The long awaited release of Spore has had a chance to sink into the the gaming community now and I'd like to share some impressions and experiences I've had with it.
First of all, let's all hold hands and try to forget the controversy over the DRM debacle. Yes, it's stupid. EA pretty much shot themselves in the foot but I'm glad the message has gotten out and I hope they are smart enough to do something about it.
So to the gameplay. I know right? Where's the drama in that?
Well to be honest it's really not surprising that the DRM issues have completely overshadowed the game, because honestly, there isn't much game there to begin with.
A lot of reviews I have seen have attempted to divide the game and say there is really 5 games that need to be looked at individually. This is flawed to begin with because in any of these 5 "games" there isn't hardly any gameplay to speak of.
The Tidal phase is fun, it's gimmicky, and it's been done before. In fact it's been done much better before in games like flOw. The entire phase involves nothing more than eating, and trying not to be eaten. While I understand that is truly the point of this stage, I found myself wishing there was a bit more to it at the end. Actually I would have been satisfied with simply playing more of what was there, but they kick you into the next phase quickly.
This is where the gameplay is supposed to open up. The creature stage has your little monster climbing out of the ooze and onto land. Everything about your little creature is charming, how he eats and dances and fights. It's all very satisfying; that is until you realize that's all there is to do. the entire phase is reduced into collecting parts for your creature, migrating, and either killing or assimilating. The social mini game is boring and repetitive, and even combat is barely satisfying as a gameplay element. The fun part of this stage of course is growing your creature, adding parts, making them tough and unique in their own way. Then of course it all ends when your little creatures discover tools.
Welcome to the tribal stage! The first thing you will realize is that you have basically just gone through 2/5ths of the game in about 45 minutes. Here in the tribal stage you are tasked with building a village from a set of about 9 buildings, and you don't even get to design them. You do however get to put clothes on your creature, which is cool, but it makes all of the evolution you just finished doing obsolete. Those 600 spikes down your back your monstrous fangs don't mean anything anymore. So with your little village you send some creatures out to get food, and you suit some up to either become warriors, or musicians. Then you travel to a neighboring village and destroy them or play them a song. Again, the social mini game is completely uninspired and boring. The combat is fun, but essentially amounts to what the mix of combat types you happened to bring. healers, melee, and ranged. There is absolutely zero strategy involved. Before you know it, you are ready to move into the civilization phase. It doesn't matter if you're ready or not either. I wanted to do more in the tribal stage, and while they don't force you do move on until you are ready, there is absolutely nothing left to do.
A little grumpy now and move into the civilization phase. Here you get to design houses and entertainment buildings and factories and vehicles and all kinds of fun stuff. Thats about it though. Your objectives are the exact same as the tribal stage, take over the opposing cities, and go to the next stage.
Before I go on to the space stage, I have to explain the core of why I find all of this so frustrating. Yes, the 4 phases so far are all very unique experiences, but there is no gameplay there. Every time I finished a phase, I would wish there was more to do. It was like I had just finished a tutorial for a new game, and was ready to play the real thing. The problem, however, is that there is no real thing. These are simply four tutorials, for four games, that don't exist.
So even though there was nothing left to do in the Civilization phase, I decided to work on my cities, turn them into cash makers, and save up some money for space. I spent about half an hour accruing cash to spend in the next phase. When I was satisfied, I designed my ship and took off to the stars.
What the shit! None of the money transfers into the next stage, even though its the same currency. Basically there is absolutely zero synergy between the 5 stages. So yes. They are all completely different games. You cannot call this thing a game as a whole because none of its parts work together. They are not one, and judged solely on there own, none of these 5 games are fit for the bargain bin at Wal-Mart.
Sorry, right. Back to Space. So you are now an intergalactic pioneer setting forth to conquer and assimilate and explore! How exciting. Unfortunately in about half an hour all you will be doing is bringing spice back and forth to make money, an admittedly boring and tedious task. Picking up plants and animals from one world and dropping them on another; also tedious and boring. Oh and you'll also being saving planets from sick animals. Like, a lot. You will also be saving your own planets from invaders because while you are advanced into to shape worlds, you aren't capable of commissioning an air-force to defend your planets. Again, completely tedious, boring, and frustrating.
I've ripped on the gameplay when talking to others about it and I keep hearing the same argument. "Well Liam, that's because this is a toy, not a game. It's about the creation." Ok, lets assume for a second you're right. Riddle me this then, batman. A few months before the "game" launched they released the creature creator. Which came with all kinds of stuff to build your creatures. Here's the thing, it was FREE! So what if that little creator thing was the sole purpose of the game, WHY did I just spend 60 dollars on this piece of crap! Yea, I get to design a building, but I don't get to go in it, or even look at it, because I'll be in space 75% of the time. I get to make vehicles and aircraft! Which I only get to play with for about half an hour before they become aesthetic. Everything I've bought the game for is only useful for about half an hour to an hour before you never see it again.
This game is innovative, ambitious, beautiful, brilliant, and a complete and utter waste of money. So again, I do hope that something positive comes out of this DRM scandal, because at least then the game will have a legacy.
