Zero Punctuation: Spore

SargentToughie

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Jun 14, 2008
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I don't know about this one, it feels like yahtzee is starting to slip a little as far as humor goes...

good review non the less
 

myst1278

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Sep 17, 2008
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Another good review. The best part of Spore really is the Creature Creator/creature phase (I like being able to kill/befriend other creatures with stuff I made). However, once I got to the tribal phase everything got boring...

Also, I'm surprised he never mentioned anything about 'DRM' or 'SecuROM', since that's a huge reason why many people aren't getting it (not legally, at least).
 

Undead Dragon King

Evil Spacefaring Mantis
Apr 25, 2008
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amodelmerol post=6.71753.735627 said:
Do we hate Spore?

YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
NO. I don't know about you guys but I love Spore. Yahtzee was obviously expecting something from Spore that I knew from the very start wouldn't be there. Spore is something completely different from the Sims series and I thought that Yahtzee would have understood that.

I definitely enjoyed the "different game a minute" feel to it because it not only serves to keep things interesting, but it illustrates that as society changes, so do the rules. That's how humanity evolved, right? Also, Yahtzee didn't seem to get that you don't HAVE to follow a set stereotype for your creature from the beginning. Just because you're an herbivore doen't mean that you HAVE to be friends with everyone. Hell, you can kill everyone off anyway! Carnivores can also be friends with everyone.

Having played through the Sims series personally, I found myself more proud of my Spore races than I ever was of my sims. Seeing a creature that you guided from a cell all the way to a spacefaring power is heartwarming, especially when you single-handedly destroy the evil Galactic Empire and discover the center of the galaxy.

I respect and value your opinion as always, Yahtzee, but I heartily desagree with you. Spore is one of the best games I've played in years, and I'm sorry that you couldn't appreciate the beauty of Spore for what it is.
 

CannotComply

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Sep 17, 2008
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Hmmm, this review wasn't the best review you've done.
You seemed to run out of ideas to comment on and resorted to what seemed to be filler material (the long nooo wasn't really necessary), and that wasn't because of the game.
There are flaws with Spore that you didn't mention, such as the 3 installation limit, the crashes that many people are suffering from and the plain fact that the game wasn't indepth enough. These were very noticeable facts and I can't help but wonder why you didn't mention them.

The review was alright, but it lacked much entertainment.
 

Drbog

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Jun 11, 2008
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To be honest I agree thats it's a ripoff of MANY other games but you could'nt put GalCiv 2 into the space stage,lastly,according to maxis the designers for Civ4 were working on the civ stage seem like a load of shit cause it's the worst stage.

Oh and also I can't believe you didn't mention the galaxy inhabited by other life type thing.
 

hypercube

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Jul 23, 2008
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I disagree about the herbivore stuff, I found that befriending and then religously indoctrinating other races/cities to be much, much easier than attacking them all the time. And more variety too.
Still, it is very shallow and didn't keep my interest beyond the first few space quests.
 

masterjamie

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Sep 7, 2008
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I know this sounds daft, but to me, the space stage seemed to also bring to mind EVE online, if you know what I mean. Still, I enjoy Spore, if only because it involves a good degree of creativity.

Regardless, still a great review, even though the "NOO..." parts were a little too drawn out.
 

Takatchi

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Jul 4, 2008
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Hype is probably the thing that is killing gaming generations from here on out, because marketing is so painfully cheap and good game design is apparently incredibly expensive.

This makes me glad I didn't reserve a copy of SPORE and decided to wait it out. :(
 

sky14kemea

Deus Ex-Mod
Jun 26, 2008
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*applauses how long yahtzee can hold a note*
that was amazing XD
thank you so much yahtzee ^-^
 

ParkourMcGhee

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Jan 4, 2008
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True that some of the earlier phases could have been extended, but clearly you haven't played the herbivore side very well, and it's jsut not FUN for you as destroying everything in the vicinity... I believe your major issue is that you were constantly comparing it to SIMS and Sim City, fairly outdated games which are only played by losers and girls. Spore is a wonderful creatino in which you can build everything the way you want to or just import stuff other people made if you're too much of a lazy bastard to put a block down for a house. Fiddling with plants and animals and interacting with other space civilizations is painfully frustrating at first but that's when being a herbivore comes in great, diplomacy with others rather than trying to anhialate a city with about 20 turrets with a simple weak laser >.> .
 

HardRockSamurai

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May 28, 2008
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Finally, a review I agree with!

