Spore me up

Spore... what a trip.

I picked this game up the night before I had two tests. That of Sociology and Biology. The day has come and passed for my tests, and I have yet to open my books. I think I did alright on those tests though... like... a sixty is still passing in college right? I joke I joke. Anyways, like I said, I did nothing except play Spore the night before my tests, the night of my tests and today. This game is so very remarkable to me. Let me begin story.... its a little story I like to call Life.

I began life as a tadpole. Or whatever you call that singular cell phase. (should of studied for biology). I of course went straight at eating all the meat I could find. No little herbivore could withstand the might of my... pokey horn thing. It was easy enough to move on, this part of the game is really nothing more than Feeding Frenzy with some cool little add-ons. Really, the add on just being the evolution stage where you can decide whether or not you want your little tadpole to swim faster, spore out poison, shoot electricity, look in more than one direction, eat meat or grass.... I grew quickly into the world.

I created a four limbed being named a.... i want to say maglopigus? I am not on my computer right now and can't check. I will be posting pictures later. My official name is Zdrok on the Spore Network. Anyways, my maglopygoo. At the beginning he had pincer teeth with weak hands and arms. A slight tale. This was it, he was a wimp and I didn't respect his quest. So I forced him to murder millions of eggs from other peoples nests. While my creature was crying in despair for the lost souls of unborn babies, He was also gaining new DNA, which by the way stands for deoxyribonuceic acid, and new DNA points in which he can spend on that new DNA to achieve things such as a spike on his tail, wings or better teeth.

I Gifted him with wings, better teeth and better hands... which to grab little girls with.... Anyways, the beginning of Spore is a simple point and click adventure. There is not much challenge in growing unless you like to run head first into the wild without looking at your opponent first. Of course that method isn't too bad either. Eventually through the course of your early life stage, your "brain" starts to develop. Every time it does you are able to add an extra ally to your pack which of course makes it easier to destroy your enemies or sing to them and make em' swoon. And now we go on. The next part of the adventure was my least favorite, the tribal phase. This is where they attempt to make a little RTS out of Spore. Their attempt was... nice and there are some pretty curious options available. But they really just save the complexity of the game for space. luckily for me, This stage is short lived. I, once again, Killed everyone. I flirted with the idea of learning how to play music to wow my neighbors... but then they tried to steal my food so I DESTROYED them. The system is simple in this RTS stage. You gather food, either by stealing it, killing shit, or fishing. Either way, food becomes your currency. You can create babies with it, or build more buildings. At first you only have 3 buildings that you are capable of building, one that is military based, one that is economic based, and one that is healing and fishing. To learn how to create these other buildings you must either befriend or destroy other tribes around you. To complete this phase you must destroy or befriend everyone on your continent. I did so with ease.

Next phase is civilization phase. Another attempt at an RTS. This one was a little more enjoyable because I could actually create units. And I didn't say produce for a reason. You can create everything that you are able to produce... if that makes sense. My car looks like the batmobile and a t-model all in one. My boat? Looks like marios boat in mario 64. Plane? Well i can't remember but I'm almost certain it's awesome. Point being your imagination is the limit. Ok, you can win this stage by three ways, all of which produce the same outcome. Religiously convert everyone to you, Buy them out through trade, or fucking DESTROY them. I chose the last option. In this round of the game your minerals are "spices". All you have to do to mine them or whatever is send your car or whatever over there, capture it and your set. It's fairly easy to do. The city structure of this game is very much like Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle Earth. Except with no heroes and less buildings. There are only a couple of buildings you can create. That of which are city hall, a house, an entertainment place, a factory and a turret for defense. House lets you create more vehicles, entertainment keeps your people happy, factory ups production but decreases happiness. pretty simple stuff. Like I said. It is all prep for going to the next level. After capturing your world by any means, you are awarded by being able to create a spaceship....

Well I will let you know how that is in my next post =)

Before I go to my next class (4 Minutes) I am going to post my impressions.

I love this game. love it. You know when you find that game, start playing it, turn it off and go to school and whatever... and you can't stop thinking about? I haven't felt that in a long time. I think since I started playing DDR about 3 years ago. This game is amazing to me and it definitely lived up to expectations in my book. Maxis once again sets the bar for simulation games. This could easily rival Civilization, Galactic Civilization, Feeding Frenzy, almost any RTS other than Blizzard made and C&C. This game had and still has so much potential. the best part, the remaining potential is up to us! I could spend hours alone just trying to tweak my creature to be the best one that had ever lived.... Awesome. Now if only i could figure out how to make a penis...

Expect a later post today on Space, should have pictures up as well.

-Travis