Spore out soon

[Balor]

By the way, flOw was MUCH BETTER then 'cell stage'. Even without the editor. Way to spoil good idea with kawaii art direction, bitches.

 

[MetalCraze]

So basically Spore is a collection of editors?

 

[Kingston]

No, it does have gameplay too, its just that most of the stages are pretty boring.

 

[thesheeep]

Yeah. It is fun probably for the first and second time you play it, but then the annoying easy nature of it and the lack of any strategic depth ruin the fun of seeing your own fun creatures grow up.

Though buying it and registering online may result in a 3rd time full of fun because of all the genitals running around (which have been mentioned in at least two reviews I read so far, lol).

 

[GeneralSamov]

Is it better than Impossible Creatures?

 

[Fez]

Is it better than Impossible Creatures?

No. I'd say Impossible Creatures was much better and more complete at what it does. Spore is greatly lacking in such content.

 

[thesheeep]

I also find IC to be a slightly (and really only slighty) better game, but I don't think they should really be compared.
IC is a pure RTS game, while Spore is a genre-mix (which definately is it's problem...).

 

[Carrie Underwood]

I just thought of something. Wasn't the creature editor supposed to be like molding clay? I remember previews saying you could create something that looks exactly like a human... or a teddy bear. Wasn't that supposed to be the "revolutionary" part of it?

 

[Balor]

Well, with all the parts, I guess you can.
Didn't try it, but sertainly viable.
Only thing I found lacking is hair... and human ears (but perhaps I just didn't find them).

 

[Kaiserin]

They have the framework for something really awesome based on my experience playing the game(after pirating it) last night. The tools are fun, but you knew that if you messed with the creature creator. There just seems to be an overall lack of content, and something organic was lost in a very big way somewhere between those original previews and now.

Creature design only really matters the first three stages of the game. It still affects your creatures behavior and the like after that, but it really feels like they forced their hand to find a way to make the earlier levels affect the later ones. Essentially, if you were carnivorous in the original stage, you'll have a special ability in all of the later stages, etc. It's kind of neat, but there just isn't a lot of meat on the bones.

What's even stranger is that the game is surprisingly goal oriented and offers very little sandbox gameplay. Which is a pretty bad thing considering that the goal oriented stuff is a bit of a pain in the ass, and you often feel like you just want to get to the next stage. I very often felt like I was being manipulated in the same way an MMO player is to 'get more parts and loot.' The primary reason to complete the early non-space ship stages being some vague strive for getting things 'just right.'

Speaking of the space ship stage, it's really pretty interesting, but also surprisingly unsandboxy. At first it kind of sets it up like you're the one who's going to decide how things work in space mode, but then it turns out that it's just as full of pressure as the rest of the game. You can't sit back and fiddle around with building ecosystems(fun) because assholes are starting intergalatic wars with you almost immediately. I would enjoy this if it weren't for the absolutely horrid 'combat' in space mode. Well into this stage you have a really shitty set of missiles and a laser that shoot about 3 inches(across your screen) and you trigger them by moving within three inches of the enemy and then clicking on them. It's a really sloppy and stupid thing, especially when there are 10 ships raiding your home planet and the only way to drive them off is by killing one or two of them with your shitty laser/missile combo before being blown up, rinse repeat.

I would say that it's a very entertaining toy more than it is a game. I'll probably wait for the price to go down and buy a copy when it's around 30 dollars, as I can see this occupying a place similar to the Sims 2. I'll fiddle with it fervently, get bored for about 2 months, then fiddle again for another few days sometime later. I have a feeling that expansions will 'fix' the content issue, since content seems to be the big thing missing here to me. I'll probably stick to stealing and not purchasing on those though...

 

[Balor]

I'll buy it myself, cause at least they are trying to innovate. However if expancions would only add extra parts to the editors, I would not even bother to pirate them.

 

[Kaiserin]

I'll buy it myself, cause at least they are trying to innovate. However if expancions would only add extra parts to the editors, I would not even bother to pirate them.

I'm using the Sims as a model for how they're going to handle the expansions. While there was 'stuff' added, most of the expansions centered around a new game mechanic like seasonal weather events, owning your own business, going out on dates, vacations... etc.