Jumping from stage to stage really disrupted the flow of the game. One minute I'd be playing a WOW-esque game where clicking on someone makes them die, and then suddenly, I'm swept into a totally different RTS type game...which is annoying!

Still, Spore is probably the only game that will ever let you create a race of purple dildo-shaped creatures, so arguing that the game isn't unique is pointless. It is unique, but the blatant ripping off of so many different game types just doesn't suit me. I'm not buying it, I'll just mooch of the version my roommate bought (sucker.)
 

SimpleReally

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Feb 4, 2008
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What i liked:
- the genghis joke
- the US foreign policy joke
- the first nooooooooooo
- the calm, professional tone

What i didnt like:

- a bit too many dick jokes
- some more detail about the actual gameplay, i never played the game and my knowledge of the sims is rather limited, i want to know exactly how it plays, what kind of target audience is it intended for etc..

some detailed description about it would be nice (like your painkiller, the witcher and sim city societies reviews)
 

TaboriHK

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Sep 15, 2008
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Everything said in this review basically confirms what my friend said a week ago when it launched. Here's a prime lesson in why you should ignore hype, everyone. Because nothing EVER EVER EVER lives up to it.
 

Stammer

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Apr 16, 2008
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I thought Spore was an "alright" game, though its flaws definitely did outdo its pros.

The review was good, as always, and I laughed so hard when he did that really long "nooooo...". And all I can say is at least he has a really good habit of not treading on old jokes so much. If all he did was call Wright "pants-on-head retarded", I'd probably have not laughed as hard as I did.
 

heartsblood

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Feb 20, 2008
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This wasn't one of his better ones. As much as I hate this game I was really hopping he'd rip it apart like he did with too human. Maybe his intentions were such that the game was so terrible it didn't deserve a proper sodomizing?

Ps. Yahtzee, I watch your reviews because they're intellectually stimulating.. That 'nooo..' gimmick was not amusing.
 

Squeaksx

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Jun 19, 2008
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Well I'll keep this as short as Yahtzee's review. When I saw the time of the video being six minutes I honestly was hoping for some incredibly interesting information being spewed out of every orifice. What we got was a recap of how great The Sims was (It was incredible don't get me wrong, I'm waiting for The Sims 3,) and a half-baked pro-war anti-American seminar. To be honest it doesn't matter what type of creature you are in the cell stage. Cover yourself in spikes and your fucking invincible. Another thing is the fact that he didn't even touch upon the Omnivore creature type in the cell and creature phase or the Herbivores in the Civilization stage. All in all it seems like he woke up on Sunday and realized "Oh shit I have a review due in a couple days" (I've been like that for various other things...)picked up Spore, played through it really quick, and figured "Eh they won't know the difference." Well meh to you Sir Yahtzee! Meh!
 

daftalchemist

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Aug 6, 2008
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I could have done without the long "no".

That being said, I like Spore. I like that each stage has different gameplay from the last. It makes it more exciting. I definitely agree that it's more difficult to be an herbivore, but really only during the cell stage, and then later on in the civilization stage when your religious vehicles hurt like nothing and some other guy's military vehicle is one-shotting your entire city.

All in all, it was a poor review. I don't care if Yahtzee doesn't like Spore, it's not going to change my mind about the game, but it wasn't a very well done review.
 

nought_0

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Sep 17, 2008
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First of all let me point out that anyone

Spore lasted on my machine just four days Before I felled it with the stone axe of uninstallation.
For me, the problem with Spore was that having had the Creature Creator to tinker around with for a few weeks previously, I'd already gotten my fill of nearly half the 'game.' -And the better half, at that.

Once i'd played full game for a while, it felt more like I'd installed an expansion pack or a sequel. The change between stages is abrupt and jarring, plus after about half and hour swanning around space I suspect I may have seen everything the game has to offer. There was an overwhelming sense of "Oh. -What, is that it?" Like going to a fireworks display which starts with one huge, colourful rocket that lights up the night sky with explosions and effects for a few seconds. It was ace, so you wait for the next firework to be sent up. And you wait. And you wait. .....And you wait.
There are no more fireworks, kid. -GO HOME.
This however suggests that maybe further expansions could save it, but which way to go? -More gaming complexity and a smoother transition between stages, or a more versatile, complex creature editor with a less direct control, like nurturing a bonsai? A twist here, a snip there? -Or will they just add more eyes and snouts?

-It seems that it's too much to ask developers to flesh out and improve the entire game.

There's load's more I could say but I'm not a reviewer.

So, I'll put this question out on the table:
Could an update improve Spore?

Ps. Remember; I asked 'Could', not 'Should' ;)