Tgr::Box

Spore has had a bit of a bumpy launch.  Of course there was the massive shitstorm about the DRM that is deployed with the game (which upon a closer look, may not be as bad as initially thought).  The gameplay has gotten mixed reviews as well – for the people that were expecting “Will Wright’s Civilization 10″, it is a letdown.  As someone who generally agrees with the newly presented “Gamers Bill of Rights“, I do think that they misstepped somewhat with the DRM.  I am also finding that you can progress through the first 4 stages of the game pretty rapidly once you grasp the basic mechanics.  So, I can sort of understand why it got the mixed reviews that it has (I guess I am just adding another one to the mix here).  All that said, I must say:

Spore is a fun game.  Full Stop.

About the DRM: my first taste of non-console games was games distributed via Steam.  Then when I later learned about the long-standing “disc in the drive” model of game authentication I was aghast.  I game on an Intel based Mac laptop and the idea of shuttling around a bunch of media just to play a game on my lapper was unacceptable.  Especially since laptops are, you know, portable devices.  So, the authentication that Spore is using (that is, online registration) seemed somewhat more palatable to me.  I have no idea why they limited your installation to 3 machines, and this is where they screwed up – at least from a public relations standpoint.  The game already has online hooks so why don’t they just use the same “as many machines as you like just not at the same time” model that Steam uses?  Granted, I won’t be needing to install the game on more than 3 machines (current count: 1 – eventual count when I upgrade my desktop to Intel Mac: 2), but the restriction still seems somewhat artificial since we how have the Steam model to lead us to a new era of non-console gaming with sane piracy controls.  So yes, some criticism is warranted, but I suspect that Spore caught an extra heaping helping of blowback just because it happens to be a muchly anticipated/hyped game.  So my verdict on that is not glowing, however, not as evil as evil as presented by the angry masses – especially in the light of the Ars Technica experiment.

About the gameplay: No, this is not the biggest baddest strategy game on the market.  But it is charming as hell.  I’ve never played a Sims game (nor did I ever have a desire to), but the whole business with tweeking your race, and designing your buildings or your vehicles is just fun.  Jamie and I both hit the Tribal phase at the same time and were both sitting there giggling and having a grand old time outfitting our new tribesmen.  I read an astute comment somewhere online to the effect of “the Will Wright games are half game, half toy”, so I fail to see why people are surprised that this is not some hardcore RTS game.  Yes, you can move through the Cell to Civilization phases pretty quickly, but it is sort of the “ride” that’s fun.

I have moved into (but have not yet completed) the final Space phase.  The game sort of hits a blip at that point and turns into more of a proper strategy game.  Since this is my first run-through, I’m playing on easy mode to get used to the game mechanics (and am greatly looking forward to further run-throughs on higher skill levels on different planets).  Even on easy mode, the game hits a perceptible bump in complexity when you progress to Space.  At first blush, it reminded me of an old-school pen-and-paper RPG called Traveller I played when I was a youngling.  Hauling cargo, terraforming, spacecraft combat, colonization, obtaining items, managing planetary resources, etc.  Real time events start hauling you away from whatever you’re in the middle of.  Coming off of a little love affair with Civ IV, I’m totally liking the Space phase.

The game, as predicted, is beautiful, charming, has great music and an amazing amount of polish.  The controls are very intuitive – I love how you move from planet surface to deep space just by scrolling your mouse wheel.  I’ve needed to look at the manual rarely if ever.  Having a single save file per planet keeps you honest, but is not too punishing since you can restart a certain phase without having to backtrack too much.  Is it sort of awkward from the standpoint of some parts being too easy for seasoned players and perhaps too hard for casual/Sims-style gamers?  Probably, but you can just tweek your difficulty to taste.  Moreover, once you’ve unlocked a certain phase, you can just jump that when you want to.  Don’t like creature building?  Grab a pre-made from the Sporepedia and play with that instead of rolling your own.

As a personal aside: one unintended place I think that Spore shines is that it is excellent training fodder for someone (like myself) starting to dip their toes into the world of real-time strategy games.  I’ve played lots of turn-based games (JRPGs, SRPGs, Civ IV) but have been trying to evolve to titles like W40K: Dawn of War and the impending Starcraft II.  Spore is a great starter RTSG.  For me, it is worth it for that alone.  Suck at Warcraft?  Play Spore and come back later.

So, is Spore the game of the century?  No.  Did it introduce a new mature game distribution model the way Valve did with Steam?  Not at all.  Is it the ultimate strategy game?  Nope.  Most consistent in its pacing?  Nay on that mark as well.  Is it a unique game that is fun to play, worth playing if you like video games, and might offer different things to different gamers?  An unqualified Yes.

Oh and they give you this cute and useless little flash deal to show off your goods in your blog.  So why not?

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 16th, 2008 at 7:22 pm and is filed under Mac, Tech.You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.