Spore
After a bit more play, the flaws in Spore are somewhat more glaring.
Most annoying to me so far:
- You can enter an age in an untenable position. There are many other specific gameplay issues, but that is the most annoying to me.
- There are other species you meet that you can't possibly make within the game rules. This isn't a gameplay issue but really annoys me for a "play tools" kind of game. It is most noticeable in the first part of the game. You can only get a certain number of build points before going to the next phase, and you stop getting them once you meet that amount. There are Maxis created creatures you meet that have many times this fixed amount of points spent on them.
- Related to the above, I really want to be able to play the earlier phases open endedly. You can continue after the victory point, but it does stop growth, in a growth based game. The Space phase is less interesting to me, mostly because I have good 4X games like Space Empires V, GalCiv II and even Sword of the Stars I can play instead.
Most annoying to me so far:
- You can enter an age in an untenable position. There are many other specific gameplay issues, but that is the most annoying to me.
- There are other species you meet that you can't possibly make within the game rules. This isn't a gameplay issue but really annoys me for a "play tools" kind of game. It is most noticeable in the first part of the game. You can only get a certain number of build points before going to the next phase, and you stop getting them once you meet that amount. There are Maxis created creatures you meet that have many times this fixed amount of points spent on them.
- Related to the above, I really want to be able to play the earlier phases open endedly. You can continue after the victory point, but it does stop growth, in a growth based game. The Space phase is less interesting to me, mostly because I have good 4X games like Space Empires V, GalCiv II and even Sword of the Stars I can play instead.