Spore Preview
The EA Game That Covers Everything
When simulation master Will Wright set out to create a game that covered every aspect of life, he didn't mess around. In Spore you start by playing a single-celled organism and eventually guide your creature every step along it's evolutionary pathway until you're in control of a star-faring civilization of advanced technology. It's hard to imagine a more complete game than one spanning from the primordial ooze to the conquest of the stars and covering everywhere in between.
Do Things Your Way
At it's heart Spore is all about putting you in control. The game is full of editor's that let you customize your creatures' appearance and behavior however you desire. At each stage of development you spend points to add or improve different traits and advantages. There's no one way to succeed in the game, and Spore lets you play whichever way you want. You can build big tough creatures that beat their foes into submission or charming pacifists who grow stronger by building friendships with those around them. It's all about your enjoyment.
Several Stages of Varying Play
Spore is really several different games in one.
In the cell phase you steer through a liquid environment trying to capture smaller organisms and devour them so that you can grow. This earns points that can be spent to change the shape, appearance, and abilities of the player's microorganism and there are other bonuses to collect that give you more options. As the game continues, the microorganism becomes larger and the environment reacts. For example, larger predators suddenly taking notice as you begin to look worth a bite. Once the microorganism reaches a certain size it develops legs and crawls out of the sea onto land.
This begins the creature portion of the game, where the player must hunt for food to eat and potential mates to further their species. With each generation, the player continues to spend points to customize the abilities of their race. While doing so they must protect their nests against predators. They can also hunt other creatures or befriend them to form packs. Once the creatures' brains reach a certain level of complexity, they form a tribe and the next part of the game begins.
The tribal game plays more like a strategy game but continues to offer choices for customization and allows both warlike and peaceful strategies. The player vies against other tribes and once their creatures' tribe becomes the most powerful or influential, it builds a city and the game advances.
The player now controls one of a number of civilizations on their planet and competes against rivals to gain control of the world. Strategic options still vary, as there are military, economic, and religious routes to victory. Battles are now fought using vehicles and weapons and players can use the ones suggested or design their own.
Upon reaching a high enough level of technology, the player's civilization launches into space where they can explore other worlds, colonize new worlds, and ultimately unite or destroy the galaxy as they see fit. Truly, the scope of the game is amazing!
“Massive Single Player On-line Game”
Though the game does not offer multi-player options over the net it is completely interactive. Based upon your type of play the game chooses from the creatures designed by other players to populate your planet and give you the best challenge. It will suggest items for you to build that other players playing your style have preferred. Once you travel into space you'll encounter worlds ruled by civilizations designed by other players. And the game will keep track of how people react to your own copies so that you know if people tend to hang out with the critters you've created or blow them to smithereens. There's even been an agreement made with YouTube so that you can directly upload game videos you've created for others to enjoy. Despite the single player design, you won't be playing alone.
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