My Spore Review, First Impressions, Good and the Bad

The anticipation was enormous. Considering I have been following the project for a couple of years my expectations were high. And in a way I think the buildup of hype over the years is what is going to make a lot of people feel disappointed with the game. Yes it is fun, yes it is cute, but a bit like Horizons, things were promised or shown that did not make it to the released product.

The land of idiots

Why is it that every new game has to be dumbed down, and interfaces have to be not simplified but crippled? Spore reminds me a bit of Lionheads “Black & White”. Personally I loved the first game, even despite the glitches and stupid AI for the Creature. The interface was phenomenal, and EASY to use. Come on, how hard is it to grasp the idea that the cursor is a giant hand inside the world… Never had a single problem with it. And then when they released part too. Yes it was prettier, yes the Creature was a lot more responsive and intelligent, but why would you simplify an interface that already was good and working? They made the game way too easy, and you could finish it without a blink of an eye. I was shocked when it actually hit home that yes, you have finished the game, not the tutorial…

You might be wondering what does this have to do with Spore. Well I started playing on easy, just to get a hang of it. And within 2-3 hours I was half way through civilization stage… And I wasn’t even rushing, in fact I actually explored a bit of every stage, and tried to get everyhting you can for that level… Disappointed with this I started again at hard. Now the game posed a little bit of a challange, and I died a few times on the way to civilization. But it still feels quite easy.

The graphics

I had the Creature Creator before the game was released, so I knew what to expect. The creatures are cute, and most of the time the auto generated movement animation works pretty well. The graphics are cute and decent, but at points you can see a glitch or two with the textures. Overall I think they have done a good job here,m as the game is not about cinematic views, but about having fun with your own quirky creations.