... This is the highlight of Spore, watching your creation evolve from cell into a whole species of space-searching critters. Having now reached the final stage: space, I look back at the original and only wonder how that cute, little fury thing is now a bloodhungry destroyer of worlds. Spore ... Read review
Spore is a real time strategy/life simulator that allows you to bring your imagination to ... more
life. Evolve your creation from a single celled microbe to a dominant space exploring civilization. Your creation is not automatically destined for greatness, a...
Tired of your planet? Build a new one as you embark on the most amazing journey ever. Use ... more
fun and easy creation tools to evolve your unique creatures, establish tribes, build civilizations, sculpt worlds, and explore the cosmos!Create: your universe - ...
Requires: Spore to playGamers will experience deeper Space Stage gameplay with the ... more
Galactic Adventures expansion pack. For the first time, players' space faring creatures will be able to beam down from their spaceships to explore new planets and earn rewards for completing challenging missions. A new Adventure Creator will allow players to build and share online their own custom missions, providing almost endless gameplay possibilities.
Postage & Packaging:Free! Availability:Usually dispatched within 24 hours...
Advantages: Simple but massive creators,thousands of worlds,Sporepedia,FUN Disadvantages: Repetetive,short,and simple
...a bloodhungry destroyer of worlds. Spore provides a much needed breath of fresh air into the sandbox/creator genre, and indeed computer gaming as a whole. It's colourful, original, brilliant fun, and charming, but the gameplay is scared with repetetive and simple mechanics. This is what stops Spore getting the 5 stars, but in no way does it stop this being a game that is well-worth buying. If you end up buying it and forgeting about it after a week ... ...this point you realise that Spore isn't one big game but actually a combination of 5 smaller ones. You are now given control of multiple creatures, and your first job is to set them off gathering food. Soon other tribes appear, and agin you must decide wheather to kill them, or not to kill. Whatever direction you took in the creature stage will affect your Shaman's (tribe leader) abilities, which are crucial in a fight or when trying to impress another ... more
"Look, it can walk, it can walk!" I cried with glee as I watched my home-bred slimy-green-eyed-monster-thing scrambled out of the murky brown sea and onto the land. This is the highlight of Spore, watching your creation evolve from cell into a whole species of space-searching critters. Having now reached the final stage: space, I look back at the original and only wonder how that cute, little fury thing is now a bloodhungry destroyer of worlds. Spore provides a much needed breath of fresh air into the sandbox/creator genre, and indeed computer gaming as a whole. It's colourful, original, brilliant fun, and charming, but the gameplay is scared with repetetive and simple mechanics. This is what stops Spore getting the 5 stars, but in no way does it stop this being a game that is well-worth buying. If you end up buying it and forgeting about it after a week that's fine, but it'll be one of the funnest weeks you'll have had in a while.
The Game
The game loads and you're promted to choose one of a few planets to begin your new "spore". After choosing the planet's name and your creature's status (herbivore or carnivore), a short cut-scene explains how you, your creation, starts its new life after arriving on a meteor; this is the Cell stage. You must guide your cell around its new-found home whilst finding food, be it vegetation or other animals, to gain DNA points and ultimately evolve to the next stage. The Cell Stage may be the simplest mini-game you've ever played, but it is the perfect way to begin a game such as Spore. Attack a creature and its eyes will widen, and its body go rigid before it leggs it; the animals react and move so fluidly and smoothly that you begin to forget that this is just a glorified point and click mini-game. When you've aqquired enought DNA, search for a mate to begin the long road of evolution - que the creature creator. Here you can adapt and change your creation in any way you want. 2 eyes not enough? Why not have 3 more. Need something to fend off thoses annoying red things that keep eating you, have this giant spike. I hope this makes the point I want it too; if you want it you can have it. This is only made possible by the incredible easy to use yet massivly varible click and drag creators.
Unfortunately, the cell stage is short-lived, maybe half an hour at most, which comes as a genuine dissapointment. Luckily the next installment is the Creature Stage, which leads your creature onto the land with its very first pair of legs, or more. This stage plays much like a third-person RPG, where you basically decide whether to kill or to socialise with the other creatures that inhabit your planet. This is done by either button mashing the attack buttons (claw,strike, etc) to kill enemies, or by using one of 4 possible "social" interactions to mimic those of other creatures. Again it's awfully simple, but the main point is that it provides so much fun! I found that it dragged on a bit and the repetetivness got to me. As with the Cell stage, you can call for a mate to edit your creation. Here things get a bit more interesting, because your offered sao many more parts. You've also got to take into account that different parts change the way your creature can interact and move; for example, its health, speed, interactions, and attacks are all affected by the parts it's made up of - not to mention the way it looks.
