Any Spore Takers?

[Tobias March]

It's on release here and I'm curious. From micro-organism to space-faring civilization. Fun.

[SecretIDPodcast]

It's on release here and I'm curious. From micro-organism to space-faring civilization. Fun.

Absolutely! The fun I had just fooling around with the creature creator was enough to make me preorder it. You can download a free trail of the creator at www.spore.com and check it out. You can even upload your creatures into the Sporepedia for other people to use in their games.

[Agent Helix]

I have it pre-loaded for activation on my computer at home. It doesn't release until Sunday for those of us in the U.S.

Super excited for it, and the 9/10 reviews from Eurogamer and PC Gamer UK have done little to quell that.

[SecretIDPodcast]

I have it pre-loaded for activation on my computer at home. It doesn't release until Sunday for those of us in the U.S.

Super excited for it, and the 9/10 reviews from Eurogamer and PC Gamer UK have done little to quell that.

Do you get to activate it at midnight on Saturday? I actually considered doing the pre-load thing, but I was in the game store and just went with the hard copy pre-order. I was thinking about the collector's edition, because it seems to have some cool stuff that goes along with it.

I think I saw Warhammer offering the pre-load as well.

[Agent Helix]

It activates at 1 PM on Sunday.

[Jared H.]

I really want this game, but I need a new computer first.

[jessecuster3]

I have it pre-loaded for activation on my computer at home. It doesn't release until Sunday for those of us in the U.S.



How did you get that?

[Agent Helix]

I bought it online and downloaded it.

[Angel of Sorrow]

I've heard nothing but bad things about Spore, I think I'll be skipping this.

[Agent Helix]

From where, exactly?

[Tadhg]

The Creature creator did little to whet my appetite but everything else I've seen has me excited. I'll probably pick it up with my paycheck next week. My initial fears of reskinned Sims seems to be unfounded.

[Angel of Sorrow]

All over. Including sites, friends and people who's judgment I trust.
Basically, hype with mediocre game play and lack of depth.

[Agent Helix]

Fair enough, but I haven't seen any of it. And the game hasn't acutally been released, so I'm curious as to how you know so many people that have played it.

[jessecuster3]

All over. Including sites, friends and people who's judgment I trust.
Basically, hype with mediocre game play and lack of depth.


Funny, 1UP and GWJ, are positively gushing over the game.

[Agent Helix]

Most everywhere is, particularly praising the game's depth.

[jessecuster3]

Most everywhere is, particularly praising the game's depth.

I cannot speak of everywhere, just of sites where I know they actually played the game and are loving it.

[Angel of Sorrow]

Fair enough, but I haven't seen any of it. And the game hasn't acutally been released, so I'm curious as to how you know so many people that have played it.

Release dates aren't world wide, America is the only place that is getting it on the 7th.

[Agent Helix]

Oh hell, why am I bothering with this?

[jessecuster3]

Angel, you have mentioned sites, however, can you provide a link?

[Astonishing X-Fan]

Plenty of stores have broken the street date. I could go get a copy from my Best Buy right now.

Impressions I've gotten from people who've played it early seem to indicate that it's a great game for people who like to create and play with a nice toybox...but that the actual core gameplay lacks depth and can get boring.

[jessecuster3]

Plenty of stores have broken the street date. I could go get a copy from my Best Buy right now.

Impressions I've gotten from people who've played it early seem to indicate that it's a great game for people who like to create and play with a nice toybox...but that the actual core gameplay lacks depth and can get boring.

Ahh good old fashioned anecdotal evidence, its like a warm blanket.

[Angel of Sorrow]

That is basically what I'm hearing too, Astonishing.

And an example of 'Great idea, okay game' reviews.
http://pc.ign.com/articles/907/907454p1.html

Though giving the fact that most and even this site is basing a lot of their judgment on the games concept as oppose to the execution, it's hard to use them in my decision. So instead, I decided not to get Spore from what friends have said about their experience and what I've seen my self [which wasn't that impressive]. Maybe when it drops in price, but I'll pass for now.

[Serik]

Until EA removes the b.s. DRM, I'm not buying it.

The reviews have mostly confirmed my suspicion: awesome content creation tools, really limited game.

In any event, I hope EA/Maxis leverages Spore's creation tools for a proper SimCity sequel. Having player-created buildings populate specific zones (commercial, res, industrial) would be awesome.

[StoneGold]

Until EA removes the b.s. DRM, I'm not buying it.

