A “massively single-player online game,” Spore is the next
great game from developer Will Wright, the creator of the Sims. Coming from the
man who helped to make the god game genre, one where there is no winner or
loser, it is no surprise that Spore is so much fun.
Gameplay is where Spore really shows its strong
points. The various creators, ranging from creatures to spaceships, are a vast
amount of fun, and will entertain anyone for hours on end. . Evolving from a
cell, the player will go through the diverse stages of gameplay, and develop his
skills while learning how to manage his species. Each stage brings something new
and different, from erasing other species from existence to building a galactic
empire.
But, is this game worth buying? At
$49.99 it is
a pretty hefty price point. Over all, Spore is one of the best games I have
played to date in 2008. It has an exorbitant amount of things to do, and is able
to hold even the most uninterested player’s attention. Gameplay is very
entertaining, and the creators are the highlight of the game. Spore has a high
replay value, and most of all, it is family friendly, so little brothers and
sisters (and even parents) can have fun. This is definitely, with no hesitation,
a great buy.
Detailed
Information on the Stages
After the creature gains its
legs, the game enters the creature stage. Here is where the game really starts
to grow and gain its reputation. During creature stage, the player can find new
parts to evolve his creature. This part, in my opinion, is the highlight of the
game. Here one can repeatedly evolve his creature, changing height, color,
appendage size and length, and size. You can even put its mouth on its knees!
Along with evolving your creature, the player will find himself going to other
developing species and either make them his ally or enemy, depending if one is
social or combative.
Following creature stage, the player enters
tribal stage. Here he will find the game to become more like a Real-Time
Strategy game. The player now can control up to nine of his creatures, and he
will make decisions as to whether he will use didgeridoos and wooden horns to
impress tribes and make them his allies, or if he will arm them with spears and
axes to kill off rivals.
Once civilization stage comes around, the
player will have the chance to conquer the planet he has been playing on, either
by economic, religious, or militaristic means. If the player chooses his
civilization to be economic, he will have no weapons and will only trade with
other civilizations. If he is religious, his civilization will try to convert
other civilizations with special missionary units. Finally, if he has a
militaristic society, he will construct land, sea, and air vehicles to conquer
other civilizations. When the civilization stage is completed, the player is
then allowed to edit his space ship. Then, he enters the space stage.
In space stage, the player uses tools to make
uninhabited, neighboring planets into habitable ones, and then colonizes it.
Many things are available to do, such as abduction of species to transplant them
to other planets, interaction with other players’ space empires, and so on.
