That's a lot of missions...
Spore, the successful game by Maxis back in 2008, was a game based off of evolution. It combined different types of game-play, such as strategy, action, and adventure, which are all grouped in levels, or as I call them, "stages of life". The last stage, the space stage, involved the creature to fly around in a spaceship, negotiate deals, beam up other animals, trade spices, and explore the cosmos. Of all of these, the one fans didn't find there was the ability to leave the spaceship.
Released about 9 months since Spore came out, the first official expansion pack was released. The 2.16GB game disc is actually required to play Galactic Adventures, while the original game didn't. It installs in the same way, and, like the base game, Galactic Adventures had a few patches to fix up some problems it had.
But starting up the game a new option of the left has opened up, which allows you to play Galactic Adventure's "quick-play" mode. This allows you to jump right into an adventure. You can also make or edit an adventure straight away as well, but it is recommended if you go into the space stage.
When you start up the space stage, you'll need to actually name your captain now. You can also dress him up in the new detail which looks like a Star Trek suit. Missions that you can get given in the space stage can now include adventures which require you to travel to new "adventure planets" which you must clear an adventure. You'll start with some tutorial adventures made by Maxis to get you into the mood, and then after that, it's all fan-based.
Clearing adventures requires you to accomplish all objectives that are given to you in the mission. Once you finish the mission, you can rate it, see how fast other people have done, and see how many SporePoints you have earned. These are basically experience points, as when you get a certain number of them, you'll rank up and unlock cool weapons and utilities.
These can be laser beams, lightning bolts, slashing claws, jet packs, stealth shield, and more. These cool weapons will use up energy, and when you use too much, you have to wait for it to replenish, or pick up an energy pack if there is one. The creator sets everything in the adventure, and that gives him lots of freedom to make anything he wants.
To make an adventure, you pick a default planet to work off of. Then you sculpt the planet, trying to make it perfect. You can change its atmosphere, its temperature, its land colours, its flora, and its shape. After that, you can import creatures, vehicles, buildings, and custom-made objects to make your adventure seem fit.
There are cool objects you can put in as well. You can make keys to gates, you can make warps that make you feel like you walked into a building, and you can even make jump pads! You can make tornadoes, mushroom clouds, and, my favourite, the fire jets. There are objects that relate to other objects in game, that you can substitute for objects of your own. That means you can make apple grenades, sad-faced keys, and even Barack Obama damage bonuses. The possibilites are endless.
You can make acts, with different dialogues for people you talk to, different enemies that you have to fight, or different objects you must give other people. You can test your adventure at any time, and change things you probably don't want in the final project. The editor is easy to use, and can really make your adventure unique.
Playing other people's adventures is like an odyssey. You never know what's going to happen. In one adventure, you're killing Senate members to pass a bill through Parliament, and another, you're trying to dance to a six-eyed cat so his eyes will fall out so you can throw them at snakes so that they blow up and save the naked people. There's even a section of adventures made by members of Robot Chicken, making this game very humorous.
Overall, Spore Galactic Adventures costs more than a usual expansion pack, but it offers more creativity and fun for the player. It gives them more creatures, and buildings, and lots more enjoyment. While the game doesn't really expand on any existing game-play, the new adventures will surely keep you coming back to this game for a long time.
