Spore

Pros

• Creature creator is a blast to play around with
• Tons of variety in the different game phases
• World is populated by species made by other players

Cons

• Gameplay modes are wide but not particularly deep
• Larger community is largely nonexistent at this point

Spore is an innovative evolution simulator game that's absolutely brimming with creativity but sometimes stumbles in its attempts to offer compelling gameplay. Created from the mind of mad scientist game developer Will Wright, Spore is essentially a god game that gives you more control over your creations than any game in its genre.

You start by creating a microscopic organism and guiding them through the simple process of eat or be eaten, but as you start to consume other creatures and acquire experience, you can evolve your species to become a more effective species. Evolution here is freeform, allowing you to attach different parts to your microscopic organism, most of them bringing both distinct advantages and disadvantages.

But that's just the start of things. Spore is broken down into a variety of different phases that show your progress from a microscopic organism into an entire spacefaring species. The simple arcade gameplay of the microscopic face develops into creature stage where your species ventures out onto land and is forced to survive on a brutal continent occupied by plenty of other threats. This phase sees a combination of real time strategy and typical third person action as you guide your entire species to progress, killing other creatures for survival or territory. Players have some flexible options in whether they decide to be friendly or hostile to other creatures, and each generation gives the players an opportunity to change the evolutionary track of their creatures.

The tribal transforms the game into a full on strategy management game. At this point the look of your creatures are locked in, and you're put in charge of your entire species. Resource management eventually develops to the point where you hit the civilization stage. Here, developing new buildings and vehicles is critical to conquering the entire world, but you have flexibility in whether you decide to overcome your obstacles through force or diplomacy.

Spore's diverse variety of gameplay systems are ambitious, but that broad net means that the moment to moment gameplay can be a little thin. It's a fun enough series of systems to keep players moving forward, but the real heart of the game can be found in the character creator. You have a ton of different traits to choose from, and players are inspired to make the wildest creations possible. In that respect, the game is often best experienced as a living sandbox rather than a game in its own right.

That's further underscored by the fact that players aren't living in a vacuum. Connecting to the internet means that your creations are shared with the rest of the world, and your game world will be populated by species created by other players. In that way, the game is a collaborative exercise engaged in by anyone who's ever loaded up a game of Spore.

Pros

• Creature creator is a blast to play around with
• Tons of variety in the different game phases
• World is populated by species made by other players

Cons

• Gameplay modes are wide but not particularly deep
• Larger community is largely nonexistent at this point