The Observer, September 19, 2008
Volume XLI, Issue 4
Case's new video game obsession: Spore
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What game allows you to play as a single-celled organism, an intergalactic civilization, and everything in between? Spore is a game about survival and evolution with a creative twist: the player gets to guide the evolution however he or she sees fit. Spore is one-of-a-kind; no other game to date has the kind of depth and variety that it does.
It is difficult to categorize this interesting game in to a single genre since it changes so much throughout game play, but it can essentially be classified as a "god" game (a game in which the player is "playing god" in the course of events). There are five distinct phases in Spore and the creature or vehicle under your control is drastically different in each. These five stages are generally known as the cell, creature, tribe, civilization, and space stages.
Each stage gets more complex, which reflects the increasing complexity of your species. In the cell stage, you control a microscopic organism and help it survive and grow. Next, you control a creature when the organism evolves and migrates to land. In the third stage, you control a tribe made up of your creature's species. In the civilization stage, your species becomes the dominant species on the planet, and you must try to unify the entire species. In the fifth and final stage, your species begins colonizing other solar systems, and you pilot the spacecraft in charge.
Every aspect of this game helps to make the experience unique each time you play. The creatures you meet, the planet you begin life on, and the galaxy's structure are generated in a seemingly random fashion. The most significant thing to mention, though, is the fact that you create your creature. Whether it eats plants or other creatures, has wings or eight legs, you have control of it all. Beginning on a microscopic level, you can mold the organism's evolution until it is a fully developed, sentient creature, making allies or enemies of other species along the way. Once you have a sentient being, you don't alter the creature anymore. Instead, you get to design outfits, buildings, vehicles, and eventually even starships and planets. You can even create your own music for your cities. Suffice to say, creative individuals will love all the options available to them in the game.
As far as actual game play goes, Spore does pretty well. It may take some getting used to at first, but after a while, guiding a creature, manipulating the camera angle, or flying the spaceship becomes fluid and relatively easy. If you have the patience to learn about all the controls (especially in the space stage), the game is much more rewarding. Be careful you don't become addicted to it, though…Spore may soon be responsible for a plummet in quite a few students' GPA's.
