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Spore
So after playing for a while and then having it crash on me (fun), I thought I would come here and talk about it for a moment. I don't think any of this is a spoiler as the game has already been fully exposed, but don't read if you know nothing about the game and want to keep it that way.
Before the game even starts you choose if you're going to become Carnivore or Omnivore and it will also allow you to name the planet. Once you break out of the meteor you travelled to the planet in, you begin either eating organic chunks or plantation/plankton. I have only had the opportunity to go through the Carnivore part thus far, I plan on being Herbivore next time around. It is pretty much as you would expect; keep eating food until you grow large enough. You can find a mate and choose whatever mutations you have earned when reproducing, these mutations come from finding them randomly or (for the Carnivore) killing other organisms and getting a good drop.
10-15 minutes later your walking on land. I got a strong feeling of "Shit, we said they would go from a single cell to space so we have to keep that part in" and did just that, they kept it in but made it ultimately pointless. I was also confused about how I went from a cell to a land-walking creature, there was no fish stage I'm aware of and it's a completely 2D eat-em-up until you get to the landmass. Peculiar. It was quite fun growing and seeing the cells you had to run from suddenly looking tiny and then just eating them in one gulp.
So now that I've grown some lungs and walking around I notice that I'm playing a game that feels a lot like it should be called a Massively Multiplayer Offline Role Play Game, as it handles very much like an online MMORPG. Okay, so I'm walking around and checking out the planet, which is pretty cool as it has giant diamonds shooting out of the ground and thick forest areas with open meadows in between. I come across my first species and I can either use my combat posture or my social posture, depending on what I choose I can either make them my friends or attack them and wipe out that species. Needless to say every species I have bumped into thus far has done the way of the Dodo.
You can copulate and reproduce whenever you want, it doesn't force you to evolve constantly. Over time you earn $ (used to buy parts in the creature creator) and find parts either by running up to skeletons and clicking on them or by defeating other species. You eventually get enough money and enough parts to make it worth your time to go back to the nest and get your thang on, carrying on with the next generation of your monstrosity.
I've noticed there is no limit in the ability to change the shape or look of your creature at all, meaning a single generation can be vastly different (only limited by the parts you have) from the previous. When you pop out of the egg, all of your friends around the nest (others of the same species) are the same design of creature you just made. I thought it would have been cool to come out the Egg different than what the older generation creatures looked like.
As you earn more DNA points (EXP points) you develop a bigger brain, each stage of growth in the brain allows you to add another creature to your party who help you attack or befriend other species.
Up until the point where the game pooped out on me and crashed, I had to go find another nest others in my species went to create. I eventually found it and eradicated all the other species in proximity and then went on to copulate and evolve, which is where (I assume) some intelligent species on the same planet turned on their Hadron Collider and sucked me into a black hole, because the screen just went black.
I'm of mixed feelings about it so far. On one hand it's been quite fun, on the other it is not and could never live up to the hype surrounding this game, creating a deflated feeling when playing it. Of course, I've only experienced around 30% of the game as far as I can guess, maybe it will get better.
Before the game even starts you choose if you're going to become Carnivore or Omnivore and it will also allow you to name the planet. Once you break out of the meteor you travelled to the planet in, you begin either eating organic chunks or plantation/plankton. I have only had the opportunity to go through the Carnivore part thus far, I plan on being Herbivore next time around. It is pretty much as you would expect; keep eating food until you grow large enough. You can find a mate and choose whatever mutations you have earned when reproducing, these mutations come from finding them randomly or (for the Carnivore) killing other organisms and getting a good drop.
10-15 minutes later your walking on land. I got a strong feeling of "Shit, we said they would go from a single cell to space so we have to keep that part in" and did just that, they kept it in but made it ultimately pointless. I was also confused about how I went from a cell to a land-walking creature, there was no fish stage I'm aware of and it's a completely 2D eat-em-up until you get to the landmass. Peculiar. It was quite fun growing and seeing the cells you had to run from suddenly looking tiny and then just eating them in one gulp.
So now that I've grown some lungs and walking around I notice that I'm playing a game that feels a lot like it should be called a Massively Multiplayer Offline Role Play Game, as it handles very much like an online MMORPG. Okay, so I'm walking around and checking out the planet, which is pretty cool as it has giant diamonds shooting out of the ground and thick forest areas with open meadows in between. I come across my first species and I can either use my combat posture or my social posture, depending on what I choose I can either make them my friends or attack them and wipe out that species. Needless to say every species I have bumped into thus far has done the way of the Dodo.
You can copulate and reproduce whenever you want, it doesn't force you to evolve constantly. Over time you earn $ (used to buy parts in the creature creator) and find parts either by running up to skeletons and clicking on them or by defeating other species. You eventually get enough money and enough parts to make it worth your time to go back to the nest and get your thang on, carrying on with the next generation of your monstrosity.
