Zero Punctuation: Spore

[The Sound Defense]

I'm playing through Spore right now and while it's pretty simplistic, the creature creation is still fun and it still manages to be satisfying. It's a game that will please a great deal of people and Yahtzee is not at all among them, just like Brawl.

Also, 16 seconds of no is too long for me. Could he not come up with enough material?

 

[The Sound Defense]

As far as expectations go, though, I think I have to agree with Yahtzee. Did anybody watch Spore's original revealing at GDC 2006? It was definitely a different beast back then, more substance, less charm. That's the game the gamers waited for, while during development the game seems to have turned around and become more for casuals.

 

[Drift-Bus]

Your my favourite man on the planet at this time.
Are you in need of a snivelling, hetreo, life-partner sycophant?


EDIT: I mean Mr Yaht. And I'm quitely worried about his review on Fable II, lest it ruin the game for me.

 

[The Sound Defense]

Bite me Rag. Yahtzee is not the ultimate standard regarding a game's quality. I have every right to disagree with his opinion and offer my two bits. I said that Spore pleased me, so what I say is based on my open opinion, what the hell do you want?

 

[FSK405K]

Yahtzee forgot the funny this week. His Too Human review was classic, but a week later he extends out a "No" for the finale? Actually, I'm really surprised he didn't mention the DRM, as in "..if you're going to make something incredibly good that becomes frighteningly popular, MAKE SURE IT DOESN'T TURN YOUR FANS' COMPUTERS INTO INEFFICIENT REMOTE CONTROL SLAVES."

 

[TaboriHK]

The thing that shits me off about people here is that no one ever really seems smart enough to accept something for what it is, and instead applies disappointment for it not being what you wanted. Assassin's Creed was the most prevalent game to suffer this petty inanity recently. You all put it on this giant pedestal of the purest shimmering samite and chased silver so when it didn't meet your lofty expectations you suddenly get all butthurt and claim it was crap.

The same goes for Spore. You're all here bitching about how much of a letdown it was, but whose fault is that? Will Wright's fault for not making it as good as you wanted? No, it's YOUR fault for having impossible expectations and then whinging because it's not everything you assumed it would be.

Hype hype hype. If this game wasn't hyped, it wouldn't be hated. Simple as that. But we had to hear for MONTHS and MONTHS that this game was going to change the way we thought about gaming, it was the second coming, yadda yadda. This is a problem Spore brought on itself. That's why I have no sympathy.

 

[Muphin_Mann]

That's right SD. You show well grounded independent thought who's boss. Remember, it's not if the game is good or bad. It's if it's popular. Baa.

Actualy, its the exact opposite. I think the posters point is that it doesnt matter if Ben and his army of ravenous fans dislike the game, its if the game is worth playing that matters.

But you tried to have an origional thought, so i gotta give you some points for effort.

And spore DOES suck! Wake up and smell your own semen stained pants, fanboys! I've been playing Sim games for years, and I've beaten ones I doubt many of you even knew existed. I wouldn't piss on Spore if it was on fire, largely because I'm probably the one with the gasoline and matches.p

As someone else pointed out, you cant beat games like that.
But the real problem with this post is that the poster comes off as a raving Sims fanboy who doesnt like the new direction of Spore. Try to turn down the fanwank a little next time.

And he also fails in that he has revealed a pyromaniac tendancy.
REMEMBER KIDS- Mr. Yahtzee might be able to pull off the raving misanthrope bit for comedy, but most people who try it (Hitler, for example) dont come off nearly as funny.

Hype hype hype. If this game wasn't hyped, it wouldn't be hated. Simple as that. But we had to hear for MONTHS and MONTHS that this game was going to change the way we thought about gaming, it was the second coming, yadda yadda. This is a problem Spore brought on itself. That's why I have no sympathy.

You have a point, but my personal take is to not blame games themselves for market hype. In fact, i take it one step further by not paying much attention to hype. The last six months before its release the only thing i would accept about spore was the information on its release date, which i took with a grain of salt.
No looking up features online
No visiting fansites
No visiting official websites
No purchasing the creature creator
Distance onself from the hype and it is but the babbling of raindrops ouside your sheltered cave.

 

[The Sound Defense]

I remember that SimAnt could be beaten.

 

[TaboriHK]

You have a point, but my personal take is to not blame games themselves for market hype. In fact, i take it one step further by not paying much attention to hype. The last six months before its release the only thing i would accept about spore was the information on its release date, which i took with a grain of salt.
No looking up features online
No visiting fansites
No visiting official websites
No purchasing the creature creator
Distance onself from the hype and it is but the babbling of raindrops ouside your sheltered cave.

