William BagleySpore Review - Cell Stage
September 4th 2008 09:19
Hey all. Decided I needed to jump onto the Spore review bandwagon and post an account of my own experiences with the game.
The game officially launched here in Australia today, to the cheers of many a gamer and non-gamer eager to get their hands on their own little piece of hype. IGN Australia gave a score of 9.2/10, which I think is excellent considering how original, broad and therefore risky Spore is as a game. It was never made a secret by Will Wright or EA that Spore is being aimed squarely at the same market which made The Sims into the commercial success that it is: casual gamers, which IGN and 99% of other game sites do not represent. While hopeful, I never expected the mainstream game sites to give Spore a perfect score.
With Spore, even though it's been marketed at the non-gamer, there has allegedly been enough depth built into it so that traditional gamers will get something out of it as well. But does Spore, Will Wright's latest brainchild, measure up? Is it the God of God games? Let's find out..
Let me get this out of the way before I begin: when I first heard about the Cell stage, I thought "Yawn." All of the footage, the Creature Creator, everything had been focusing on the middle sections of the game. There was very little information provided about the opening portion of the game, except that it was like "Pac-Man."
But I stand corrected. This was the perfect way to introduce the complexity, scale and sheer fun that makes up playing Spore. It's so simple in its goals, yet so brilliant in its execution. When you start the game you are given a choice: herbivore or carnivore? I went against my instincts (and went on the advice of a friend) and chose herbivore. When your comet crashes onto your homeworld, you immediately begin your quest for food. In this case, trying to find scraps of plant life scattered around the depths of the ocean. This, along with finding fragments of meteors & dead cells which both contain other creature parts, is the goal of cell stage.
As I stated, it sounds simple. But the whole experience is simply mind-blowing when you consider the simplicity. As you swim around the ocean eating and growing in size, you are surrounded with dozens of other cells doing exactly the same thing. At this stage I'm sure all of the cells were created by Maxis, but the variety was still amazing. Your backdrop reminds you of the dangers that lie ahead: cells much bigger than you which don't consider your existence to be of any consequence.
As you get closer and closer to creature stage, the backdrop also starts getting lighter, until you realise you're seeing the sand of the shoreline, full of seashells. It's a brilliant way of demonstrating your progress throughout the stage. The graphics of the level are fantastic, full of colour and a convincing portrayal of a fluid environment.
As you progress closer to the shore, one thing you notice is that your fellow cells aren't so nice anymore. After a while you're glad you placed that spike on your rear-end, as you spend most of your time running away from creatures which want nothing more than to see you floating around inside their transluscent bodies. It was surprisingly suspenseful, as you immediately identify with your little cell and you therefore don't want him/her/it to be eaten by some jerkoff ball of mouthes.
If I had to think of a negative, it's that I found using W,S,A,D wasn't a good way to move around the environment despite the game's suggestions. The movement of your cell occasionally was a little awkward as well, however to be honest, these two issues were immediately forgotten once I started getting into the middle part of the stage, and was too busy running and eating to notice.
In my excitement to see the rest of Spore, I went to the Creature stage the moment I earned the right to: basically, once you eat so much that these weird leg-like things end up sticking out of your body. However I can definitely see myself coming back to this stage for a laugh. Was definitely a great way to work my way into the Spore experience.
Stay tuned tomorrow (or the next day, depending on how drunk I get tomorrow night) for the review of the Creature Stage.
Stay classy, 'mongers.
The game officially launched here in Australia today, to the cheers of many a gamer and non-gamer eager to get their hands on their own little piece of hype. IGN Australia gave a score of 9.2/10, which I think is excellent considering how original, broad and therefore risky Spore is as a game. It was never made a secret by Will Wright or EA that Spore is being aimed squarely at the same market which made The Sims into the commercial success that it is: casual gamers, which IGN and 99% of other game sites do not represent. While hopeful, I never expected the mainstream game sites to give Spore a perfect score.
With Spore, even though it's been marketed at the non-gamer, there has allegedly been enough depth built into it so that traditional gamers will get something out of it as well. But does Spore, Will Wright's latest brainchild, measure up? Is it the God of God games? Let's find out..
CELL STAGE
"I feel so insignificant."
Let me get this out of the way before I begin: when I first heard about the Cell stage, I thought "Yawn." All of the footage, the Creature Creator, everything had been focusing on the middle sections of the game. There was very little information provided about the opening portion of the game, except that it was like "Pac-Man."
But I stand corrected. This was the perfect way to introduce the complexity, scale and sheer fun that makes up playing Spore. It's so simple in its goals, yet so brilliant in its execution. When you start the game you are given a choice: herbivore or carnivore? I went against my instincts (and went on the advice of a friend) and chose herbivore. When your comet crashes onto your homeworld, you immediately begin your quest for food. In this case, trying to find scraps of plant life scattered around the depths of the ocean. This, along with finding fragments of meteors & dead cells which both contain other creature parts, is the goal of cell stage.
As I stated, it sounds simple. But the whole experience is simply mind-blowing when you consider the simplicity. As you swim around the ocean eating and growing in size, you are surrounded with dozens of other cells doing exactly the same thing. At this stage I'm sure all of the cells were created by Maxis, but the variety was still amazing. Your backdrop reminds you of the dangers that lie ahead: cells much bigger than you which don't consider your existence to be of any consequence.
As you get closer and closer to creature stage, the backdrop also starts getting lighter, until you realise you're seeing the sand of the shoreline, full of seashells. It's a brilliant way of demonstrating your progress throughout the stage. The graphics of the level are fantastic, full of colour and a convincing portrayal of a fluid environment.
As you progress closer to the shore, one thing you notice is that your fellow cells aren't so nice anymore. After a while you're glad you placed that spike on your rear-end, as you spend most of your time running away from creatures which want nothing more than to see you floating around inside their transluscent bodies. It was surprisingly suspenseful, as you immediately identify with your little cell and you therefore don't want him/her/it to be eaten by some jerkoff ball of mouthes.
If I had to think of a negative, it's that I found using W,S,A,D wasn't a good way to move around the environment despite the game's suggestions. The movement of your cell occasionally was a little awkward as well, however to be honest, these two issues were immediately forgotten once I started getting into the middle part of the stage, and was too busy running and eating to notice.
In my excitement to see the rest of Spore, I went to the Creature stage the moment I earned the right to: basically, once you eat so much that these weird leg-like things end up sticking out of your body. However I can definitely see myself coming back to this stage for a laugh. Was definitely a great way to work my way into the Spore experience.
Stay tuned tomorrow (or the next day, depending on how drunk I get tomorrow night) for the review of the Creature Stage.
Stay classy, 'mongers.
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Comment by Tabitha Donnini
Life's Guilty Pleasures
Shall be purchasing my copy of Spore within the next few days, great review!