82
MobyRank
100 point score based on reviews from various critics.
3.6
MobyScore
5 point score based on user ratings.

Description

In Spore the player has to accompany a new race through five stages of it's evolution.

First there is the Cellphase: From a top-down view the goal is to eat meteorite parts floating in the primordial soup to gain DNA points. But the player's creature is not alone and other, friendly or not-so-friendly organisms float about. If the player kills other alpha organisms, he unlocks a new part for the creature editor like a new mouth. These parts all give the player's creature different abilities including singing or a better attack and even affect what the creature can eat. As the player collect's DNA points, the creature grows and moves up into a higher layer of the primordial soup until he is big enough to advance to the next stage: the creature phase.

At the beginning of the Creature Phase the player needs to redo his creature in the creature editor with a new set of parts like feet or hands. Then the goal is again to collect DNA points by roaming the land and befriending or killing the other inhabitants. Again there can be additional parts for the editor found which are dropped by alpha creature that get killed either by you or other, bigger creatures. If the player chooses not to attack but rather talk to the other races, he needs to gain their trust by following their lead and doing what they do. While the lowest creatures see you as a friend already when you just sing with them, more advanced races require a high level in dancing and other abilities which are again gained by rebuilding the creature in the editor with the gained DNA points and available parts. Once the player has collected enough DNA points and developed a certain level of intelligence by doing so, he can enter the tribes phase.

From now on the player can't change the basic anatomy of the creature but instead has access to the tools and clothing editors. The game also plays more like an RTS from now on, requiring to control a group of creature instead of just one and building up a village. Interaction with the other tribes, defending the village and collecting food are the main goals in this phase. Once the player has conquered or allied himself with five other tribes, he can enter the civilization phase.

Now the player has access to the building and vehicle editors to further specialize his former tribe and become the ruling civilization on the planet. The basic gameplay and controls remain the same as in the tribes phase but by conquering or befriending other nations, the player's civilization now get's access to new technologies - including the one required to enter the fifth, last and longest phase of the game: the space phase.

With his ship, the player now needs to go out and colonize or conquer the whole galaxy, defend his own planet against other space faring nations and supply his race with enough food.

The game doesn't have a real multiplayer. Instead the planets are populated by creations that other players made in their game. The players can choose to upload their creatures and even the whole planet to the online database called Sporepedia and from there they get distributed to everyone. Once downloaded, the AI takes over the control of these creatures and advances them further.

Part of the Following Groups


Merchant Title Platform Price  
Amazon
Spore Windows $21.99  
ebay.com
Spore    
Not an American user?

User Reviews

Quite a let down, but still good D Michael Bronze Star Contributing Member (221) 4.14 Stars4.14 Stars4.14 Stars4.14 Stars4.14 Stars
The Power of 5 Little Yoda (177) 3.57 Stars3.57 Stars3.57 Stars3.57 Stars3.57 Stars

The Press Says

Good Game Sep 08, 2008 9.5 out of 10 95
GameZone Oct 03, 2008 9 out of 10 90
IGN Sep 04, 2008 8.8 out of 10 88
GameSpot (Belgium/Netherlands) Sep 05, 2008 87 out of 100 87
gameZine (UK) Sep 12, 2008 8.5 out of 10 85
Tweakers.net Sep 05, 2008 8.5 out of 10 85
PC Player (Denmark) Oct, 2008 8.5 out of 10 85
Vgames Sep 07, 2008 83 out of 100 83
Fragland.net Oct 17, 2008 82 out of 100 82
Absolute Games (AG.ru) Sep 17, 2008 80 out of 100 80

Forums

Topic # Posts Last Post
Mathematicians, I implore you... 8 Tim Čas
Sep 15, 2008
Sporepedia profiles 2 Terrence Bosky Bronze Star Contributing Member (5237)
Sep 11, 2008

Trivia

The game's SecuROM DRM system limits users to three activations per purchase. Additional activation needs to be enabled by calling customer support. Unannounced, this was soon extended to five activations and officially confirmed on 19th September 2008. On that same day, further changes to the DRM management were also announced:
  • Channels to request additional activations.
  • A tool to de-authorize machines and move authorizations to new machines.



This entry was contributed by Sicarius Bronze Star Contributing Member (44874)
 

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