Spore First Impressions
I am kinda happy to say that I got spore about 20 seconds after it was released. The manager at the store had not even removed them from the box yet. he handed the first one to me. As I write this, I have so far played the Cell and Creature stages. I was very impressed with the cell stage. MY wife and I were playing it together, and we would both jump and cheer, when our little ... spore thing... was either surprised by a huge scary monster, or somehow defeated a tricky foe. The gameplay looks simple on a video, but it is quite complex. The placement of your body parts makes a great deal of difference. and some creatures you have to attack in different ways - otherwise their defenses will be too much for you. The creature stage is equally complex. Making the game feel very much like a long quest in World of Warcraft. you are automatically assigned 'quest objectives' as you explore, and if you complete them you are rewarded with DNA points. While some quests may be very difficult, and others may seem too easy, you are not bound to any single objectives, other then advancing the game by evolving. If a objective is too hard to kill, you simply select another species or creature and your objective automatically changes to adjust to that creatures skill level. This works both for peaceful interactions and hunting. As you grow, your nest site moves along with you. I was surprised during one of these mvoes, by a large asteroid shower which rained small astroids down on the land.. and then later on by a UFO which seemed to be very interested in me. While I am online playing, I have yet to see any player created items. Everything so far has been stock items. Which ... I must say are very diverse and interesting. The Install was smooth, and the game runs great on my AMD 3200. Learning the game was fast and easy. I dare say so far, that I believe these first 2 stages are quite addictive. I heard that the Tribe and Civ stages which come next are a bit lacking, but we shall see. I will add to this when I have completed both of them. Oh, and if you see a creature called a Grimhilde, be nice to him. Because he is my creature and he will likely rip your head off if you aren't ;) --- Tribal and Civ stages are alright, despite some negative reviews. I would have to say that the tribe phase is slightly more interesting then the Civ phase which is super basic. None the less they don't last long, until you are on your way to space. In both stages it helps to be as fast acting as possible. also defend your coastal cities! in the early stages of the Civ game, they will be the most frequently attacked cities. I generally try to send out my vehicles to capture all the spide nodes on the island before another Civ pops up. Space. hmmm. Well. I will say that space is quite difficult. I think the most annoying part is having to race back to defend your home world from attack when you are working on your quests and such... cant they build another UFO to help defend? sheez... Space stage very much has the feel of questing in WoW. It is challenging, and you end up doing similar missions over and over, in order to earn cash in which you have to spend to expand and bribe other empires. If there was a money cheat (and there is) I would likely end up using it here. It is VERY difficult to try and take over the universe. I think the idea is to co-exist with other empires, because the cost it requires to buy a star system, let alone the force required to try and capture a single planet, is astounding. I have yet to be able to do that, without loosing my UFO in the battle yet. I am working hard on discovering the secret to the space stage however. Surely it cant be this hard, when the rest of the game is so easy in relation? I must say so far my favorite stages are Cell followed by Creature. In those stages, and somewhat in Tribal and Civ as well, it doesn't really play any different if you are Hunting and Killing, or Gathering Fruit and being Peaceful. I believe the hardest method of gameplay would be to try to stay in the middle and balance your killings and peace. Also, if anyone wishes to add me to their buddy list, my in game name is of course Roadwolf. :) hope to see your creations.