Truly God-like or Just Another Videogame on the Shelf of Life?

For three long years, the gaming community has waited, sometimes not so patiently, for the release of Will Wright’s supposed videogame epic: Spore. Here was a game that allowed a person to literally “play God”. Drawing on his past success with games like SimCity and The Sims, Wright decided to take gaming to the next level. Now, instead of just placing pre-constructed buildings and furniture in order to further the game play, a player was actually able to create the creatures they would be playing as in the game. Not only that, as the game play progressed, a player could change their creatures to fit the surroundings and allow them to better interact with their environment. The players were going to EVOLVE their creations as they went along.

That fact right there got people all over the world salivating at the mouth for an opportunity to see this in action. Wright did not stop there. He also announced that in Spore, all creatures created by players of the game would be included in all other players’ games through a new and innovative network within the game. Again, people cried out in excitement and anticipation for the game’s release. Well, after a few delays and many, many months of waiting: the game is finally here. Now we can find out if Will Wright has done it again. Is Spore everything that was expected all this time or does it fall flat on its face in shame?

In a nutshell: it did both.

Let’s start with the good parts of the game first. The creature creator is great. It is hilarious fun to create nearly whatever creature your mind can think up (within reason). Will Wright and his developers have made a tool for the consumer usually reserved for people working in the video game industry. Granted, this is a pared down version of 3D rendering software that would be normally used by a game developer, but it is still pretty extensive. As long as you stick within the confines of the creator (i.e. not trying to create the hundred-eyed Argos of Greek myth) you can do most anything you want. Making a bug-eyed bird-like creature whose has a mouth on its backside is completely possible (though why someone would want to I don’t know). Though there is a restriction on the number of parts you can use per creature, the options are still very extensive. I have searched around the Sporepedia (more on this feature next) a good deal to see what others have been able to create and I am completely amazed at the creativity and ability of some people. A number of the creatures out there make my creations look pitiful and silly in comparison. That being said, I love to play around with the creature creator and see what new things I can create.

The other amazing part of the creature creator is that once you decide what parts you want to use and in what place on the body you want them, the computer figures out how that creature would move. This is where the innovation of Spore really takes off. The computer knows, based on what parts you choose, how your creature would move and act. For instance, if you decide to make a short stout creature with stubby legs, your creature is going to sort of waddle around screen as opposed to the creature with the long bony legs that more or less strides across the screen. When I first saw this feature in action, I was stunned. Today, even after using the creature creator countless times, I am still stunned every time I get to the point where the computer figures out my creature’s movements and actions. It is truly ground-breaking consumer software.

The other good part of Spore is its pseudo-social network (Sporepedia). Essentially, this built in feature of the game allows each user to connect to and interact with every creature and building created by all the other players of the game. If you choose to do so, when you create a creature or building you can share it with the rest of the world (or at least that part of the world that is playing Spore). This takes place in two ways. First of all, every shared creature or building is usable by anyone else in their own game. For instance, during the Space Stage, when you take over a planet and place new colonies you often have to create buildings to populate those cities. Instead of creating those buildings, however, you can choose to use search the Sporepedia for buildings already created by either yourself or someone else. While using a different user’s buildings doesn’t change the game play, it does keep things a little fresh and interesting.

The second way that the Sporepedia adds to the game is that during the Space Stage, as you explore the galaxy and discover other inhabited planets, the creatures you come into contact with were created by other users. Some of the creators are developers from Maxis, but a lot are created by everyday players of the games. Who knows, one of you out there may be playing your copy of Spore one day and come across a planet inhabited by one of my own creations. If you do meet one of my creatures, you can then befriend them or kill them, it doesn’t matter. You can still play your game however you want to without affecting my game at all. You could blow up the planet containing my creation (if you have unlocked that fun ability) and I will never know. That way, nothing anyone does in their game can negatively impact my game. Nothing exactly mind-blowing game play wise, but it does keep the game fresh and interesting for multiple play-throughs.