After gathering enough DNA, choose your creature's final appearance and evolve to the Tribal Stage. This phase plays as a top-down RPG, similar to Age of Empires or Warcraft 3, albeit a very simple one. It is at this point you realise that Spore isn't one big game but actually a combination of 5 smaller ones. You are now given control of multiple creatures, and your first job is to set them off gathering food. Soon other tribes appear, and agin you must decide wheather to kill them, or not to kill. Whatever direction you took in the creature stage will affect your Shaman's (tribe leader) abilities, which are crucial in a fight or when trying to impress another tribe. As your tribe grows in size, more buildings are availiable and your tools become more efficientm, be they weapons or musical intruments. If you take the warmonger path, as I did, it is really quite simple to defeat your enemies one by one, with enemies' raids rarely causing a problem. Even on the hard setting I completed the tribal phase in under an hour; I felt that the tribal stage is the weakest of the 5 in Spore.
Once all of the opposing tribes have been befriended or wiped out, you advance to the Civalisation Stage, which is really just a glorified tribal stage but with more options available to you. Your species is now the dominant race on the planet, and it's your job to unite or crush them. Now the global currency is spice, which is collected from spice geysers that are dotted around the map. Spice is used to build new units, buildings, and bribes etc. Depending on how you played the preivous stages, you are either an economic, religious, or military nation; this effects how you are able to take other cities, either through religious conversion or military force. Here comes the chance for those creative minds out there to really make their species unique, because you are can create every building and vehicle from scratch. You even get to dress your citizens and make the national anthem. For those who don't have the time or the patience there is the option to download one of Maxis' pre-made ones, or if you're connected to the internet you can download someone else's hard work. It gives you the chance to make your mark on the game. The buildings are purely cosmectic, however you do have to balance your vehicles' stats between speed, health and power. All of these mechanics are basic in themselves, but thay all merge together to make a smooth blend of user-created content and colourful and enjoyable gameplay. The Civ phase itself can prove a challenge, especially on hard. If you don't establish yourself you can find yourself pinned down by constant enemy raids. The most appealing way to win is by spaming units and attacking your enemy, but it proves boring after a while.
Merge the globe under one banner and prepare to take off to the stars. This is the Space Stage and ,arguably, just the beginning of Spore. It's longer than all the other stages put together, and opens up loads more options for the player. This time your put in control of a spaceship, again fully desginable, which is where you'll spend all your time in the space age. The first thing your notice is how massively massive Spore is. Simply zoom out and you'll see that your planet is one of 3 or 4 in a solar system, which is just one of the hundreds and hundreds of other solar systems in the galaxy. Will Wright, creator of Spore, claimed that it could take 100 years to take every single one. It may seem daunting at first, but you realise that what really matters is what is happening in your sector of Space. Again the main way to obtain money is through spice, which is traded with other space faring nations. The aim of the space age is ultimately to reach the centre of the galaxy, where a secret ending awaits, but you'll start by trying to establish colonies on other planets and safely occupiying your area of space. Other nations provide missions and trade routes, but get on the wrong side of them and you'll find yourself in the middle of your very own galactic war. As well as meeting other nations you'll be adapting other planets for life, building colonies for your empire, and exploring the vast world of Spore. The Space age could keep you occuied for weeks with its new moves, but like most of the game it can again become repetative when you realise that underneath all of these new mechanics is actually a very simple engine.
Sporepedia
This is the one thing that Spore's got going for it in terms on longeviety and replayability. If you're connected to the internet you can access the Sporepedia, which is basically a huge collection of Maxis', your's and other peoples creations. Download other peoples' creations and they'll appear in your own Spore world as other nations and creatures. If you like the look of a creature you see you can take them and use them as your own. It's a great system that ensures that your universe changes and adapts as it should.