You're right. It's often the media surrounding the games that hype them up to this level, and the fanboys of course. The problem is that Will Wright or whoever is in question is never going to try to quell the buzz because from a business standpoint, that's retarded. I do what you do, which is try to stay away from the hype as much as possible. I got burned by Halo 2, which stank, and Halo 3, which was mediocre. So now I just shut it all out and try to expose myself to as little hype as possible. Because that ruins it for me.

 

[Nugget]

Excellent, more splenetic juices erupted upon the tawdry corpse of Spore. I agree with everything that "Mr. Yahtzee" as we're apparently now calling him on everything - although to be perfectly honest, I was expecting him to hate it more. I don't hate the game, but I hate the hype, and I hate it "overall". The stages are fun for a while, but it's all just mini-games leading up to a broken Space Stage. I think "highly disappointed and sickened with hype" should suffice.

Perhaps I'm the only one who saw past the end of their nose for once and saw that the game was getting suspiciously more media coverage than most games. The Sims 3 is going to make an utter fortune, but they're not submitting that to Anthropology professors or something ludicrous - so I fail to see just how getting National Geographic to wank them off for a rather long time is going to help them. They are quite clearly capable of making a good game, I'm just wondering hat went wrong on Maxis's end, myself.

 

[boholikeu]

As far as expectations go, though, I think I have to agree with Yahtzee. Did anybody watch Spore's original revealing at GDC 2006? It was definitely a different beast back then, more substance, less charm. That's the game the gamers waited for, while during development the game seems to have turned around and become more for casuals.

It's still for the hardcore, just a different kind of hardcore player. The depth and strategy of the game is all in the creators, not in any of the objective-based gameplay.

Oh, and I did see the GDC 2006 demo. Frankly, not much has changed aside from blood and more roaming creatures. Watch it again and I think you'll be surprised at how much your inflated expectations have filled in the blanks.

 

[Hyzenthlay]

I dont hate Spore its amusing and I like that kind of game where I can make my own challenges rather than mindlessly adhere to what some other person thinks is fun. I do agree that there wasnt as much depth as I expected but then again the original Sims was prettty limited. I feel like they rushed to finish it and in doing so left out a lot of content hopefully they will release an expansion pack to flesh it out soon. And I do realise that the word expansion pack will probably get me flamed buts thats just my opinion.

 

[mark_n_b]

Wonderful, Hillarious as ever. Especially the long drawn out NOOOOO!

OK, a lot of people have posted about how awesome this was. I could not re-watch this reviewbecause of it. I would say never do this again. It was funny, then it got tiring, then it got funny because he was pushing it obviously too far, then it got tiring again.

The fact that it was artificially extended and the sound levels were off was really distracting and ultimately detracted from the show. I know adjusting sound isn't easy, and it was a good enough effect for the tools at hand, but it was a bad addition.

Am I reviewing a review? I'm so lame...

 

[Darthracoon]

Ah, true and godd as always Yahtzee.

 

[[email protected]]

That was awesome.... not stale at all....

I still have not made a penis...

 

[PlasticPorter]

ha HA!
not that good

 

[DarthTirith]

Spore was terrible, it isn't the life sim it was 5 years ago. Will Wright came out and ADMITTED, PROUDLY, that he spent that time dumbing the game down to sell to casual players. So yeah, Will Wright is no longer awesome.

Great review, one of the funniest yet, you're on a roll with the awesome Too Human review. Soo.. Star Wars this week? Not like you wouldn't have the time to play it.. Darn short game.

 

[H.R.Shovenstuff]

I very much enjoyed this review.
I have noticed that Yahtzee has a tendency to review akin to Charlie Brooker.
Anyone else see the similarity? No? Well then you can all go fuck yourselves.
La la la la la

Edit:
Because of the nature of this comment I feel the need to remark that this is intended as a joke.
I in no way condone the abhorrent act of self-fuckery.

 

[BlueInkAlchemist]

I enjoyed this review as well, but since I heard Yahtzee on the Australian Gamer podcast, I had a feeling this would be next. The fifteen second "No" was amusing, and shows that Yahtzee has no problem holding his breath for an extended period of time. Now, where did he managed to get that skill...?

 

[TaboriHK]

He's just adhering to Godwin's Law and admitting defeat.