Spore

 PC
User Score
5.8

Mixed or average reviews- based on 2110 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 885 out of 2110
  2. Mixed: 446 out of 2110
  3. Negative: 779 out of 2110
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  1. Alex
    Sep 7, 2008
    4
    Nice looking game with extremely primitive and easy gameplay. Game is worth playing for 2-3 days.
  2. HendrikF.
    Sep 7, 2008
    7
    First the part that's really fun: creating your own creature, designing your species' buildings and so on. Now the part that's no fun: the rest. Besides the really entertaining creature creator, the game is all the same from the beginning to the end. It's not just repetitive, it's also poorly executed. Mediocre controls, unpolished design, absolutely no variety First the part that's really fun: creating your own creature, designing your species' buildings and so on. Now the part that's no fun: the rest. Besides the really entertaining creature creator, the game is all the same from the beginning to the end. It's not just repetitive, it's also poorly executed. Mediocre controls, unpolished design, absolutely no variety throughout the single phases.… Expand
  3. MordorEye
    Sep 7, 2008
    6
    The game is not as good as I expected. The IA is very simple, the real possibilities of evolution are 0 (it doesn't matter the pieces of your body, only their stats), and some levels are similiar to other games, just as FLOW o some bad mmorpgs without quests. Because all the hype I should give it a 5, but I'll give a 6 because this game will like to kids.
  4. ShadwuL.
    Sep 7, 2008
    7
    First two stages were good, but when it turned into rts it sucked so much. And it is too simple. Simple RTS=omfg.
  5. LarsV.
    Sep 7, 2008
    5
    Creation process and graphics are top notch but there just isn't much of a game. I kept feeling I didn't understand the game only to discover that the pushing of 1-3 buttons was the game. Sad to see so much promise unfulfilled. There is no game.
  6. BPET
    Sep 7, 2008
    7
    PROS: Pretty design Nice interface Nice sound Idea that sounds very good Very nice optimization CONS: To easy WAAAY to easy Very repetitive The creatures/building/vechicles deisgn lose flavor way to soon Basicly, the hype was there. It sounded very promising but it has no gameplay. The funniest part is the cell stage that ends to soon.
  7. SteveA.
    Sep 7, 2008
    4
    A unique concept, but precious little depth. In all, it's rather dull to play.
  8. BobW.
    Sep 7, 2008
    10
    This game is soo fun. I like that you can play your creatures. I also enjoyed that you have to try and survive!
  9. MaxiP.
    Sep 7, 2008
    7
    "Space Stage" is just a dumbed down version of EVE Online/any other Space Sim: Alliances, trade routes, missions -- which are very repetitive: kill xyz, collect abc, etc. -- and war. Minus the depth of said MMO.
  10. IanI.
    Sep 7, 2008
    8
    It's good. For a game developer like EA that is really saying something. The game is incredibly large with more thought to content and detail than any game in memory. This of course means that re-playability is exceedingly high in spore. Unlike many EA games there is no question that EA really put some time into this one (4 years in the making) however the game is still flawed in It's good. For a game developer like EA that is really saying something. The game is incredibly large with more thought to content and detail than any game in memory. This of course means that re-playability is exceedingly high in spore. Unlike many EA games there is no question that EA really put some time into this one (4 years in the making) however the game is still flawed in many ways, but I will get to that in a moment. First of all, the game has a sense of wonder (aswell as heaps of personal style) that follows it in every stage of your creatures development making it easy to forget your playing a game and resulting in an amazingly engrossing experiance. The major flaws in this game are ones very familiar to EA, Repetition, and lack of gameplay depth. There are 5 stages in the game, each of which can be boiled down to 1 activity, then rinse and repeat (kill three of this monster, kill five of this monster, destroy the purple tribe, destroy the green tribe) and so it can become tiresome with time. The major flaw however is that the biggist draw of the game (creating your creature) is something that doesn't cary over from stage to stage. Once you finish your creature in stage 2 and have him fully customized with max atack, or massive amounts of health which you earn by unlocking and using body parts you eventualy get to the next stage to find out you can never change your creature again, which is tolerable I suppose as you are probably pretty ok with your creature at this point...until you realize all of the body parts you put on your creature so that he could say...be more charming (an actual skill which allows you to make friends with other creatures) are now compleatly without purpose and so you realize that the characters looks and personality are set back to null and you are essentialy on an even playing field with every other creature you come across. I simply question the logic behind such focus on building a creature around its atributes in order to achieve a goal that then suddenly drops away, all I would propose would be that say...your combined level of green skills (the nice ones) should increase your tribes/civilizations ability in trade/treatys while the red skills increase your abillitys in war. Perhaps I'm ranting here but never fear, because I'm sure EA will have plenty of time to correct any mistakes its made in the dozens of expansions that are sure to come in the next couple of years (just as they did with The Sims).… Expand
