ally and trade with. I even tried paying them to attack my enemies a couple of times but it had no perceivable effect.

I started colonising and terraforming planets but the constant attacks, pirate raids and other distractions meant that I played the game for 6 hours and probably spent about 30 minutes of that doing things that I wanted to do. The rest of it was spent merely maintaining the status quo, with my allies slowly being beaten out of existence. It's a shame because in the previous stages I was probably just optimistic about there being anything in the game that the "you're being attacked again" mechanics were distracting me from but in space I'm sure there really could be something.

All-in-all, the cynical side of me worries that these mechanics were put in to distract from there being no real depth to the game. I think most of us fell in love with the game as an idea but some of us were let down by the "rules" they chose to make it work by. My biggest issue is that once you take it from being a sandbox to an RTS kind of game then you have all sorts of "Balance" issues to deal with that have obviously been ill-attended here.

Anyway, that's my tuppence on the game review-wise. I'm a bit dissapointed with it really, hopefully a patch will fix it. It's this kind of thing that makes the lack of open betas get on my nerves. What were the in-house testers thinking when they said the game was working right?

Here are a few things that I think could be done to dramatically improve the game:

1) Autosave, combined with the ability to restart from the beginning of the stage (one without the other is a recipe for disaster).
2) A sliding scale in a "gameplay options" menu to adjust the rate of "events" in the game. Be that pirate attacks, eco-disasters or assaults from other races.
3) The above will help as a stop-gap solution, but really there needs to be a move towards making this a less stressful game. I already have games that make me work hard to not get my **** kicked, I would have thought this would be a game I could chill out to.
4) There needs to be a way to negotiate with races that you're at war with.
5) Everything needs to be more spread out.
6) Can I, at the very least, train military air vehicles to protect my planets? I don't think I can. If that's the case then fix it!

None of these will help with my biggest problem (lack of continuity between mini-games) but they might manage to make this a game I want to play as opposed to a game I want to moan about at half one in the morning.

Edit: Oh, I almost forgot. For me, the MOST annoying thing about the space phase is that once your cities get bombed (which they will) you have to spend AGES replacing each individual building and turret. I very much wish there was a "repair city: X-BAGILLION sporebucks" (well it wouldn't hurt to get a discount ) which would just put everything back to how it was. For 5 minutes.

[GrinningManiac]

hear hear.

So many people are dissapointed with this game. EA dont care, so I wash my hands of them. But I, at the very least, expected to see Will collapse in tears as he realises that the actual cult following he had built up after, even before, the infamous 2005 build, are dissapointed.

the Casual gamers (or the general public, as I like to call them) dont know about the game, or dont care, or will return it after a week or so. WE are the people who watched this grow, this was going to be Will's TRIUMPH, and WE were going to ride into the sunset with him. HE made a deal with the devil, WE pay the price

[Maelstrome]

Again, Hear Hear.

I was HUGELY dissapointed when it came to the space age. I don't find the attacks too annoying, but I am dissapointed that you're the ONLY one doing stuff for your empire. Are you really the only captain of an entire empire?

And also, i must add, that when you find a planet paint power, if its not one you've already got, its some really lame one. That highly annoys me.

EA have taken this game aside, strapped it to a rack, and, with a machete, gutted the whole game to a lifeless shell. I bet maxis are regretting duo-ing with them.

[RadioElectric]

Originally Posted by Maelstrome

Again, Hear Hear.

I was HUGELY dissapointed when it came to the space age. I don't find the attacks too annoying, but I am dissapointed that you're the ONLY one doing stuff for your empire. Are you really the only captain of an entire empire?

And also, i must add, that when you find a planet paint power, if its not one you've already got, its some really lame one. That highly annoys me.

EA have taken this game aside, strapped it to a rack, and, with a machete, gutted the whole game to a lifeless shell. I bet maxis are regretting duo-ing with them.

I didn't know you could find the same planet paint power twice.

I got another race into space today (on easy this time, and even though I played them as economists I was told I was going to be a Warrior ). This time, maybe also due to lessons learned, it's a LOT easier. There were no hostle empires too close to me either which will also be a factor. As a result of all of this I'm finally enjoying space (though it is utterly Grindtastic :yawn.

Lessons Learned:
1) There is a big random factor to how hard space is going to be (BOO!)
2) It might be a good idea for people to always pick easy mode for their first try just so they've got the chance to learn the ropes.
3) Another good idea (especially if you're in love with your first race) would be to get them to Civ, then switch to another race and bring them straight in from that level to space. At least that way you're favoured race will be your second try when you get them there.

All of these are good ideas but they're only helpful if you've not played that far yet, unfortunately. I've given up on the Chrimpod, my first race, as they're surrounded by unforgiving hostiles.

[Atomic2012]

Originally Posted by GrinningManiac

the Casual gamers (or the general public, as I like to call them) dont know about the game, or dont care, or will return it after a week or so.

Or have downloaded it on torrent just to see what there casual gamer friend is getting excited about.

Cant beleive i spent £40 on this.

[ComradePassmore]

Originally Posted by Atomic2012

Or have downloaded it on torrent just to see what there casual gamer friend is getting excited about.

Cant beleive i spent £40 on this.

I only spent 26 due to pre order.

but off to uni in a couple of weeks and this is just a distraction also a massive disappointment. I waited 3 years for this only to find that Will has sold out his amazing idea which proceeded to be gutted for the general population who will only play the game once or twice and never touch it again.

We have to correct that its not general public its Kids.

[busboybud]

Originally Posted by RadioElectric

I didn't know you could find the same planet paint power twice.

I got another race into space today (on easy this time, and even though I played them as economists I was told I was going to be a Warrior ). This time, maybe also due to lessons learned, it's a LOT easier. There were no hostle empires too close to me either which will also be a factor. As a result of all of this I'm finally enjoying space (though it is utterly Grindtastic :yawn.

