So far I've put in around 15-16 hours. Its been fun but this really isn't the game I was hoping.

If it was deeper it would be amazing but like reviews have said I just can't help think "this would be so much better if they added X or done Y". There are quite a few little bugs popping up like turrets that fire at nothing, planet textures not loading, not being able to attack some creatures ect and so far the Space stage has done nothing but **** me off.

Every 2 minutes someone is attacking me which means I can't explore or in fact do much of anything. Every time they attack the same city/planets with the same ships and do the exact same thing over and over every 2 damn minutes.

The game also has a very strong feeling that it would be better after the 8 expansions which are inevadable to come are released.

There are so many little problems and disappointments I am starting to get sick of the game already.

The thing is the problems don't just lie with the space stage. Tribal and Civ stage both start to get pretty boring too because its just a very very basic RTS game. That's it. Tribal is less than an hour long so that's ok but civ is much longer.

The A.I is pretty crap too. They don't have any strategy at all and send wave after wave into die.

The units are unbalanced too. Air units are USELESS. Ground is only ok at the start and ships are far and beyond the most powerful with good health, strong damage, insane anti-air damage and the ability to shoot way inland.

I still enjoy Cell and Creature stage the most. These are the only 2 times you get to shape your character into what you want and get to collect the parts and make the game feel like Spore(or should I say the spore you were expecting), not just a basic RTS.

This game seems like its an editor with a game thrown in to try the stuff out and real content to be released later.

The missions in space suck pretty badly too. For example scan EVERYTHING on a planet but it doesn't say what you have and haven't scanned or how many there is to scan. Others just include pick up and drop off missions or other MMO style missions.

I know this has been kind of a rant and overall I do like it(I love the music) but for a game that has been delayed sooooo long and has so much potential it really seems like this is a classic case of being too dumbed down for a wider market. I know its by Maxis, the creators of the sims and I knew it would be simple enough for casual gamers but some of it is just boring it's so simple. I love the sims and was hoping for something like that which had depth but also very accessible. 
The thing is this is much more simple than the sims, it lacks even that much depth.

This game is perfect for people who LOVE creating lots of cool creatures and units but for the rest who wanted a true game...not so much.

However saying all that I can't help but still keep playing it. It might be because my hype for the game dropped quickly and I'm seeing what the game has to offer now rather than what it's missing.

I'm hoping most of the bad game designs and bugs can be cleared up with patches and when the first expansion comes out Maxis listens to us and adds more depth, even if its just to what The Sims 2 has.

If you love building things: 5/5
If you wanted a great game with the editors: 3.5/5

Your thoughts were interesting, I looked at the Gamespot review and despite them giving the game an 8.0 they didn't highlight a lot of the weaknesses in the game that you've pointed out. I think it's a shame about what has happened to Spore because Will Wright's visions and ideas were brilliant, it just seems the rest of the teams working on the game didn't get things quite right. I haven't got the game yet and I'm still very eager to pick it up, but it'll be hard to say if Maxis will bring out a patch for all this stuff, they haven't exactly been known for their extensive history of patching in the past.

I dont agree with you at all. But thanks for sharing.

"I dont agree with you at all. But thanks for sharing."

I agree with you mostly. It exudes a distinctly average feel to it.

I think I know why though. After watching the gameplay video three years ago I remember thinking "Wow, that looks awesome. I wonder what they'll do with it." That's precisely the problem, they really haven't done much on top of what was shown then. There's so much that could've been added on top of those ideas but nothing from what I've seen. Oh sure they'll probably release minor content expansions for extortionate prices but after waiting that long and through delays it essentially feels like a gimped product - solid enough but lacking substance.

I would enjoy the game more so if they had incorporated more of a Civ4 gameplay mechanic when it comes to tribal stage and up. EWspecially when your planet gets atacked, i mean cmon one unit against a squadron.

I don't agree

I think it is a great game

"I would enjoy the game more so if they had incorporated more of a Civ4 gameplay mechanic when it comes to tribal stage and up. EWspecially when your planet gets atacked, i mean cmon one unit against a squadron."

I have put in around 15 hours into this game already as well. I do agree with a lot of your problems with the game. This game has far exceded my design and building expectations, but with the game itself, i find it enjoyable, with some stages more enjoyable than others.  My biggest dissapointment with this game is that it gets going and get me excited to discover new aspects, but it doesn't kick into the next gear, the RTS aspects are quite boring and Civ seems to last too long, so far the space stage is great but it kind of assumes that you can do some areas without explanation, such as terraforming, which i am still not 100% sure of. The game itself is enjoyable and i am still going to keep playing it, i would recommend the game as well. Oh yeah, remember there is no auto save, i lost almost 4 hours of playing because i didn't save.