DRM
With all the gossip and insults flying about with the issue of DRM I couldn't not include it, as much to voice my own opinion as to help others understand what it means. DRM is a Digital Rights Management system implemented by EA. It means that Spore can only be installed on 3 different computers. If you uninstall it, you can install it again on the same computer without using up an install. I haven't found this a problem, as I've installed it on my laptop and my pc, leaving one install left incase I get a new computer. One upside is that it means you can play Spore without the disc, and so in affect you could lend it to 2 friends and all have separate games. I can't see how anybody would need to have Spore on more than 3 computers, and I think that the people compaling about it are just looking for an argument. If the worst comes to the worst you can ring up EA and ask them to give you another install, which is completety do-able. Don't let this issue put you off buying this game, because that would be a real shame. I can understand how it has annoyed some people but the subject has been exxagerated by too many.
Conclusion
Spore provides an orignal and super fun gaming experience, which is both charming and vast. But it is spoilt by simple mechanics and a lack of depth. Whether you're a hardcore gamer or a casual one, this game can appeal to both and is worth the buy. Expect it not to last long, but keep an open mind. It's fun, it's original, and truly unlike anything seen before; it's Spore.
Requirements
Windows XP or Vista / Apple Mac version is avaliable
2.0Ghz Proccesor (Anything less on Duo core works fine)
512Mb RAM for XP, 768MB for Vista
6GB hard drive space
128Mb Video card
Internet connection required for full to access all features (see Sporepedia)
Advantages: Creature creator is good, family friendly, good graphics Disadvantages: DRM, shallow, simple, repetitive
...creator of the Sims, and Spore was supposed to be the game that revolutionised the industry. In reality, although the concept is great and has the potential to be groundbreaking, Spore is just an extremely boring and repetitive series of mini-games. These mini-games are broken down into stages of evolution for your new species: cell stage, creature stage, tribal stage, civilization stage and the space stage.
The cell stage is probably the most fun ... ...be like. In all honestly Spore doesn't improve here. It's the same basic, boring repetitive tasks carried out in an over simplified environment. Meet another species, attack or make friends with them, find another species, attack or make friends, etc. At least there's only one more stage to go.
Most of the playing time is spent in the final stage, the space stage. Here you are given missions to complete that involve flying around space collecting ...
GJRendall 03.11.2008
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Spore (PC)
Advantages: scope, scale, graphics, sound, customise, create, live Disadvantages: glitches, space attacks, too simple for some, too complex for others
...is going to be difficult, Spore has received a huge array of mixed reviews. I'm going to review this based entirely on my own experience and discoveries. So here we go:
The Begginning: In the beginning there were planets devoid of life, until one day an asteroid plunches into the oceans (of the planet you chose) and breaks apart creating life. You are a tiny single cell creature who can swim and eat plant bits. Yum. But, you must survive and evovle ... ...could go on practically forever. Spore is huge, you forget that you started out as a small cell eating green algae with no larms or legs. It's triumph to even attempt to bring this all together in one package. But everything you create is also shared throughout the galaxy, but not just yours, everyone else who has bought Spore could potentially download your creations and witness them in their game. When this happens your Spore Page will inform you ...
AlastairI 10.09.2008
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Spore (PC)
Advantages: suitable for all ages, unique, creative Disadvantages: sometimes childish, later stages disappoint
= Spore = This article may be considered as containing mild spoilers. So this is my warning for that just in case. By spoilers, I mean it may give details away that could spoil potential surprises for some gamers. = Minimum Requirements = - PC (Windows XP or Vista) -
CPU: 2.0 GHz processor or equivalent
RAM: (XP: 512MB) (Vista: 768MB)
Hard Drive: atleast 4GB for game 1GB for creatures
Video: 128MB video card with support for pixel shader 2.0
... ...the evolutionary adventure of your spore creature begins. You start of almost as basic as a single celled organism. Your mission is simply to feed, survive and reproduce. Depending on whether you have chosen to be a carnivore, omnivore, or herbivore, you (rather obviously) search for different food types. Herbivores simply go around trying to eat green globs of algae, where as omnivores go around eating red globs of meat, or other creatures. Omnivores ...
fantiquitous 08.10.2009 (13.10.2009)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Spore (PC)
Advantages: The builder tool, the city layout tool Disadvantages: Simple game modes, easy, DRM, hype
Does this appear for anyone? My first paragraph seams to vanish. If you can see it, please leave a note.