  11. MatthewB.
    Sep 7, 2008
    7
    feels like 5 different (and unremarkable) games thrown together. There is little continuity between each level: something that's particularly apparent in the transition between tribal and civ stages. Did it matter that my tribe was peace-loving as my tanks roll over yet another enemy city at the civ stage? I don't think so. On the plus side: an excellent music system devised by feels like 5 different (and unremarkable) games thrown together. There is little continuity between each level: something that's particularly apparent in the transition between tribal and civ stages. Did it matter that my tribe was peace-loving as my tanks roll over yet another enemy city at the civ stage? I don't think so. On the plus side: an excellent music system devised by Brian Eno; highly intuitive interface; great (if rather American cutesy) graphics. In summary this is a nice diversion for a few days. Sadly, it is not the genre-shifting epic game people were hoping for.… Expand
  12. TreyG.
    Sep 6, 2008
    6
    It was a good idea, but Will Wright totally blew it on gameplay. I wish we could rewind the clock 2 years and give Will's excellent design tools to Sid Meier, and let him handle the gameplay and strategy.
  13. ZennyX
    Sep 6, 2008
    9
    Perfect, if it wasen't for the SECURE-ROM being shipped with it thise would be the god game.
  14. RanbirC.
    Sep 6, 2008
    10
    Phenomenal. Take your time, enjoy the procedurally generated world. Relish in the thousands of unique creations that continue to populate your universe and dynamically change the very fabric of it.
  15. [Anonymous]
    Sep 6, 2008
    10
    Spore simply put, is an amazing game. It cannot be judge by any single stage. It's five separate games smashed into one, and meant to be played in sequence. There are only three problems with this game: 1) You have to collect spice manually to make money in space. 2) The Grox are unbeatable. 3) You have to unlock bodyparts every time you play the game. Other than those three Spore simply put, is an amazing game. It cannot be judge by any single stage. It's five separate games smashed into one, and meant to be played in sequence. There are only three problems with this game: 1) You have to collect spice manually to make money in space. 2) The Grox are unbeatable. 3) You have to unlock bodyparts every time you play the game. Other than those three problems, the game is pretty much flawless.… Expand
  16. RobertP.
    Sep 6, 2008
    4
    A very mixed bag, here. Some stages are terrible compared to others. Stage 1: Well Ignoring how horribly Inacurately this stage is labelled (Cell? Really? Are you that stupid? That is definetly a multi cellular organism.) it actually managed to come out tops in my opinion. Gameplay is fun although there is no real distinction between being carnivorous or herbivorous except which colour A very mixed bag, here. Some stages are terrible compared to others. Stage 1: Well Ignoring how horribly Inacurately this stage is labelled (Cell? Really? Are you that stupid? That is definetly a multi cellular organism.) it actually managed to come out tops in my opinion. Gameplay is fun although there is no real distinction between being carnivorous or herbivorous except which colour pellets you eat, as you will still end up having to kill other... um... fish? regardless of wether you eat them afterward or not. That said not worth the whole pricetage of the game but if this stage was a free flash game it would be a 10/10. As it is I will give it a 7/10 Stage 2: So we come on to the creature stage, which sadly is mediocre at best. One of the great let downs for this stage is the editor which gives the illusion of so many possibilites yet manages to make it nigh impossible to escape from a comparitively small set of basic body shapes. After seeing so many basic humanoid/quadraped based creatures I personally get depressed, experiments into more intresting creatures gave me very few which worked, a lot had body parts pass through each other regularly or limbs which spasmed. Once your done with the limited cc you are left with very simple gameplay, where you around to other nests and either kill them all or charm them all, this grew pretty boring after the umpteenth nest so I decided to try attacking one of the giant creatures tha roam your planet. After dieing in one hit I pretty much gave up and got myself to the tribal stage