Spore-k-tastic Haiku
Cute amoebas reign
In the first stage of the game
like old Atari
Grow Legs In Stage Two
Sing and dance to make allies
Or just kill them all
Stage Three is Tribal
This stage kind of plays itself
Quite disappointing
Next you have the goal
To take over your planet
Haven't done this yet.
--
So far, I have to say though the game is kind of fun, it could have been so much more if there were real choices in the game and more gameplay. It is far, far more simplistic than it was originally touted, supposedly due to conflicting camps within EA. I was hoping for something where you could guide your creature's evolution but not just add & remove parts when it is convenient - which is exactly what the game encourages. When you want to attack another race, take off all your "social" parts and put all the combat parts on, and when you want to make nice, remove all your hefty bits and put on a nice singing beak. Not exactly exciting.
I will be interested to see if choosing nontraditional morphologies affects the motor behavior of the critters but from what I've heard it doesn't. Giving your critter long legs doesn't make him go faster and giving him long arms won't let him reach food in trees. How disappointing.
The first game is cute and arcade like, but the movement controls are non-intuitive. Usually when I see 2-D critter-movement, you use the right & left arrows to rotate the direction, up arrow to speed up, down arrow to slow down. In this game, the arrows are literal directions. Which I am not doing a good job of adjusting to, I must say.
I have heard the later stages are better, I certainly hope so. The first few stages I think would get old very fast. Luckily, they play fast. They give you the ability to start the game at any stage you've reached. But, I think making the wonky looking creatures first would be fun even if you could skip the "play" of the 2nd and 3rd levels.
I rate it a 6.5 based on the first three stages. My rating could go up if the later game is better.
In the first stage of the game
like old Atari
Grow Legs In Stage Two
Sing and dance to make allies
Or just kill them all
Stage Three is Tribal
This stage kind of plays itself
Quite disappointing
Next you have the goal
To take over your planet
Haven't done this yet.
--
So far, I have to say though the game is kind of fun, it could have been so much more if there were real choices in the game and more gameplay. It is far, far more simplistic than it was originally touted, supposedly due to conflicting camps within EA. I was hoping for something where you could guide your creature's evolution but not just add & remove parts when it is convenient - which is exactly what the game encourages. When you want to attack another race, take off all your "social" parts and put all the combat parts on, and when you want to make nice, remove all your hefty bits and put on a nice singing beak. Not exactly exciting.
I will be interested to see if choosing nontraditional morphologies affects the motor behavior of the critters but from what I've heard it doesn't. Giving your critter long legs doesn't make him go faster and giving him long arms won't let him reach food in trees. How disappointing.
The first game is cute and arcade like, but the movement controls are non-intuitive. Usually when I see 2-D critter-movement, you use the right & left arrows to rotate the direction, up arrow to speed up, down arrow to slow down. In this game, the arrows are literal directions. Which I am not doing a good job of adjusting to, I must say.
I have heard the later stages are better, I certainly hope so. The first few stages I think would get old very fast. Luckily, they play fast. They give you the ability to start the game at any stage you've reached. But, I think making the wonky looking creatures first would be fun even if you could skip the "play" of the 2nd and 3rd levels.
I rate it a 6.5 based on the first three stages. My rating could go up if the later game is better.