So what's wrong with Spore?

[William Fleming]

Mainly because of the broken promises that were destroyed by EA's suits want a game that appealed to a mass market (what part of interactive evolution simulator doesn't appeal to anyone, I honestly don't see anyone playing that wouldn't have played the version promised). There was so much cut content which left the game hollow shell of its former self making the game a series of shallow mini games before a dull space exploration game.

Also, someone posted a video of the GDC video that hyped everyone up. Compare it with the final release version and you will see why everyone hates it. It's not really a cased of not living up to expectations rather than being straight up lied to. Actually, now that I think about, it could have been a sign of things to come from EA.

 

[Smooth Operator]

Hey it's cheap so give it a bash and you will see the problem.
In short it is one excellent creature creator that can do almost anything, and then you take your creatures through 5 borrowed game modes that were done barely to the point of functional... left the whole experience really empty, and we were paying $60 for that privilege.

 

[Mik Sunrider]

It was the game that began my hatred of EA; I paid $60 expecting a steak and lobster dinner but EA gave me a picture of a Big Mac instead.

 

[Dalisclock]

Pretty much what everyone else said.

I played it when it first came out, got to the space stage and gave up because of how limited and annoying it was(I've played actual 4x games. A 4x game where you can only control a single fleet of up to 5 ships and only that fleet can do anything is not amusing, it's frustrating).

Then I tried it again a month ago, just to see if the expansion packs and lowered expectations made the game better. This time I finished the creature stage and decided it wasn't worth continuing.

Pretty much every stage in the game has a full game equivalent that does that particular thing better. So really, if you place each of those games in the same sequence, you'd have much the same theoretical experience but a lot more fun.

 

[Vivi22]

It's a bad game because it's little more than a creature creator with a few mini-games tacked on. Mini-games which are, at their very best, over simplified rip offs of games that are a lot better.

Instead of trying to make one really great game, they basically made five shitty games that might be interesting if you're five or six, but lack any real depth or challenge to engross players who've actually played the better versions of those games.

Is it kind of cool to watch your creatures develop throughout different stages? Sure. Is that alone going to keep you interested in those stages? Not in the least. Playing every stage just leaves you wondering why you aren't actually playing Flow, Civilization, or any of the other games they decided to make half-assed copies of (and half-assed is being pretty generous actually).

If you can get the base game and its expansions for under a tenner, then it's not a bad romp.

Honestly, buying any of the games their mini-games were based off of for basically the same price or less still makes Spore not worth the money. Why buy several shallow mini-games when you could buy any Civilization game instead?

 

[Drops a Sweet Katana]

It's a bad game because it's little more than a creature creator with a few mini-games tacked on. Mini-games which are, at their very best, over simplified rip offs of games that are a lot better.

Instead of trying to make one really great game, they basically made five shitty games that might be interesting if you're five or six, but lack any real depth or challenge to engross players who've actually played the better versions of those games.

Is it kind of cool to watch your creatures develop throughout different stages? Sure. Is that alone going to keep you interested in those stages? Not in the least. Playing every stage just leaves you wondering why you aren't actually playing Flow, Civilization, or any of the other games they decided to make half-assed copies of (and half-assed is being pretty generous actually).

If you can get the base game and its expansions for under a tenner, then it's not a bad romp.

Honestly, buying any of the games their mini-games were based off of for basically the same price or less still makes Spore not worth the money. Why buy several shallow mini-games when you could buy any Civilization game instead?

I'd say that mainly because I had most of my fun in the creators and in Galactic Adventures. To me, Spore was a simple creative tool with some mediocre mini-games attached. That's just me though.

 

[loa]

Oh spore.
Spore actually introduced me to the joy that is DRM you know.
I believe EA also started to take a nosedive down the shitter starting with spore.
The game itself though? Not much to it. It gets repetetive very fast.

I still got it, actually!
Last physical game I bought, quite literally.
The gamestore I bought it in wouldn't take it back.
I don't really want to install it ever again though since I don't wanna have to scrub my harddrive of their rootkit DRM which you can't not install since it never asks so it's a paperweight now.

 

[RJ 17]

So basically they falsely advertised their game. They said we were stupid. They put our computers in actual danger. On top of all of this, they sold us an expansion that was the meat of the space stage's gameplay.

It was a fart directly in the face of everyone who was hyped.

I'd say that about sums up the other sentiments in this topic, glad I made it. After watching Game Grumps play it and putting more thought to what I saw compared with what I heard here, I can definitely see where everyone's complaints are coming from. It really is just an assortment of minigames. I could see myself having fun for a couple hours but likely regretting my purchase later.

You've spared yourself your first Molyneux-ing.

I don't know about all that...I did buy Fable 3 when it first came out.

Better to say that I spared myself another Molyneux-ing.

 

[Blitsie]

It wasn't a bad game. The initial stages felt a little rushed and the space part was dragging. I remember someone telling me that you must arrive at the center of the galaxy, or something. But I never did that, it was way too long and repetitive process.
The creature creator was fun. And the RPG portion, albeit short, was fun as well.

Like the guys before me said, it was mostly about not delivering on the expectation and the promises.

You didn't miss anything at all, the whole center area of the galaxy is essentially populated with super powerful aliens who immediately declare war on you upon discovery and start constantly attacking all your planets, turning the space age from rather fun to an absolute slog as you're stuck permanently defending your turf. Not fun.

Anyway, if you can find it for cheap I'd say its worth a try, it was ultimately a rather okay game that they hyped up as amazing and ended up paying the price for it.

 

[TristanBelmont]

So basically they falsely advertised their game. They said we were stupid. They put our computers in actual danger. On top of all of this, they sold us an expansion that was the meat of the space stage's gameplay.

It was a fart directly in the face of everyone who was hyped.

I'd say that about sums up the other sentiments in this topic, glad I made it. After watching Game Grumps play it and putting more thought to what I saw compared with what I heard here, I can definitely see where everyone's complaints are coming from. It really is just an assortment of minigames. I could see myself having fun for a couple hours but likely regretting my purchase later.

You've spared yourself your first Molyneux-ing.

I don't know about all that...I did buy Fable 3 when it first came out.

Better to say that I spared myself another Molyneux-ing.

This is a good point. Still, I didn't hate Fable 3. But I probably would have if I played 2 first. But hey, Legends looks alright.

 

[Ranorak]

The game is basicly 4 poorly copied versions of far superior games.
Every stage can, and has to be, won by doing the exact same things a couple of times.
There is NO challenge, no strategy required.
The creatures are fun to build I'll give the game that, but besides that, it's one big boring pile of mediocrity.

The first stage, the cell stage is perhaps the most relaxing and fun.
The second stage, you pick either friendly, in which case you're going to spend your time going to other creatures and play a game of repeat after me for 60 times. Or if you pick carnivore, you're going to kill them by up to 4 attacks.

The third, you form a tribe, wait until you hit unit cap, and either go to the enemy tribes to sing at them or kill them.

The forth, you have a city, spawn units until hit cap and attack other cities with missiles or love-beams.

There, done, space. Now you can fly around and drop trees onto things.