 

[sabishii]

seasonal weather events, owning your own business, going out on dates, vacations... etc.

My eyes just glazed over.

 

[Admiral Rimjob POOBUM]

I just entered the space stage today. It was really cool to start with, but I encountered the same problem as kaisaisaduafwfawgagwen - I just want to fly around launching cows into volcanoes and terraforming planets, but I keep getting forced into fighting fucking pirates and participating in boring wars.
This stage had potential, but it'd work a lot better if it focused on the god-like aspect instead of the boring combat.

Disappointing, really.

 

[Balor]

I see people already modding the shit out of spore - to make pirate raids much less frequent, for instace, etc.
However, right now we are offered an engine demo (at a price of a full game), that will be patched into something worthwhile later (at additional cost).
However, it's EA for you, it's hard to expect something else.

 

[Lord Chambers]

I see people already modding the shit out of spore - to make pirate raids much less frequent, for instace, etc.
However, right now we are offered an engine demo (at a price of a full game), that will be patched into something worthwhile later (at additional cost).
However, it's EA for you, it's hard to expect something else.

Essentially correct. Spore is a toolset plus gameplay that isn't more complex than what you'd find in an NES game. Now, as elderly internet denizens I'm sure you remember how much fun you had playing very simple NES games, and so that's how you can enjoy Spore for now. In two years it's going to be amazing. Whereas a game like Oblivion gives you modding tools and lots of people decide to open up the other .exe and play with them, 70% of the time a person spends "playing" Spore is modding it.

 

[Balor]

Well, I'm sure that Spore will find it's audience among those people who spent countless hours decorating houses in Morrowind and Sims, but I'm not among them.
I really hope that the game will be expanded, especially the space part - I hope for something on the level of Master of Orion or GalSiv. Tools already support it (in fact, spore's constructor starship constructor is almost like one of GalSiv) most of it, now just allow us to design and command space ships, send them to defend and attack planets, etc.
Also, making plants and animals from different planets requiring different temperatures, atmosphere levels (and adding gravitation is good too) - great feature of MoO, and makes a lot of sense.
Planetary invasions can be fleshed out better, etc...
Oh well, what am I talking about, EVERY aspect of the game is begging for improvement.
Tribal and RTS sections do stand out - level of suckage there is simply EXTREME.

 

[Fez]

After you've settled a few planets it really all does seem the same. Can't be bothered to scan anything any more when I visit a new planet, I just want to unlock the tools so I can play with them. This of course means I have to complete the retarded Xbox live-style achievements, mostly by doing the same actions repeatedly (kill 500 space ships, alter the terrain 400 times, etc.). I'm tempted to not even bother and just head straight for the centre of the galaxy. I don't mind it having achievements to track your progress as an extra, but to have them as the centre of the game play is awful.

 

[SuicideBunny]

I'm tempted to not even bother and just head straight for the centre of the galaxy.

to be able reach the center you need to unlock the click-1500-times-on-random-stars-within-ship-range achievement, and a cheat or trainer for hp.

 

[Fez]

Goddammit. I thought as much. How can one game show so much promise and so much retardation in one package?

 

[SuicideBunny]

i don't get it either. the retardation of the interface alone is simply unbelievable.

 

[Heresiarch]

How is the Sims without expansions compared to Spore?

 

[Jeff Graw]

Worse even with the expansions, I think, but that's not saying much.

Spore really lends itself better to expansions as well, but maybe that's just because of it's broken emptyness. Most sims expansions felt "tacked on" while they have the opportunity with Spore expansions to fill in the missing gaps. If they're smart at all, the first two expansions will focus on the tribal and civilized periods while adding smaller functionality to the rest of the game.

 

[RK47]

I sincerely doubt they would enhance the tribal & civilized period. There's no reason to go 'back' to the previous age for long time players by then. If we want our RTS / Civilization fix, we would have other games to play.

What do they want? I was directing a band of musical chickens in the tribal age from village to village, that experience was quite funny the first time, but fell flat the 2nd play through that I bulldozed everything with my Space Tauren

 

[Lord Chambers]

The tribal and civilization stages are as fun as the creature stage. I'm not sure what about the creature stage you guys feel stands out, but it's the same spamming you do in any stage.

Here's my best attempt at a human:

"Save yourselves from hell."