Before I start on the game I want to warn you off this game due to the Digital Rights Management. EA has decided that all there paying customers are evil pirates (of the software not FSM kind) and so you can only install this game three times before you have to phone EA and beg to be allowed to play the game you have legally purchased. It also ... ...CD and DVD drives and CD writing software. After all you bought this game; you are so going to steal it. For this reason alone it would be very hard to recommend this game. It would have to be shiny vision of wondrousness for me to put up with all that...
Cool builder with a basic game attached.
Well, three basic games attached. The creature "RPG" (Role Play Game) where you click on stuff (either with a friendly click or an attack click) until ...
mr_mlk 13.09.2008
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Spore (PC)
Advantages: Learn while you play Disadvantages: None
...do not judge it on
Spore Creature Creator which many of you have, it is only really a taster to the real game. Spore has been in developing for near 4 years now which is a long time to develop a game and its release date was delayed and delayed and delayed again until it finally settled on September 08.
Well to play the game your computer will have to have a decent graphics card no Intel combined ones, I would recommend having at least a 128MB ... ...up of the game). If spore creature creator played fine on your computer it doesn't necessarily mean that Spore will play fine too.
You start of life in the game as a molecule in a drop of water and you swim about eating microrganisms, as you do so the camera slowly zooms out revealing more area and bigger life forms. As you steadily develop through the game you will move onto the land and become land based. When you first move onto the land I think ...
sebby-08 25.08.2008
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Spore (PC)
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Reviews which might be of interest for "Spore (PC)"
Advantages: presents evoliutonary eras, funny creatures Disadvantages: a little boring gameplay
Spore (Mac) is a game for Apple computers and is sacred to all family. The game is about evolution: how world change in it's existance eras. Also the game is useful for children because it presents some kind of biological affair and children could understand how humanity had evolve from the primitive bacteriums. The game design makes the game absorbing. Also in the game the player can compose millions different creatures. In the game are four stages of evolution. First of all you create a bacterium that lives in a water. You can choose what kind of bacterium you want to be (eat a meat and be a carnivore or eat a grass and be a carnivore). In the second stage the bacterium evolve from the first stage, becomes primitive animal and live on the land. After that animals becomes primitive humans that live in the tribes. The forth stage is ...
dirkazz 18.06.2009
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: somewhat helpful Review of Spore (Mac)
From the creator of The Sims comes the most ambitious video game ever made: here you don't just control a single family or city but control an entire species from a single cell organism to a galactic conqueror. As impossibly complex as that might sound, the most impressive thing about Spore is just how accessible and fun it all is. The game is split into six evolutionary phases, starting with almost action-style gameplay at the microscopic level. From there you move to the creature phase on dry land, before going on to the tribal phase and the beginnings of society and technology. From there it's onto the city phase, which plays a bit like SimCity, and from there to the Civilisation phase which plays something like, you guessed it, Civilization. The final phase takes part in outer space where by hook or by crock your species must reign triumphant.Each phase has its own editing tools associated with it for things like vehicles and buildings. By far the most fun though is the creature tool, which allows you to create your own fully animated lifeform from scratch using a huge range of limbs, facial features and colourings. What's also interesting is that the other planets in the galaxy aren't all pre-populated by the game. Instead, by connecting online you can upload your races, and download those from other people, to fill the galaxy with civilizations from other players around the world. Any one of the six phases would normally be enough for any one game on its own, but this looks like it's going to turn out to be the world's first everything simulator.HARRISON DENT The next evolution in gaming is upon us. From the mind of Will Wright, the creator of The Sims, comes SPORE, an epic journey that takes you from the origin and evolution of life through the development of civilization and technology and eventually all the way into the deepest reaches of outer space.Begin your odyssey at the dawn of life as a simple microbe just trying to survive, then use the fun, intuitive Editors to evolve the creature from its microscopic origins into an intelligent, tool-using race. Guide your species as it builds (and the player designs) villages, buildings, cities, and vehicles. Along the way to becoming a global civilization you can choose whether to hunt or forage, attack or trade, be nice or play rough!All the action takes place in a huge, lush world populated with creatures evolved by other players and shared over SPORE's central servers. When it's ready, your one-time pond scum launches into space in its UFO on a grand voyage of discovery, planet forming, or destruct-ion! As you explore and play in this limitless universe of unique worlds, your personal Sporepedia tracks all the creatures you've met and places you've visited.