Nothing More Than a Casual Game
When reading the previews and even the mainstream reviews of Spore, the game seems to be one of the most creative and revolutionary games of our time, at least as far as creativity. Sadly, I feel for these previews and reviews as well. I even went against my better judgment and bought the game with it's horrible DRM and limited activation policies. DRM is not the only flaw found in this game.
The game is set up with several different gameplay modes, and while fun for a temporary time, is nothing more than what you get from a casual game. The first stage is a very easy Pac-man type game without the maze. You collect body parts to add to your creature, developing it's form as a carnivore or veggie lover. The obstacles? Other creatures are trying to collect parts too. However, anyone that's played a game before will not have any trouble not dying. Afterwords, you get to run around on land and develop your creature while trying to friend or enemy other creatures on the island. This is pretty simple stuff too. Really, after this section, the game just turns into more 'creating' for your own type of creature. That's probably the best thing about the game is buildings, vehicles, and creatures are fully developed by you (as much as you can with their decent variety of add-ons). The problem with this? The AI is horrible and very easy.
Really, the game turns into a basic casual game right after you mess around with creature creator. Actually, that's about the time the fun ends. The only fun thing to do is develop your character. Otherwise, the RTS elements in this game likes any strength. This was a serious problem for me, and I've hardly touched the game since day one.
Another thing that was highly disappointing is the lack of any multi player. You can only fight against other horrible AI units that are incredible dumb and predictable. This game had to have been made for children or simple people.
On top of that, yes, the game is infected with DRM and the most dreadful PC gaming experience on the planet: Limited Activations. If low PC game sales are the effect of software piracy, then these horrible measures taken ONLY on the ones purchasing the game are the effect of piracy. I'd like to point out that the pirates cracked the game before the game came out. Now who is the loser in this situation? The person who bought the game and is limited to so many installs? Or the person who spend nothing on it and has unlimited installs?
Verdict: Skip