quick as possible. giving this a 4/10 not terrible just relly not good stage 3: So onto the tribal stage, since it was described as an rts I was looking forward to it, however it really far too easy with no depth whatsoever, the "strategy" boils down to giving almost all your tribe stone axes (Provided you start with them if you dont you just give them whatever weapon you do have till you can get them stone axes) going over to the other village and destroying it. The enemy seems indiffirent to this fact at best, he certainly never puts up much of a fight. you do this to all the tribes one after another and then head on up a stage quick as possible. If you choose to be peacefull Instead you give you people instruments and go over to the other village to begin prehaps the easiest mini-game in the history of mini-games. Click the button for the musical instrument appearing in the speech bubble above your opponents head after you do this 3 or 4 time they become more friendly to you, after doing it twice they become your ally. Not that they help you much apart from the occasional gift of food. So tribal stage gets 0/10 Civ stage: Civ stage gives you control of a city, this city is either religous military or economic. You can build religious military or economic units at their corresponding cities, each different type of unit gives you a different way of capturing another city: Econ: send units over to trade wearing down the will of the city until you buy it Military: send units over to seige a city wearing down its will until you conquer it Rel: send units over to preach a city until you convert it. Uh, hang on a minute those are all basically the same, with the only difference being what you give up to take the city. Religous units take damage while converting so you lose some unit military units destroy the building so you lose the building in the city and with econ you have to buy the city so you lose some money. So really you only have one road to victory and simply 3 different penalties. As icing on the cake ocne you get enough money you can simply use one of 3 ultimate weapons to win. Still atleast I can get on to the space stage. -0/10 Like tribal stage only worse. Stage 5. So your in space, and at first your haing some fun exploring some nearby star systems playing around with moving plants and animals to different planets. But then your given a mission to contact another life form. So you meet them realise you can buy tools cheaper off them than your homeworld, but suddenly they are everywhere and you begin to feel like your are simply playing a slightly better space version of stage 4, I have not completed stage 5 yet as I just cant bear to waste my time on it. 5/10 mainly awarded for the fun I had at first.… Expand
  17. JohnL.
    Sep 6, 2008
    4
    It is just so flawed. I can't believe even the negative reviews are giving over 80%! What the hell is wrong with reviewers today? If you are a young child, or you are someone who adored The Sims, then you might like this game. Otherwise, steer well clear.
  18. SteveM
    Sep 6, 2008
    5
    It is good to know that a game can be released for PC these days and be bug free, an achievement in polish for sure. This game Is overly expensive, without reason. The lack of story is disappointing and doesn't make you want to launch the game. The creation and interaction is fun but it is missing reason. If this was Will Wrights first game, EA wouldn't be charging more, clearly It is good to know that a game can be released for PC these days and be bug free, an achievement in polish for sure. This game Is overly expensive, without reason. The lack of story is disappointing and doesn't make you want to launch the game. The creation and interaction is fun but it is missing reason. If this was Will Wrights first game, EA wouldn't be charging more, clearly a ripoff.… Expand
  19. LiamG.
    Sep 6, 2008
    8
    The game peaks in the middle with the tribal and civilisation definitely taking the best parts of the game, in my opinion. Space age is repetitive and a touch boring, but all around it is a great game, and if only they'd made the first 4 stages an extra hour longer each, they game would have a lot more meat to it.
  20. AnonymousMC
    Sep 6, 2008
    7
    Playing this game makes me miss Wright's simulationism. Though the creature creator is undeniably slick, its lack of impact on the simulation is appalling. The player exists in a world virtually without consequence, where creatures hang around their nests doing nothing, waiting for you to walk up and either wave hello, or eat them. In the tribal stage this becomes "hold a concert orPlaying this game makes me miss Wright's simulationism. Though the creature creator is undeniably slick, its lack of impact on the simulation is appalling. The player exists in a world virtually without consequence, where creatures hang around their nests doing nothing, waiting for you to walk up and either wave hello, or eat them. In the tribal stage this becomes "hold a concert or slaughter them", in the civilization stage it becomes "preach, trade, or slaughter them".

