Spore

[Cernos]

Anyone been playing Spore? Sax mentioned it I think?

Is it any good? I've been reading the reviews and it sounds fun, but I wonder if the gameplay might be a bit shallow. It seems to borrow bits from other games like Sim City, Civ, RTS games etc but lacks the depth that those games have. Is there any lasting playability in it, or is it more of a novelty game that's fun for the first play through or two, but goes on the shelf after that?

[Lasiien]

Maybe Sax didn't see this, his eyesight needs checking :-)

I don't have it, but from what i heard and read in reviews the stages/games themselves aren't very difficult or require any complex thinking. The main hook of the game seems to be in making creations and sharing them with others, I think you semi interact with other peoples creations but didn't really understand how that all works.

[Tugo]

there's some free creature creator with limited features around, but it's maybe enough to get he feel for it, if you want to try it out.

[Saxif]

Yo,

I only missed it by a day!!

I bought it, got my copy on Friday, heres my thoughts ...

Good game but shallow.  Its fun and thats the main thing with the game fun, its not very complicated, its easy to pick up and you can make anything you want, literally!!  However all the interactions are simple, the first couple of stages are the best where you expect it to be fun and easy, you know, single cell or creature suff.  When it moves up to tribes and civilizations (I am not a star faring race yet) it's simply not complex enough.  The game allows you to totally design your creature, race, civilization (i.e buildings, vehicles, boats, planes) but the actual numbers behind it are simple, the RTS part of the game is very dumbed down and simple (and I am not a fan of that genre, give me turn based).  Its RTS from tribe onwards (single cell ->creature ->tribe->civilization->star faring race), I enjoyed it up to civilization, now its starting to feel like a drag, I think its aimed more for kids and girls who generally dont like pc games (my gf likes it!!).

In review ... Fun but not complex enough.

3 out of 5.

Sax.

[Cernos]

Thanks Sax, it's what I suspected. If there's no real strategy to it, it's just a create and explore game it's not challenging enough for me.

Sounds like my nephew would enjoy it, though he already plays all the LOTR rts games and similar, so might be too easy for him too.

[Saxif]

The RTS Civ stage, you have only 2 land vehicles, 2 water vehicles and 2 air plane options (military and religous), you have a home base, then houses, factories and entertainment which can be placed in a combination to promote happiness, money ++ or unhapiness ... Happiness gaurds against religous attacks, also you can place gun turrets and new units spawn instantly when you click them.

You get resources by mining spice (very Dunesque), which is turned into Sporebucks ...

So pretty simply set up really.

Sax.

[Cernos]

Yeah all the reviews said it was fun but simple, so I think longevity would be poor for anyone who has played a lot of strategy games. I guess if you intend to populate the online Sporepedia with lots of your creations it is worth it ... but a better bet will be to get this as a present for my nephew and then elbow him off the computer at Xmas and play it once through

[Saxif]

I estimate a once through play taking 10-12 hours, possibly longer depending on the space stage ...

Sax.

[Maleg]

My opinion, don't waste any cash buying it.   It's a nice concept but the gameplay is just way too shallow, was dissapointed tbh.