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Spore (Mac/PC DVD)
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| Description:
From the creator of The Sims comes the most ambitious video game ever made: here you don't just control a single family or city but control an entire species from a single cell organism to a galactic conqueror. As impossibly complex as that might sound, the most impressive thing about Spore is just how accessible and fun it all is. The game is split into six evolutionary phases, starting with almost action-style gameplay at the microscopic level. From there you move to the creature phase on dry land, before going on to the tribal phase and the beginnings of society and technology. From there it's onto the city phase, which plays a bit like SimCity, and from there to the Civilisation phase which plays something like, you guessed it, Civilization. The final phase takes part in outer space where by hook or by crock your species must reign triumphant. Each phase has its own editing tools associated with it for things like vehicles and buildings. By far the most fun though is the creature tool, which allows you to create your own fully animated lifeform from scratch using a huge range of limbs, facial features and colourings. What's also interesting is that the other planets in the galaxy aren't all pre-populated by the game. Instead, by connecting online you can upload your races, and download those from other people, to fill the galaxy with civilizations from other players around the world. Any one of the six phases would normally be enough for any one game on its own, but this looks like it's going to turn out to be the world's first everything simulator.
HARRISON DENT
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1/5 |
DRM Boycott
(October 01, 2008) |
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I think this whole DRM fiasco is going to cause EA a lot of problems in the long run. 6-12 months from now, should anyone still be playing this game, they will start getting calls from the less technically minded users wondering why their copy does not work any more. Maybe then EA might get the hint.
We need to boycott any EA game with SecurROM on it, otherwise they will never ditch it. The only way companies ever admit to mistakes is when their share price tumbles to the point of near bankruptcy. This boycott must extend to ALL platforms, not just the PC. If Spore comes out on the XBox, it must also be avoided, otherwise the suits will just look at bottom-line figures and assume PCs just don't have a market anymore.
I wanted to play both Spore and Mass Effect, but I will not buy them with their current copy protection on. I'm not against DRM per se, as Valve implemented their system, Steam and it works just fine. And their system actually prevents piracy too. This is what EA should have implemented, then this issue would never have been raised, and this game would have sold 2-3 times as many copies (including those 500,000 illegal copies not being usable)
To use an analogy for the situation, the music companies realised that draconian copy protection did not work. I bought a few CDs that had similar 'protection'. They did not work on my CD player, so back to the shop they went, where I got my refund, and they ended up sat in the bargain bin, unwanted and unsold. Laughably, the CDs could still be ripped, so I had CDs that I could not listen too, but I could easily pirate (if I was so inclined). A few publishers lost a lot of money over this, and they eventually learned. Hopefully, the same will occur to EA.
This is a matter of principle, so those of you who just cannot wait to buy a game, you will be endorsing this form of DRM, and it will become more prevalent. Make an issue of it now, and you will help prevent it's use in the future.
Money is the bottom line, and you are the consumer. It is the only real power you have as a consumer, so use it. |
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2/5 |
A huge disappointment!
(September 30, 2008) |
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When i found out spore was what it was i thought this game would be the most unbelievably brilliant simulation.
When it arrived i was so excited then i played it and i was bored already. I got to the centre of the universe which is one of the main things and i have to say it was a huge anti-climax. Nothing wonderous happens the badges take absolutely ages to accumulate and you end up at war with everyone if you aren't careful!
EA have built me up with the sims and i love the sims, but this showed me not even EA is omnipotent when it comes to games!
All hype and no action! |
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2/5 |
More than a little dissapointing
(September 30, 2008) |
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Like many, I bought spore after enjoying the creature creator that was released a couple of months back. Seeing how accessible and fun that was, I decided to give this a go. I have to say though, I'm very, very disappointed. DRM wasn't a good start to it all. Everyone hates the damn thing. Although I doubt I'll even want to install spore more than 3 times anyway, because the actual game sucks.
Sure all the creators are easy and accessible, but everything else is repetitive, boring and bland. Will Wright is really good at making someone believe his games might be going somewhere and then ruining any chances of respect by just making the player bored and annoyed. If you thought the Sims got boring really quickly, try this out if you dare. Every stage gets more and more boring as you go along. No thought has been put into this game to make it interesting. Cell stage doesn't differ much from pac man, creature stage is basically just a waste of time going around repeating the same thing over and over again, tribal stage is a joke on the rts formula, civilization stage is just an awful rip off of the civilization games and then comes the overly long rpg style galaxy stage, which is the most boring, bland thing you will ever see in a game. Everybody attacks your planets too regularly, requiring you not to focus on your objective, but to protect your planet. Even worse, the extremely hated simmish language has a place in this game. Why lord? Why? WHy? WHY???????????????????!!!!!!! Also the environments are ugly, the graphics suck and the soundtrack got on my nerves more than psycho's voice in Crysis.
There's also no multiplayer options in this, which could have really saved the day. All you can do is share files with other people (most of them being perverts).
I'm so disappointed in this, it had so much going for it and like many other games, turns to a pile of dog trollop. Just buy the creature creator if you must, at least I don't think that has a DRM either. Avoid at all costs. |
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1/5 |
ea are not interested in making good games anymore
(September 30, 2008) |
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this is not the game i waited 3 years for.
EA have simply got the game they had in development and released half of it, leaving the other half to be released in millions of retarded expansion packs, like THE SIMS.
you can also only install it 3 times before your copy is useless.
very dissapointed and angry. |
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1/5 |
Unable to Register Game
(September 30, 2008) |
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This game deserves zero stars...
So much for DRM not being an issue. I was unable to register the game at all! EA told me the CD key was already registered to someone else. Not what you expect from a genuine purchase with a supposedly genuine cd-key. So locked out from online content, and thus far, no replacement CD-key. In fact, EA just told me to contact the retailer.
Played the offline game for a while. Not really enough depth, and far too much micromanagement, especially during the space stage of the game (one fleet of ships to defend all your star systems??). Doubtful if the game will really have much re-playability.
I will be staying well clear of EA/DRM games in future. |
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