Spore Creatures

It comes on a little slow, but if you put some genuine time and effort into this game, you can come away with a fun experience.

The realistic way these creatures move and act is by far the game's most impressive feature. [Nov 2008, p.95]

This is a fun, involved, albeit more linear DS experience with a few quirks that get in the way, but even with those quirks it’s great to experience a game on the more limited handheld with a similar sense of creativity that PC gamers will have in Spore.

Spore Creatures is a decent demonstration about the power of Will Wright's ideas in a videogame that tries to imitate the PC version customization possibilities. The result is obviously limited but it's still a very suitable adventure for the kids above all.

The basic gameplay elements from Spore's creature stage have been expanded upon in Spore Creatures, and if you're looking for more of that, you'll be quite pleased by this attractive little adventure.

Unfortunately, while the quests and mini-games vary from region to region, overall gameplay is rather repetitive.

A boring old caterpillar rather than a beautiful butterfly - not what we'd hoped for at all. [Nov 2008, p.79]

Spore Creatures is pleasant and charming, but ultimately forgettable.

Unfortunately, a great concept got lost in a morass of poor decisions and overcomplexity, if that's a word.

Not the cheap cash-in you might have feared and yet still a portable game that runs contrary to all the aims of the PC original.

Spore Creatures isn’t the shovelware I originally expected, but it isn’t much more than a cash-in on the PC version’s anticipated success. It isn't a bad game, it isn't a good game, it's just sort of there.

Perversely, there are complex ideas in here but the game itself is pretty simple, rather repetitive and often clumsy. [Nov 2008, p.62]

Forget the PC version because this adaptation of the brilliant Spore isn’t at all on the same level as Will Wright’s new gem. Spore Creatures for the Nintendo DS uses basic gameplay based on doing missions related to finding various items and then using them to create a new monster in a nicely done monster editor. Anyway, the game isn’t bad for little kids.

The wonky camera and repetition is annoying, but it still just about works as an average exploration game. What it doesn't offer is any sort of Free Play option where you can do your own thing.

With none of the scope seen in the PC version, Spore: Creatures is a poor alternative. It’s a quirky & great looking, but soon ends up killing itself with repetitive gameplay and dull puzzles.

Due to a repetitive gameplay and uninspiring content the portable DS-version of Spore fails to make itself interesting. A greater selection of mini-games and ways to play the game would have helped this in essence mediocre experience.

It's very simplistic, despite the appearance of having a complex system of creature building. Apart from my issues with the combat, at no point is the game really bad, but it's never a whole lot of fun either. It is charming for about an hour's worth of play but not much else.

Linear, boring and tedious game – is it really Spore? An unsuccessful attempt to bring the evolution process onto the pocket console fails in all aspects. Waste of time. [Oct 2008]