The reviews have mostly confirmed my suspicion: awesome content creation tools, really limited game.

In any event, I hope EA/Maxis leverages Spore's creation tools for a proper SimCity sequel. Having player-created buildings populate specific zones (commercial, res, industrial) would be awesome.

From what I've read. not so much that the game is limiting, but that it's too many games shoved into one, not all of which are as fun as others.

[Angel of Sorrow]

Friend told me it was just five minigames or something like that.

[Bazooka Jones]

I'm passing on this one as well, for the time being, though I agree with the previous poster. I hope this game makes tons of cash so maybe there will be a good Simcity game. I'm saving my shekels for Fallout 3.

[SecretIDPodcast]

I think that some of the lukewarm response to the game is coming from those who have been listening to Will Wright talk about the game since development started. Much like Peter Molyneux and a lot of his games (Fable 1 for example), Wright started out wanting to make the deepest, most complete game ever. At the end of the day, they had to scale some things back, and different phases of the game just aren't as deep as originally conceived.

The original name for the game was Sim Everything, so that gives you an idea of what he was going for at first.

[asloveislost]

Pass, won't bother having the time for this.

[Alex]

Maybe...3 hours in, over the course of two days, and i've reached the really bored stage twice.
The creature tools are amazing, and it can be fun tweaking your dude.
But once your done tweaking,all you do is swim around (in cell stage) or run around (in creature stage) and do the same thing, over and over and over and over.
It's like playing wow, but with no other people, no dungeons, no loot, no story, the shallowest combat system on earth (Still shallow if i add in the social...combat, or whatever you call it) and no real sense of progress.

Having said that, im still working within the "I want to see whats next", so, i will probably go back to it and play for another hour, then get bored and repeat the process.
I'm not even to the RTS portion yet, maybe it gets better.

[HynerianChef]

I'm loving the game and horribly addicted to it.

[StreetFighterRyu]

Eh, I'll pass. Creating civilization isn't my strong point. (let alone the whole galaxy)

[Astonishing X-Fan]

So I bought the game and it won't launch.

Like, I go to run it and NOTHING happens. Not even an error message.

Yet the task manager says the game is running.

So I can't play it. And the support forums offer no help. And I can't return in because the game has been opened.

This is why I hate PC gaming.

[Tadhg]

You using Vista? If so, the problem is one of two things. You can either right-click the app, select properties and check the box to run as Administrator. Or you'll have to turn off UAC in the Users control panel.

[Astonishing X-Fan]

You using Vista? If so, the problem is one of two things. You can either right-click the app, select properties and check the box to run as Administrator. Or you'll have to turn off UAC in the Users control panel.

*sigh*

No offense, man, but that's obvious stuff that I've already done. Admin mode, drivers, UAC, restarting, reinstallation, the basic stuff has all been tried multiple times. It's a bigger problem. If you check out the official tech support forums, a lot of people are having it.

What happens is, you click on the exe to start the game, the little "please wait" circle next to the mouse pointer moves for a few seconds, as if it were launching the program...and then nothing. Not even a flash on the screen, or an error message. Absolutely nothing happens.

[Tadhg]

I'm not offended, but I obviously couldn't assume especially since the symptoms you're having are the same if UAC is enabled with other recent EA games.

What do your event logs say?

[Astonishing X-Fan]

Event logs? I don't really know what that is.

The conclusion that people on the boards seem to have is that it has something to do with the DRM EA slapped on the game. Some have had success using cracked exe files to bypass the DRM...but that's not only illegal, it keeps you from accessing online content, because you can't register.

[fudgekp]

So Far, havent had any problems, and the game is great.

So far, anyways. I'm just moving up to the space phase, and looking forward to seeing whats on offer now.

[Agent Helix]

Love the game so far. It doesn't live up to the hype, but it's ambitious and interesting and, most importantly, fun. The addition of Live style achievements is cute, but feels largely superfluous.

[jessecuster3]

*sigh*

No offense, man, but that's obvious stuff that I've already done. Admin mode, drivers, UAC, restarting, reinstallation, the basic stuff has all been tried multiple times. It's a bigger problem. If you check out the official tech support forums, a lot of people are having it.

What happens is, you click on the exe to start the game, the little "please wait" circle next to the mouse pointer moves for a few seconds, as if it were launching the program...and then nothing. Not even a flash on the screen, or an error message. Absolutely nothing happens.