    The worlds are fundamentally dead and boring past the glitter and sparkle. Their procedural nature fails to include any landmarks or points of interest. It's just a grid of nests, tribes, cities, which do little but wait for you to effortlessly dominate them.

    This wouldn't be so bad, if the stages didn't overstay their welcome and offered more. Am I seriously expected to play a game of "Simon", that never goes past 3 or 4 elements, over forty times just to continue as a social species?
    It's clear the designers wanted every creature made to be functional, so there's no element of experimentation when creating a creature. More often than not, a player will choose the interactions they wish to excel at (of which there are maybe a dozen of the canned little things), and splice whatever parts give them the best ability in that area, regardless of aesthetic. And just before the creature stage closes, revert to some more pleasing form.

    As other reviews have stated: This is a remarkable product. But as an interactive work it lacks consequence, challenge, and meaningful patterns. Spore is light-years behind the sophistication and creative insight of The Sims or Sim City.
    I would give Spore to a child or novice gamer in a heartbeat. If you have had ANY exposure whatsoever to the RPG or RTS genres though, play a friend's copy first. If you can play through to the galaxy stage, and still find a compelling desire to do it again, this game might be for you. Otherwise, it gets old extremely quickly.    … Expand
  21. AndyG.
    Sep 5, 2008
    6
    Spore's 5 stages present 4 clickfest mini-games and a poor man's Galactic Civilisation. Whilst the creature creator is an enjoyable distraction, the game itself seems lacklustre. Stunningly your carefully honed creature stats/abilities have absolutely no relevance after the third minigame.
  22. JoshK.
    Sep 5, 2008
    10
    This game is great fun! Sure, it doesnt have the complexity of a great RTS in Tribal or Civ stages, nor is it very deep in the 3rd person combat of Creature stage. But the variation on each stage, and the ability to make anything almost *exactly* like you want is great fun!
  23. PaulT.
    Sep 5, 2008
    0
    SecuROM DRM uses unlawful practices to hide on your computer system and limit the game to 3 activations. Product labeling fails to make this clear. Consumers are being cheated.
  24. PlayerReview
    Sep 5, 2008
    8
    Great game, bad publisher. SecuROM, a form of DRM, comes with this product. As a result the program can only be installed 3 times before you have to get on the phone with the EA folks to refresh your copy. This practice should be illegal, or atleast boycotted by the gaming industry. It's a shame that so many brilliant developers are making deals with the devil (EA).
  25. BrianS
    Sep 5, 2008
    10
    It has lived up to all the hype and more in my opinion. Where else can you play SimCity, CIV4, and Master of Orion in one game?
  26. RandyRandy
    Sep 5, 2008
    4
    Pretty, but ultimately shallow and not very fun unless you like to grind out levels a la WoW. Most of the cool things shown/announced long ago never made it into the game or were removed. Overall a pretty big disappointment.
  27. AnonymousMC
    Sep 5, 2008
    2
    A "game" centered around a creature editor. A "game" that is a collection of watered down mini games. A "game" that manages to even screw up those mini games. Good if you like creating creatures but don't think for a moment that a cleverly designed creature will have any impact on the game. It's all bells & whistles and no content.
  28. coopw.
    Sep 4, 2008
    9
    In space stage now and it took less than 10 hours. Like all the critics say it is very abstract and interesting. A fun hybrid game yet I'm not sure how much time I'll actually put into it.
  29. DevinB.
    Sep 4, 2008
    3
    Totally fails to live up to the hype. Get it if you have a 10 year old, otherwise, avoid, avoid, avoid!
  30. MarkH.
    Sep 4, 2008
    6
    Dumbed down. Simplistic, shallow gameplay that would be more fitting of a browser-based flash game than a big 4-years-in-development, highly hyped release. Poor controls, few options in regards to gameplay tactics. Powerful creature, building, and vehicle editors, but there's ever a moment to sit back and enjoy building and growing your civilisation - it's like a sandbox game Dumbed down. Simplistic, shallow gameplay that would be more fitting of a browser-based flash game than a big 4-years-in-development, highly hyped release. Poor controls, few options in regards to gameplay tactics. Powerful creature, building, and vehicle editors, but there's ever a moment to sit back and enjoy building and growing your civilisation - it's like a sandbox game that won't let you sandbox.for more than a minute at a time. Should have been better - it's points of failure are obvious, and bury what could otherwise have been a fun, creative joy.… Expand
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Awards & Rankings

19
#19 Best PC Game of 2008
2
#2 Most Discussed PC Game of 2008
4
#4 Most Shared PC Game of 2008

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
84

Generally favorable reviews - based on 75 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 62 out of 75
  2. Mixed: 13 out of 75
  3. Negative: 0 out of 75
  1. Play (Poland)
    90
    How to design a game that spans from swimming in a drop of water to ruling the galaxy? Will Wright knows how: as simple as possible. Spore deserves success on "The Sims" scale. [Sept 2008]
  2. PC Gamer UK
    91
    Spore's triumph is painfully ironic. By setting out to instill a sense of wonderment at creation and the majesty of the universe, it's shown us that it's actually a lot more interesting to sit here at our computers and explore the contents of each other's brains. [October 2008, p.64]
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  3. PTGamers
    100
    Spore manages quite some feats – it's accessible for casual gamers, but at the same time so real and dynamic, able to offer hardcore gamers a demanding experience and, obviously, a more appealing one than in "The Sims".
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