Spore

[Crazy Jamie]

It's been a very long time since I've made a genuine bashing thread in this forum, but that should make this thread all the sweeter.

Spore is not nearly as good as it should have been. In fact, I'd go as far as saying that it's a pretty mediocre game. The idea behind it is exceptional. The execution is poor. Why? Mainly due to the inconsistent nature of the 'stages'. The cell stage is shallow and basic, but entertaining to a degree and therefore fits in nicely considering that it is short. The animal stage is fine, where you create a creature and really get something of a bond with it. At this point the game is basic but enjoyable, and certainly involves the creative side. The tribal stage is where things start going down hill. Both the tribal and civilisation stages are just watered down RTSs, and really are pretty awful. Yes, you get it design your own buildings and vehicles. But all of these design stages seem hollow compared to the creature designs, as you have no connection to what you make. Essentially, the tribal and civilisation stages feel like a chore. The space stage is better, but really still has a lot of flaws. You can only make on space ship, and any fleet has to made up of invariably weaker ships from other planets. Yes, there is a lot to do, which is a redeeming feature, but overall the game is just too basic in its execution to stand out. In all honesty I got very bored of it very fast. I have no incentive to go back and play through another planet for the simple reason that the game plays out in the same basic manner regardless of the type of creature I make.

I'm really disappointed by Spore. It was a stunning idea. The execution really let it down.

[Vicious!]

I tried the Creature Creator. It was nothing more than drag and drop Mr. Potato Head. There just weren't enough parts to create what I wanted, so I just "winged it" making stuff up as I went. Of the 5 creatures I made, I disliked all of them and thought they moved rather awkwardly. The colors, music and overall silliness of it made me feel like I was playing a game meant for 5 year olds. After 30 minutes of playing it, yeah, I wasn't impressed.

I had considered getting the game before I even tried the Creature Creator, but I heard that you could only activate it/install it three times. I guess they're betting that I'm never going to reformat my hard drive ever again. :shake:

[Crazy Jamie]

That has now increased to five times, but it's still not really sufficient.

If you didn't like the creature creator then the game really isn't for you. The creature stage is the best part, or at least the second best part for those who prefer the space stage.

[SuperSimon]

Im going to have to disagree with you. I recently started the civalization stage and canot make a proper assesment, but I thought I could bond fine with the tribal stage. It was cool being able to see how something starting with one creature you created grew into 12 creatures working together, I didnt think it was a chore and i thought it wasnt as good as creature and cell but still very entertaining. Also Cell as basic as it was was alot of fun.

[Scerro]

ah, you haven't even mentioned the DRM.... which is quite evil in itself, but you can't judge a game on it.

Still, from what i've seen it doesn't look that great, although i do need to truely play it first...

[Woozie]

I think the Cell stage was the best part of the game, oddly enough I spent the rest of the game thinking "You know, this should've been more like the cell stage." Space Stage is probably 2nd best, once you get past the HOUR LONG INTRO of getting all the good equipment and blowing up every ******* near you so you can have some breathing room. Christ.

I was disappointed with Spore as well. I played up to the Space Stage and stopped once, got half-way through the space stage once, and now I'm trying to actually finish the game on my third go. It's really a chore to make it that far into the game. I wish there was more depth to the gameplay, or maybe they could've focused on one aspect of the game and let that be fun instead of five cruddy ones.

Really I think the game would've been perfect if it was just Space mode, and they got rid of those stupid "random events." Anytime you start to micromanage your empire across every planet, you get some stupid message like "LOL UR GETTIN ATTACKED BY UFOS!!!!" You have to stop whatever you're doing, recharge and refill your ships health and sheilds, then go across the universe to save your stupid home planet. Once you start having fun it forces you to do something stupid. I would think someone like Will Wright would know how god damn annoying that type of game mechanic is, it pisses me off to no end and makes me want to stop playing the game whenever I'm at that point in the space stage.

The game could've been a lot more. Here's hoping Sims 3 does better.

[Crazy Jamie]

Im going to have to disagree with you. I recently started the civalization stage and canot make a proper assesment, but I thought I could bond fine with the tribal stage. It was cool being able to see how something starting with one creature you created grew into 12 creatures working together, I didnt think it was a chore and i thought it wasnt as good as creature and cell but still very entertaining. Also Cell as basic as it was was alot of fun.I will admit that there is still some connection there in the tribal stage, but that does disappear completely in the civilisation stage. Bonding aside though, the gameplay in the tribal stage is just woefully simple and repetitive. Pick up any decent RTS from the past fifteen years and it will have deeper and far superior gameplay to the tribal stage of Spore. The civilisation stage suffers from the same problems. It's trying to be Age of Empires or Empire Earth, but with 95% of the game stripped away. It's far too simple and repetitive.

Once you start having fun it forces you to do something stupid. I would think someone like Will Wright would know how god damn annoying that type of game mechanic is, it pisses me off to no end and makes me want to stop playing the game whenever I'm at that point in the space stage.Exactly the same thing bothered me, and it puts a serious dampener on what would probably be an all round excellent section otherwise.

[Spectro]

I think Spore is very deserving of it's average score (http://www.gamerankings.com/htmlpages2/926714.asp?q=spore). It's about what I would give it myself. I think there are some really original aspects in Spore that well help evolve gaming in the future. I am hoping LittleBigPlanet will live up to it's high expectations as the next user created content based game.