Will Wright's Latest Is Ambitious But Overhyped

Title: Spore
Platform: PC, Mac
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Developer: Maxis
ESRB Rating: E10+ for Everyone 10 or over

There are times when it seems necessary to nuke the ever-annoying hype machine and to completely annihilate whatever powers its evil innards and the minions feeding its belly. How many times have gamers anxiously waited for titles so overworked that they appear to be created by God Himself, only to discover that it was merely a diabolical plot to dress up a developmental mess too late to cancel on behalf of the publisher? Far too many times - and it's a wonder why gamers keep falling for the same tactics again and again.

Thankfully, that's not exactly the case here with Will Wright's latest creation, Spore. However, Spore still suffers from pre-release hype because of Wright's name alone, dooming the highly anticipated PC game before it ever hit the streets. Anyone who follows his lucrative career is already aware of the mounds of cash his Sims franchise brings in every month. By far, the Sims franchise has dug its talons into each household across America, spreading through the PC, Game Boy Advance, Xbox consoles and whatever else Electronic Arts has access. It's literally become a household name to say the least, a gaming deity unlikely to be conquered, much less defeated.

With that in mind, it's easy to understand the difficulty Spore has in its attempts to capture the hearts and dollars of the consumer. And while the game certainly has its good points, ultimately it falls short of the expectations and the promises, suffering from an identity crisis that will leave players confused half-way through the game. While it starts off cute and charming (in a Sims kind of way), is easy to play and is something that will likely appeal to any gamer; it slowly transforms into a hard-core strategy board game that disconnects the player from his or her very creations. Thus, Electronic Arts pockets your hard-earned money while offering a lackluster product that may never be completed.

Of course, gamers will never complete Spore - at least that's the impression the game offers. Like The Sims, Spore features a persistent world where creatures are born and then they die. There's an entire galaxy to explore, an overwhelming abundance of star systems that will definitely offer plenty of gaming goodness for years to come. It's amazing to even think about and a wonder Spore doesn't bring computers to an explosive halt due to the massive amounts of information thrown into memory. How many stars orbit the galaxy's core? They're seemingly innumerable.

The Creature Stage demonstrates much of the charm and discovery of Spore.

Spore's overall message is clear, however: the journey from a single-cell organism to a galactic empire is an impressive one. Naturally, those who reject Darwinism will take offense at the game's premise - not everyone believes that mankind originated in slime. Still, as a fictional game, the process from beginning to end is certainly fascinating.

Gamers begin by designing a single-cell organism (reminiscent of Pac-Man), struggling to stay alive in a cesspool of slime and other microorganisms. As it develops and gamers begin to fine-tune its evolution, they quickly discover an empathic connection to this creation. They are, in fact, a virtual God, and this is their creation, their child.

The single-cell stage is one of five stages in all. Once the creature develops legs, it enters Stage 2 and exits the water, taking up a nest on dry land (aka the Creature Stage). Here the game cranks up the charm, requiring the gamer to find friends in nearby nests. There's very little strategy involved - either charm the other creatures or dominate them. Each ally brings DNA points that in turn advance the creature and its pack into the next stage of its development. However, this stage feels like an RPG in a way, requiring the gamer to add and remove body parts in order to improve its stats - the ability to sing, dance and fight effectively are important in its capacity to socialize and evolve. It may come across another nest and sing its heart out, but in return may get a sleeping and/or annoyed audience because the creature's singing stats aren't up to par.

For some reason, this portion of Spore felt somewhat Sims-ish in a way; making babies, making friends, dancing with strangers - it's extremely fun and extremely charming. If anything, Spore lives up to the pre-release hype in this portion. However, it quickly loses its heart-warming charm as the game enters the following Tribal Stage, but remains fun nevertheless. The game ditches the previous RPG feel and takes on a light strategy structure but loses some of its connectivity to the gamer in the process.

In the Tribal Stage, gamers immediately enter the Creature Creator and edit the existing beast, adding garments and other decorations that come with a tribal leader position. As before, most of the items added have a function in improving the creature's overall stats, this time boosting gathering abilities, social abilities, health and combat level. The objective in this stage is to discover and ally/conquer five tribes. At the same time, gamers must fend off attacks from wild animals as well as from other tribes. The player's tribe begins with a simple hut, but as each ally is made (or outside tribe conquered), the game offers new items to place within the tribe's territory via the editor.

The creature evolves once again after all five tribes are allied/conquered, moving into the Civilization Stage. Here, the game leaves behind any charm it once generated in the previous stages, and thus transforms Spore into a city-building simulator. The object in this stage is to rule the world, to become an unstoppable superpower by (once again) forming alliances and/or conquering other cities. This stage is a bit more complex than the previous Tribal Stage, requiring the design of boats, land vehicles and airplanes (which is certainly not something for the average player). While designing buildings and vehicles is rather cool, it becomes monotonous after a while - gamers build factories, houses and the actual vehicles from scratch using the editor, and at times, it feels burdensome.

NEXT PAGE: Spore: Lost in Space?

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