9/10
God games are nothing new. Games such as Black and White, Populous, and others have established the genre, casting you in the role of a masterful being that is capable of manipulating anything in your given world. With Spore, Will Wright of Maxis (creator of classic genre defining titles including The Sims and SimCity) has raised the bar again by changing the perception of what games are and could continue to be. The task of taking a single celled organism and leading it to galactic domination may sound like a hefty undertaking, but the streamlined tools and endless customization will be sure to grab you and never let go.
Spore is separated into five distinct stages, each made to represent a consecutive part of evolution. Rather than simply describe each section, I’ll instead chronicle the time I spent with my very own creation: Weeble. Weeble had the choice to be a carnivore or an herbivore before he was conceived, but his thirst for blood was quite clear. He had to be threatening so that the other single-celled organisms would fall in line to the might of my very special being. After much eating and attacking, Weeble was ready to leave this pool of simpletons behind in search for bigger and better things. It was time to hit the surface of this unknown land in a quest for knowledge and enter the creature stage.
One thing Weeble needed before hitting the great plains of the unknown was a new look, one that would be more useful in the real world. So I attached a pair of legs, arms, feet, hands, and a face that only a mother could love. Gone was Weeble; in came the superior being: the Cosby-Platypus. My new creature roamed the land meeting all sorts of interesting creatures, some friendly, some not so much. He was even able to find a whole tribe of other Cosby-Platypuses, all with the same frothing demand for knowledge. So he joined alongside his brethren, scouring the land for other tribes, trying to gain their trust through song, dance, and glamorous poses. Some barbaric creatures weren’t so willing to go along with the peace offering and thus had to be destroyed and forever purged from the land. As time went on, the Cosby-Platypus gained the knowledge it had long sought and expanded his brain to the point where it was nearly bursting out of his skull.
Now this knowledge had to be put to use, and he abandoned his nomadic ways. It was time to bash a bunch of sticks and rocks together to create fire. It was time to enter the tribal stage. The Cosby-Platypus set up its small tribe in a seemingly remote area of now familiar land. Wild animals roamed the land, serving a dual purpose as both game to be hunted for food and as currency. It didn’t take long for other tribes to form in the land. The best way to reason with these tribes was through music. With instruments in hand, the Cosby-Platypus tribe roamed the land, attempting to come to peaceful terms with these foreign beings. Unfortunately, some wouldn’t hear of it, so they had to lay waste to many of these other tribes in order to advance and secure the future of their culture. Time went forward for the beings known as the Cosby-Platypuses, and soon they were the dominant life form of the entire planet.
The civilization stage came next, and as such, my creations needed a taste of civilized life. I was able to custom make every part of town: a city hall, houses, and factories. The newly established Blue Nation of Cosby-Platypuses was free to flourish in… or so they thought. Soon other cities filled with Cosby-Platypuses started appearing and contested their rule over the land. The Orange Nation, the Yellow Nation, and the Green Nation all wanted one thing: complete domination. I wouldn’t let my nation fall to these barbarians. I amassed a force to be reckoned with: a custom-made military of tanks, boats, and planes, to take over these hostile nations in an effort to unite this world. Once the Blue Nation of Cosby-Platypuses took over the planet, they were ready to embark on the final frontier: Space!
Space is where Spore ultimately takes you. Starting with the tribal stage, the title starts to turn into a basic real time strategy game not far removed from Age of Empires, and continues to expand on that specific mode of gameplay. Once in space, you are free to roam the galaxy in your custom-designed spaceship, traveling from star system to star system, exploring a seemingly infinite number of planets and visiting just as many new life forms. Like the previous section, your goal is to take over the galaxy through a means of diplomacy or hostile takeover. This is the most in-depth of the game modes. Providing missions such as abducting creatures and finding new resources, the title constantly gives you direction so the player never feels lost.
It is worth mentioning that Spore’s greatest accomplishment lies in its community feature. If you chose to play Spore online, much of the content you come across will be user-created, which means you may encounter one of my Cosby-Platypuses in your own game. The upside is that there is a nearly limitless amount of content here that will continue to expand for years to come. The downside is that you may encounter a bunch of phallic-shaped creatures created by those without much of an imagination. The five modes of play are great, but you also never get a really good feel for any of them. Once you start to get the hang of one mode, it throws you to the next one. This is a minor issue, but one that can also encourages multiple play-throughs just so you can experience your favorite stage all over again.
Overall, Spore is a breath of fresh air for gaming. It introduces a new take on social gameplay in addition to providing almost limitless customization in every aspect of its five unique modes. The reason I’m not giving Spore a perfect ten is simply the fact that is suffers a pace that can be too fast at times.
