Zero Punctuation: Spore

[Shadow-Knight]

I've tried out the creature creator, and that seemed amusing, but I haven't yet tried the full game yet. Some people(Xplay) gave it a perfect score, while others show their disappointment with bad scores. My friend thinks the game is the best thing since sliced bread, so I don't exactly know if I would like it or not. I might try playing it once or twice, but thats probably it.

 

[Doug]

It was good to know he didn't talk about the DRM shit.

While I realise its not part of the game play its worth about 10 seconds of that 15 second, NOOOOOOOOO, to mention that the DRM is a pile of steaming excrement.

Meh, DRM is important, BUT I think that Yahtzee prefers to stick to the gameplay itself... I don't mind either way.

 

[Evilpoppy]

I enjoyed playing Spore three times. First time as a Carnivore -> Warmonger, Second time as a Herbivore -> Religious Nut, Third time as an Omnivore -> Capitalist Pig. As a mini sim it is quite good fun, but once you have exhausted the three options it gets boring.

Tried the space stage and drifted off.

 

[aaronomus]

I'd just like to give Yahtzee props on the Star Control 2 reference. A truely underrated oldie.

 

[Dogmeat T Dingo]

I like Spore but the shallowness of it all bothers me. Yahtzee is spot on with the criticisms, the whole thing seems rushed and the phases up to the space sim are too short. And it WAS an incredibly ridiculous portrayal of evolution, it's like evolution as portrayed by Kent Hovind or Jack Chick or something.

Also, once you get to the space sim it gets incredibly boring, maybe I'm not playing right but I was expecting a galactic empire building sim with epic fleet battles and cunning diplomacy and the like. But this feels more like a space trading sim with all the complexity removed.

 

[Pigeon_Grenade]

Another Hit Yahtzee

(there was supposed to be underwater citys in this one, but was cut and stated to be in the Expansion)

 

[anti_strunt]

does anyone acctualy read my posts -_-

No.

Wait-! DAMNIT.

 

[SYSTEM-J]

Does anyone know what the "How are you? I am fine." line was a reference to? I have a suspicion but it may be totally wrong.

 

[Doug]

what were the 5 games he was talking about, i saw CnC, civilzation, WoW, but what were the other two?!@?

Cell stage: Pac-man/flOw (Although I'm pretty sure Spore was around first)
Creature stage: Diablo, apparently (I've not played it)
Tribal: A low-unit simpler RTS
Civilization: A low-complexity version of Civilization (obviously).
Space stage: Star Control 2, maybe...

Basically, I have to wonder if they didn't over reach themselves, even with ... 8? years development. After all, if they were trying to develop 5 seperate stages, and a normal game takes 2-3 years to get right, they should have taken 10-15 years! (yeah, EA was reeeeally going to allow that)

That said, cell stage is meant to be basic and its been explicitly stated that its designed to only take 10 minutes to play.

So, maybe 'only' 4 games - basically, it was shallow complexity or a longer process. MAybe they'll deepen it in Spore expansions, although I'll admit that is a weak defence (and I seriously don't feel like defending EA even though I like Spore).

 

[SYSTEM-J]

Also: Yahtzee, like everyone else, seems to have forgotten the plague of Sim games that followed the first SimCity, including SimEarth and SimLife [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SimLife] which is basically the same idea as Spore, only made 16 years earlier. I've heard Spore being called an innovative and original concept, which always baffled me because my first thought was, "Hasn't Will Wright already done this?"

 

[Archereus]

wtf you mean old crap??? if any thing he comes up with some thing new almost every episode, just his terminology and analogies stay the same but he still coems up with some thing funny every time, either way, i found it funny even though i never played spore, but i learned some thing new, i thought the game wasa pure plat former and it looked good in that contex. So thak you Yahtzee for bringing the game to a new light for me

 

[Vitalix]

The video was once just a review. Then ads appeared at the end, giving the review a false sense of length. Now we have to look at an ad at the beginning that's too fast to skip. All that plus a silly content diluting "nooooo" makes me wonder whether it's all worth the effort.

That being said, the review was fun. It brought a smile or two.

I wonder why he never mentioned Black and White.

 

[Jaythulhu]

Eugh. 6 hours and I still can't view the damned video. If it's the ads that're taking up all the download, then please, make them a seperate file. Or give a download link to just the yahtzee review.

[Edit: Hrmm. A defrag, deletion and reinstall of flash player and a deletion of everything in my temp file from command prompt, and I can watch the vid. Vista has some weird issues.]

 

[aniki21]

Maybe not one of the best ZP reviews, but still very good.

The "Nooooooooooooooooooo" joke was obvious from a mile away, but I still thought it was funny. It managed to go on long enough that it went from being funny to not funny and back to funny again, at least for me.

 

[The9mm]

to put fifteen seconds of no into your vid is an insult
to bash spore is an even bigger one
just because your mind has corroded from eating to much gaming shit and a game does not pull your cock the right way, you shouldn't stop being open to new technology and new gaming-ideas
space age sucks in some ways
but thats about it
good night and good luck

lol fanboy.

Good review!

four words
all a failure
try again

 

[Sephitar13]

I like the video... like every other video he's ever made.. but somethings missing... i miss the comedy and complete dissregarde of others opinions in his older videos like COD4 and sim city

 

[Wargamer]

We knew Spore was a waste of time before Yahtzee came along. Why couldn't he have reviewed Mercs 2 or something instead?


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.

 

[Doug]

We knew Spore was a waste of time before Yahtzee came along. Why couldn't he have reviewed Mercs 2 or something instead?


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.

Oh wow I guess the escapist community is as tolerant of different tastes as ever.

 

[boholikeu]

We knew Spore was a waste of time before Yahtzee came along. Why couldn't he have reviewed Mercs 2 or something instead?

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

...

You can't "beat" sandbox games. The very fact that you say so shows you are doing it wrong...

 

[MarcoTenshi]

Totally agree, its like WW wanted to make a 'thing where people make stuff instead of the designers making stuff', cos thats his thing, but had to give it some gameplay...so gave it the least amount of gameplay its possible to actually give something while retaining the label 'game'.

The whole 'emergence' thing is a joke as well. If you fight...they become warlike, its not fucking rocket science. But its all hidden from us behind snazzy smoke and mirrors so we can trick ourselves into thinking the <if they fight then warlike=warlike+1> algorithm is really revolutionary.

At any one stage there are only 3 types of creature that can actually exist ffs..and 3 activities you can actually do!! And we are supposed to believe there's a magical powerhouse of sophistication generating a rich and varied continuum of cultures??? BULLSHIT.

Plus the difference between the 3 types of culture is just aesthetic anyway. You either have to buy a "bomb" or a "happiness bomb".