I've noticed there is no limit in the ability to change the shape or look of your creature at all, meaning a single generation can be vastly different (only limited by the parts you have) from the previous. When you pop out of the egg, all of your friends around the nest (others of the same species) are the same design of creature you just made. I thought it would have been cool to come out the Egg different than what the older generation creatures looked like.
As you earn more DNA points (EXP points) you develop a bigger brain, each stage of growth in the brain allows you to add another creature to your party who help you attack or befriend other species.
Up until the point where the game pooped out on me and crashed, I had to go find another nest others in my species went to create. I eventually found it and eradicated all the other species in proximity and then went on to copulate and evolve, which is where (I assume) some intelligent species on the same planet turned on their Hadron Collider and sucked me into a black hole, because the screen just went black.
I'm of mixed feelings about it so far. On one hand it's been quite fun, on the other it is not and could never live up to the hype surrounding this game, creating a deflated feeling when playing it. Of course, I've only experienced around 30% of the game as far as I can guess, maybe it will get better.
Comments
I've played the DS version for about 15 minutes and quickly decided it was complete rubbish..
Cell < fl0w
Creature < Diablo or WoW
Tribe < Warcraft 3
Civilisation < Civ 4
Space > Strange Adventures in Infinite Space
Tribe and Civ stages seem to be an afterthought, Cell and Creature are probably only good the first time, but Space seems interesting so far, and is easily the biggest phase in the game.
Sadly, it's not the greatest game ever made. However, it has kept me up late for two nights in a row, so it can't be that bad.
My prediction is that many people won't like it. Its puzzles/pattern matching games are laughable, its strategic elements are unbelievably shallow, so there is little to no challenge involved. The value in this game (and most of Will Wright's games) is its "sandbox" style of gameplay, which I know is hated among some elements on this forum. Oh, and it has gameplay achievements. Yay.
Cell stage is, yeah, fl0w all over again. Different graphics and you can direct your evolution now but essentially the same gameplay. The Creature stage is the Cell stage but bigger and with a few more options for interacting. You can make friends, hunt in packs instead of being on your own all the time, that sort of thing. The replayability of these stage is low unless you are into making weird creatures and watching them run around killing / singing. Note: I enjoy these stages the most so far. :P
Tribal stage is very shallow. Your creatures are smarter, they've worked out how to make simple structures and tools and you either run around killing all the other tribes in the area or singing and dancing at them until they become your BFFs. As far as I can tell there's not much else to do save for some cosmetic stuff like domesticating dumber creatures and wearing clothes.
I'm guessing the Civ stage will be the Tribal stage but bigger, as Creature stage was to Cell stage. Space stage sounds promising.
The gameplay could have been more, but when is there a game where you have no critisicm? On another not, its Maxis, so you know there will be 30 expansions to add to gameplay.
And my abomination of a vehicle. I had laughs while making it. It's called the Warhaw.
edit: well, I was disappointing with some objects in the Vehicle Creator that would not do things like free rotate. So my attempt at making a Gundam in Spore is a failure. Some of the objects had no options what so ever.
Edit: The beauty of Spore is how each person's game is going to be different, depending on how you create everything. Like a steam punk theme, or a resonances theme.
Edit: I bought the Galactic Edition.
I created a sweet airship that reminds me of the thing from Gurren Lagann. Sparitzer:
Spoilorz?
I almost killed an epic. It was...epic. :P
SecuRom Removal Tool
Bite, charge, strike doesn't really get my blood going. However, I was very happy when I realized a lot of the creatures in the Creature Stage are the ones I made with the Creature Creator. And the epic that showed up stomping around the map was my favorite one I had made. In all, it's too repetitive and the terrain has very little variety.
I'm just starting the Tribal Stage and am not at all impressed with that gameplay.
Building stuff in the game is more entertaining than the entire game itself:
Many of you have been complaining that there is no depth to the game. I don't think it's fair to expect the same level of complexity as other games, especially at the Tribal and Civilization levels. To have a lot of options, you would have to make a huge number of creations in a short burst. Already, it's a bit of a pain making 5 buildings upon reaching the Civ stage. As is, it is a bit too limited for my tastes, but it does present a couple of options, namely being war, religion, or industry. It's really meant to be a casual game as Will Wright has said; the joy is in seeing your creations grow and evolve from humble beginnings to a higher level of sentience.
That said, the Space stage from my brief experience is complex and interesting. It reminded me of The Ur-Quan Masters; you can trade, take missions, travel, experiment with species and planets, explore, colonize, form vast alliances, and search for hidden artifacts on alien planets. The sheer scope of the game is amazing, from the grand shift from cells to stars and from the creators. It's definitely worth a buy, just don't expect it to be incredibly deep in all of its facets.