Alright, now that we have praised the game, let’s take a look at the bad. First of all: other than the creature creator and the Sporepedia, there is nothing really new in this game. Every stage of this game is just a rehash of another genre that has been done before and done a whole heck of a lot better. For instance, the Cell Stage is just a dumbed-down version of an old 80’s arcade top-down shooter. I had more challenge and more fun feeding quarters to Galaga back in the day (for all those of you who actually remember playing this in the arcades: you definitely understand what I am talking about). Another example is the Civilization Stage. This is supposed to be Spore’s version of an RTS. What happened to all the progress that has been made in RTS video games over the past twenty years? There are only three buildings you can choose from: Home, Entertainment, and Factory. While figuring out the proper placement of the buildings in the city makes a big difference in how much spice you collect and how happy your citizens are, but honestly; with a little trial and error you can max out the industry and happiness every time. All the cities have the same blueprint and then once you find that perfect placement all you have to do is copy that every single time (even in the Space Stage). Where is the originality? Where is the challenge?

Another issue with this game is that there are no consequences to any of your actions or decisions. During the first two stages it doesn’t matter how you evolve your creature or what parts you choose to put on it. As long as you have one item that allows a strong strike or really good charm you are set. You could make a creature with 2 legs, 2 arms, an eye, one mouth, and one specialized spike on the middle of its back and you could do a lot of damage on the creature stage. The spike does not even have to be on the creature’s arm to allow it to strike well. I don’t understand that. Also, along the same lines: there is no continuity with the evolution. If half-way through the creature stage you decide that you don’t like having a four legged, long nosed, plant eater you can just call a mate (bringing you to the creature creator) and proceed to strip off everything you have placed and make the creature into a bi-pedal (walking on two legs), razor clawed, nightmare of a monster. How is that evolution? (hint: it’s not)

I like this game. I know that is hard to believe after the last few paragraphs, but it is honest. I like this game. I don’t love this game, but I do like it. In all honesty, I feel like the developers lost interest half-way through production. They spent a great deal of time on the creature creator and it shows. That is an amazing piece of programming and is definitely a giant leap forward in consumer computer software. However, it seems that they forgot to spend any time on the rest of the game and threw something together last minute in order to hit the release date (hard to think since this was put off so many times). I really hate to be this critical, but I (along with the majority of the gaming community) have been waiting for three long years for this game and I feel let down. This game had so much promise, but it just didn’t grab that brass ring tight enough and fell off along the way.

Obviously, I don’t think this deserves any Game of the Year awards. That being said, I can’t give it a failing grade. While I do have a lot of very big issues with the game, it is still fun. As long I can separate myself from the “hardcore gamer” mentality and step back into the “casual” area of my mind I really enjoy the game. I intend to keep playing this game for a long while. I won’t be spending all the crazy long hours that I had set aside for the game, but I will still keep playing with the creature creator for a long time to come. Spore is not an epic game, but it sure tries hard to be and comes real close. In conclusion Spore gets a:

3 out of 5

P.S. On a side note: let me point out another slight issue I have with this game that not everyone would have, but still needs to be discussed. There is no auto-save option anywhere in the game (at least not that I have been able to find). I don’t know about you, but when I get playing stages like the Space Stage (sandbox style RTS/strategy games) I just keep playing and playing. These are my favorite games to play. When every Civilization game comes out, I disappear for weeks on end and often forget to go to sleep at night. I let myself get wrapped up in and surround myself with this type of game play every time. When this happens, I always forget to save. What happens when you forget to save and something unfortunate occurs (like the game crashing for no reason other than to piss you off because you were about to take control of that planet from your enemy): you lose everything you have done for the past 3 hours. What happens after you lose 3 hours of game play: you stop playing and go do something else quickly to prevent you from crying like a little baby who just dropped their pacifier on the ground. Will Wright: this is a plea to you that with a future update you find some way to include a simple auto-save option so that those of us who really want to enjoy your game during a mini-marathon session can do so without fear of losing 3 precious hours of their life. This issue does not directly affect the game play of Spore (only my own need to learn to save more often) so I did not take this issue into account when scoring the game.

Thank for putting up with that rant. It needed to be said because it has been sitting in the back of my mind for days now and if I didn’t say it I would regret it.

P.P.S. There are a few interesting references to other games and movies spread through out the world of Spore. I have seen a Portal reference dropped in as well as an obvious nod to The Fifth Element. Can you find them?

I imagine there are other references that I have not noticed yet. If you come across one that I missed, please share them in the comments section.