Spore - the game of evolution

The anticipation was enormous. Considering people have been following the project for a couple of years the expectations were high.

And in a way the build-up 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 everything you can for that level... Disappointed with this I started again at hard. Now the game posed a little bit of a challenge, and I died a few times on the way to civilization. But it still feels quite easy.

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When you start the game as a cell, you might not be aware of it, but the choices you make at this level can have a hue impact on the rest of your game.

One of such choices is what kind of mouth you stick on your creation. You start off either as a carnivore or a herbivore. To be able to switch to the third available diet, you will need to first unlock the third mouth type - the funny, mosquito like sucking instrument, which is the omnivore mouth.

The choice in the primordial soup is quite important, especially if you intend to play through the stages in a row, rather than skipping ahead at some point. Because once a carnivore, always a carnivore...

To save you from the disappointing discovery, one thing you should bare in mind is that one of the initial choices takes precedence. And as such if you stick three mouths on your creature, you will stick to your primary choice (the one before you started the game). Thus not being able to choose the omnivore heads later in the game.