"I dont agree with you at all. But thanks for sharing."

"

I don't agree

I think it is a great game

"

i finally have this game and I've put in around 7 hours and just started the Civ stage (i stuck around longer than necessary in previous stages to get more dna parts and such)..

anyway, i love this game; I can see why some people would think certain stages are 'shallow', and indeed they may be; but what makes me like this so much is that all the content is user-created, it just feels good to see MY creations (and others of course).. --having open sharing ON is such a crucial factor to the enjoyment i think--. 
one of my favorite moments so far is encountering an Epic of one of my own creatures that I made with the CC several weeks ago (it DID go down  :)  ), and i also saw a few UFO's abducting various other beings, incl someone's very 'Enterprise'-looking one.

Anyway, i finally got myself out (to eat something) so i'm takin the break to do this kinda stuff   :)

anyways, I for one am having fun with this and I haven't 'even hit space-age yet.  have fun  :)

15-16 hours,damn son it just came out today!

Is spore available for via download?

"15-16 hours,damn son it just came out today!"

I'm not that impressed either. It's like The Sims. Fun for a while, but ultimately shallow and not what any hardcore gamer is looking for.

"So far I've put in around 15-16 hours. Its been fun but this really isn't the game I was hoping.

What difficulty do you play it on?  I hear easy can kind of feel disappointing.  I've been playing on easy and have enjoyed every bit of it so far.  Although I'm only early on in the civ stage.

"I'm not that impressed either. It's like The Sims. Fun for a while, but ultimately shallow and not what any hardcore gamer is looking for."

I think it is a great game, why?
I can't really say, I just enjoy it, but my hype for this game was not up there with other people's, on Sunday I was doing something on the PC when EA's Download Manager informed me my pre-order was ready for decryption, so away it went, logged into the game, goto the Space stage in one sitting, greatly enjoyed each stage, especially the city/civilization stage, space opened up to be extremely complex but overall enjoyable. Am working on my second species now.
I like to think of myself as a hardcore gamer but not like the idea of 'hardcore' gamer expressed in this post, I have every current gen console, every handheld (including iPhone and a N-Gage-enabled Nokia phone) and the PC, spend 5-7 hours a night playing until the wee hours of the morning; from Cooking Mama to Resistance multiplayer, XBLA games to Team Fortress 2 on PC, love Spore for it's design concept and execution.
I can't think of any game that has tried to achieve so much, and perhaps setting those goals so high it has led to a mild disappointment to some consumers; the gamer consumer, but like The Sims, it shall prove to be a financial success which is all that really matters to Will Wright, Maxis, Electronic Arts, Wall Street.
As for me, as a consumer, I feel like I've gotten my money's worth for the product, it has already had me glued to my computer for two nights, reducing my sleeping hours to 3 for these two nights, and it appears it will continue to do so for the coming weeks until we hit the release launches in October and November.

I'm not complaining, I got it for free!

"I'm not complaining, I got it for free!

Yaaar!

"

Yeah I mostly agree with the TC. It's the most amazing and in depth set of design tools I've ever seen in a game. What really bugs me is that if I make a spaceship that looks like a sheep (and I did) then it performs in exactly the same fashion as a ship that someone has spent days making to look exactly like the enterprise or the death star. Why bother spending hours making something awesome if it doesn't really bestow any benefits on gameplay?
The editors and the actual game seem quite far removed from each other, almost as if they were made by different teams. Sure I love my Cyclops-Duck but there doesn't seem to be that much to do with him beyond eat apples and dance.

In short:
Cell Stage: Liked in the way I like a neat flash game

Creature Stage: Kind of liked but felt a bit too much like an MMO

Tribe Stage: Probably my favourite of the stages, A nice, relaxing RTS but not really what I was expecting from spore.

Civilization Stage: Most dissapointing stage. This was the first stage where I really felt like my creations weren't really having an impact on gameplay, I made a neat walking tank but it just floated along the ground in a strange and unsatisfying manner so I didn't really put any effort into the boat or plane.

Space Stage: Far too overwhelming, the first time you zoom all the way out and see just how big this game is you feel a bit dizzy. Then when you actually start playing it seems like despite the grand scale there's not actually that much to do.

I don't see why so many people like Spore. A few of my friends went nuts over it and couldn't stop talking about it in 2nd hour. I ask them why it's so good, and they really don't know.