Try taking the dmc(something, something).dll from the folder and putting it on your desktop. I found that trick with the Creature Creator, and it still seems to be working for the main game.

[Agent Helix]

Also of note, the building and vehicle creators are even more complex than the creature creators. You have near total freedom with them.

[jessecuster3]

Also of note, the building and vehicle creators are even more complex than the creature creators. You have near total freedom with them.

I am only in the 2nd phase, I am really looking forward to playing when I get home. I really am enjoying it so far.

[Agent Helix]

I sort of feel that people complaining that the game is "too short" are sort of missing the point. It's not meant to take a long time to progress your creature, because you're meant to create and try multiple things. It's the sort of game where the more you put into it, the more you'll get out of it. It's far from perfect, and it's not for everybody, but it's definitely worthwhile.

[StoneGold]

I sort of feel that people complaining that the game is "too short" are sort of missing the point. It's not meant to take a long time to progress your creature, because you're meant to create and try multiple things. It's the sort of game where the more you put into it, the more you'll get out of it. It's far from perfect, and it's not for everybody, but it's definitely worthwhile.

The problem is, it's a game not designed for hardcore gamers. Not that they won't enjoy it, but it's not for people trying to up their rank on CoD4. From what I've seen, this is more about introducing Sim type gamers to somewhat more traditional gaming, as opposed to the other way around.

[fudgekp]

I like the fact you can do all the stuff with your creature, get to the space phase, then start another creature in a new game - then find your old race, playing like you did.

Although my old warlike race curbstomped my new, friendly one...

[jessecuster3]

Here you go Spore fans: http://antispore.com/2008/09/11/understand-my-beliefs-please/

[Alex]

Update to my earlier post.
While i said i was a bit bored in the creature stage, the tribal stage was worse, it was about as involved as a flash game.
Civ stage was a bit better because you got to design 3 new vehicles, houses, entertainment places, etc etc, nice stuff. But you couldn't do anything in them.

Now in the space bit, and this is much, much, much better. A lot to do, fun to go around and see other creatures and planets, upgrading your ship, it feels pretty epic.

[Serik]

Update to my earlier post.
While i said i was a bit bored in the creature stage, the tribal stage was worse, it was about as involved as a flash game.
Civ stage was a bit better because you got to design 3 new vehicles, houses, entertainment places, etc etc, nice stuff. But you couldn't do anything in them.

Now in the space bit, and this is much, much, much better. A lot to do, fun to go around and see other creatures and planets, upgrading your ship, it feels pretty epic.

Will Wright once said that Spore is designed like a "T," with the first stages acting as linear tutorials preparing players for the open-ended space stage.

Interestingly, the PC gaming blokes over at Rock, Paper, Shotgun argue that Spore reviews should focus on the space stage (http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2008/09/05/spore-things-to-know/), since that's the game proper; everything else can be written off in a sentence or two.

Ignore anyone’s opinion who’s played it less than - oooh - eight hours. There’s certainly good reasons to dislike or even dismiss Spore, but it takes that point before you see past your preconceptions.

[Angel of Sorrow]

There is a problem with a game when you have to write off a large portion of it because it's bad, regardless if there is one part of it that is good.

[Serik]

If the first stages are as bad as people say, I completely agree.

Has anyone else followed the brouhaha over Spore's Amazon.com rating? So far 2200 people have awarded the game one star out of five, solely because of the DRM (most reviewers haven't played the game). Amazon deleted all of the reviews but then restored them at some point.

[Wjowski]

If the first stages are as bad as people say, I completely agree.

Has anyone else followed the brouhaha over Spore's Amazon.com rating? So far 2200 people have awarded the game one star out of five, solely because of the DRM (most reviewers haven't played the game). Amazon deleted all of the reviews but then restored them at some point.

When a restaurant unveils a new dish consisting of a steak wrapped in barbed-wire, it's going to get bad reviews regardless of how good the actual steak is.

[mattx110]

There is a problem with a game when you have to write off a large portion of it because it's bad, regardless if there is one part of it that is good.

Especially when that "part" is 8 hours!

[Angel of Sorrow]

My thoughts exactly.
Honestly, I feel people are too willing to praise a game even if they don't enjoy the whole experience.

[Alex]

There is a problem with a game when you have to write off a large portion of it because it's bad, regardless if there is one part of it that is good.


Well, the fact that you can get through the bad in 2 hours makes it better.
I can give you a list of great games with crap starts if you want.