Lessons Learned:
1) There is a big random factor to how hard space is going to be (BOO!)
2) It might be a good idea for people to always pick easy mode for their first try just so they've got the chance to learn the ropes.
3) Another good idea (especially if you're in love with your first race) would be to get them to Civ, then switch to another race and bring them straight in from that level to space. At least that way you're favoured race will be your second try when you get them there.

All of these are good ideas but they're only helpful if you've not played that far yet, unfortunately. I've given up on the Chrimpod, my first race, as they're surrounded by unforgiving hostiles.

I decided to start on easy mode, but my experience with the Space stage was nothing more than disappointing. I couldn't agree more with the current player reviews. If anything I felt like I was playing more graphical version of EV Nova (if any of you know what that is) which was fun for its time... 10 years ago...

The game is so frustrating. You want to just play around and do fun stuff in space, disfigure and manipulate planets, torment other species, and occasionally interact with other space aged creatures. But I can't do any of these things because i'm too busy trading, going on MMO type mindless missions, and saving my planets from pirate attacks thus losing everything in my cities and spending minutes replacing everything THUS losing money that could have been well spent on upgrades.

However! I can't get any of the upgrades I want because I haven't had time to actually unlock the achievements that unlock the upgrades in the store. Even if I did, when would I have the time to stop, take a breath, and shop?

I also feel the space stage is someone unexplained. I find myself trying to figure out Terra forming (what little time I have had) and fighting galactic wars with a single ship and wondering... where are my allies?! better yet... where is the rest of MY military? Where is the destructo beam I was promised? When I've progressed to the end of the space stage? No.. no thanks, that will take too long.

Will did a great job of presenting this game during E3, leaving out all the parts the quickly dismantle this game into bits of garbage.

[Wgn1]

to be very honest, the cell phase is the only phase thats really fun but it lasts only 5 min............................................... ........

[SlyKnight]

Spore Creature Creator + Fishy (the online flash game) + Age of Empires + Master of Orion or Space Rangers 2 = All the content of spore, much more fun, and a fraction of the cost.

[RadioElectric]

Originally Posted by busboybud

The game is so frustrating. You want to just play around and do fun stuff in space, disfigure and manipulate planets, torment other species, and occasionally interact with other space aged creatures. But I can't do any of these things because i'm too busy trading, going on MMO type mindless missions, and saving my planets from pirate attacks thus losing everything in my cities and spending minutes replacing everything THUS losing money that could have been well spent on upgrades.

However! I can't get any of the upgrades I want because I haven't had time to actually unlock the achievements that unlock the upgrades in the store. Even if I did, when would I have the time to stop, take a breath, and shop?

I also feel the space stage is someone unexplained. I find myself trying to figure out Terra forming (what little time I have had) and fighting galactic wars with a single ship and wondering... where are my allies?! better yet... where is the rest of MY military? Where is the destructo beam I was promised? When I've progressed to the end of the space stage? No.. no thanks, that will take too long.

One reason behind the communication problems we seem to be having about the Space issue is the random element in how difficult it is. The people who are saying that it's not so bad probably just got lucky.

[Knicky]

I gotta agree with the frequency of the pirate raids and eco disasters. I found them way too frequent even as playing as a Carnivore (Special ability lowers the chance of pirate raids) so i'm quite skeptical in trying it as a Herbivore if they are going to be even more frequent. I just tend to stick to cell/creature phases at the moment.

[HighlordAsteroid]

I don't know what everyones problems are. I love the game and enjoy every stage and my friends all love it. I am disappointed that tribal does not have as much customization as it showed in the GDC video but it is still good fun. I was wondering how on earth the game could be done - it is everything I thought it would be.

You all just expected too much. You all read between the lines.

[RadioElectric]

Originally Posted by HighlordAsteroid

I don't know what everyones problems are. I love the game and enjoy every stage and my friends all love it. I am disappointed that tribal does not have as much customization as it showed in the GDC video but it is still good fun. I was wondering how on earth the game could be done - it is everything I thought it would be.

You all just expected too much. You all read between the lines.

I think Will Wright quite explicitly said "procedurally generated verbs" would govern the animations. These are not in the game.

I'm pretty sure that even the walking animations are just "move in this direction at a speed governed by the class of legs and feet" combined with "move legs in a walking fashion".

[HighlordAsteroid]

Originally Posted by RadioElectric

I think Will Wright quite explicitly said "procedurally generated verbs" would govern the animations. These are not in the game.

I'm pretty sure that even the walking animations are just "move in this direction at a speed governed by the class of legs and feet" combined with "move legs in a walking fashion".

That is procedural - it works with any combination and size of limbs. If it wasn't most creations wouldn't work. They also dropped many things (such as attacking with the actual pieces) because the animations did not work for many creatures. The 2005 build was extremely early in mainstream development.

[LOLBOY]

1) Autosave, combined with the ability to restart from the beginning of the stage (one without the other is a recipe for disaster).
2) A sliding scale in a "gameplay options" menu to adjust the rate of "events" in the game. Be that pirate attacks, eco-disasters or assaults from other races.
3) The above will help as a stop-gap solution, but really there needs to be a move towards making this a less stressful game. I already have games that make me work hard to not get my **** kicked, I would have thought this would be a game I could chill out to.
4) There needs to be a way to negotiate with races that you're at war with.
5) Everything needs to be more spread out.
6) Can I, at the very least, train military air vehicles to protect my planets? I don't think I can. If that's the case then fix it!

I SURE YOU ARE READING THIS, MAXIS! Please listen to the community to help fix the gameplay flaws of this otherwise wonderful game.

[Lukergamer]

The game was PERFECT in 2006 but now it feels cheap.