Once in a while a game comes along that completely shifts our viewpoint about games as we know them and Spore is one of those games.

Designed by the Will Wright, the creator of the ever-popular Sim series (Simcity 2000, The Sims), Spore takes free form gaming to a whole new level.

For starters, there isn’t even a proper genre that this game fits into. There are elements of Real-Time Strategy, Role-Playing Games, Simulators and more all packed into a neat little package.

While Spore can be categorised as a “god game”, it does make others in that genre such as Black & White and Viva Pinata, pale in comparison. Put simply, there is just no other game out there that gives you as much freedom and control as Spore.

Players start off as a single celled microbe, swimming around eating plants and other microbes, and progress through stages termed “phases”, each featuring a different style of gameplay, eventually working their way up to a civilisation capable of space travel, basically lording it over the galaxy.

Gameplay in a nutshell

There are five stages: Cell, Creature, Tribal, Civilisation and Space.

In Cell, you are basically a unicellular organism, eating your way to gain “DNA” points, which you need to be able to evolve. You can also use those points to ‘upgrade’ your organism, equipping it better to survive.

Eventually your character will be able to walk on land after gaining enough “DNA” points. Based on the decision you made during cell stage, you’re a herbivore, carnivore or omnivore permanently.

Along the way you gather up ‘parts’, which you can buy with the points you get by either killing or making friends with the other creatures. You gain DNA points as well, and can use these points to ‘upgrade’ your creature anytime, well, by mating.

This is where the creature creator really comes into its own, and body parts actually mean something. Extra legs gains you additional speed, clawed hands boosts damage points, and the list goes on.

When you gain enough points to advance, you’re given the last chance to change your creature’s looks. After that, you advance to the Tribal phase, where you control a small tribe instead of a single creature. You’ll have to micromanage them, and collect food, which is the currency at this stage.

As with previous phases, you can befriend tribes by paying tributes, playing music for them or you could also choose to wipe them out.

When you’ve won over all of the tribes, you advance to the space age. It is here where the going gets really interesting. Faced with many other types of intelligent life, you’ll have to find a way to ensure your prosperity. Players are still given control over the environment in the game, in the form of colonising other star systems and “terraforming” the planet, which means changing the life-sustaining atmosphere, temperature and terrain as you wish.

Creatures from your imagination

The premise of the entire game in one word: Evolve.

To do so, Maxis has created an ingenious creature creator featuring a drag and drop system that is, if not dummy-proof, then dummy-resistant.

It’s like moulding a virtual plasticine: Players can lengthen, fatten, add limbs, facial features and even details like spikes and hooves in creature creation.

What’s more, there are no designated locations for these parts, meaning that you can even choose to customise the distance between each spike on your creature’s back by dragging them to fit.

Examples of extreme creations by the developers at Maxis include: winged humanoids, deer-men, snowmen, and even huge frogs with razor sharp teeth.

However, this is not just limited to creatures. Players who reach the civilization stage and beyond can customize their own buildings, tanks and even spacecraft.

Of course, if you’re not up for extreme creations, there are template buildings already in place so that you don’t have to waste time creating your own buildings. Even so, these templates are editable, allowing players to transform a Maxis creation into a dream home.

Plus points

Spore has an interesting concept, where decisions you make in earlier stages have an impact on the later stages. It is similar to the theory of evolution, making this a potential tool for education.

Like the previous Sim series, players are given a set of tools and are asked to unleash their creativity. A creature could take anywhere from five minutes to an hour depending on the complexity of the creature or buildings and vehicles.

There is also the Sporepedia online, a collection of all the creations by the players of Spore. It’s interesting to see some of the creations, like a recreation of Charles Darwin, who came up with the theory of evolution. These creations can be downloaded into your computer, allowing you to interact with the creations of others.

Game-killers

Once reaching space, the going really gets tough. If you do not either destroy or befriend aggressive races in the galaxy, you will often be subjected to attacks to either your home planet or colonies which are hinderances to your exploration of the galaxy.

The repetitiveness of the early stages can be rather wearisome at times too, take for example when you have to search for bones in the Creature phase to get body parts, which are needed to ‘upgrade’ your creature. It gets a little frustrating when you search for a part for a long time and it still can’t be found.

Final verdict

By taking a complex matter, simplifying it and turning it into a highly-absorbing game, Will Wright has created a game that will appeal to both casual and serious gamers, which is both entertaining and engaging at once.

For serious gamers but more so the casual gamers, Spore is a game that will keep you entertained for hours on end.

UrbanWire’s rating for Spore:

Graphics: 9/10
Sound: 6/10
Gameplay: 9.5/10
Addictive Rating: 9/10
Replay Value: 9/10
Overall Rating: 8.5/10

Spore is retailing now at $59.90 for the normal version, and $79.90 for the Galactic version.