Spore: Space stage

Well, this post actually talks about everything except the Space stage, because I reached it only at 3.00 AM last night, so I was forced to turn the game off (I have a daytime work, you know).

After trying the demo I bought the game, so how is the full game? Is it worth 54,90 € (italian price)? The answer can be yes, for the most part. Spore is a fun, addictive game, maybe a little short since I arrived at the final stage in two days of gaming.
I also find it a little bit annoying at time, with some stages (the tribal and the civilization ones) a little bit too tedious due to the small repeating tasks and the slow pace. As most reviewers wrote before me, the game feels like an action game, a sim game, a strategy game, all stripped down in some way and packed together. So a little disappointing from this point of view.

BUT they're packed together with the best editors out there (except for the anthem creator), and they are really one of the best accomplishments of videogames of all times. The game also has a plethora of accomplishments, like 50 in all. From the Spore Addict (play for more than 100 hours) to the Deja Vu (see a creature you created before in a new game on a different planet).
And the cutscenes are too much fun, I will play the whole game again just to see them.

So yes, it was worth it. I expect to create at least 50 beings before the end of the month...

On board of the spore mania

As a big fan as I am of game editors, I couldn't resist to give Spore Creature Creator a try.
For those who don't know the game, Spore is a simulator game in which you build your creature and then take it through all the stages of evolution. The game is full of editors to create your creature, buildings, spaceships and so on, and Creature Creator is one of them.
What I didn't knew though is how powerful the editor is. It lets the user assemble a monster in so many ways that it's simply overwhelming. Also from a technical point of view, it's also an enourmous accomplishment in character animation since every creature that you do, no matter if the legs are stitched on the forehead, animates properly, walks, jumps, and so on. Even the textures stretch to fit the form YOU created, not some shape that the developers thought of in advance. It's complete freedom. Well not 100% complete, but you get the point.

I thank God I only have the Demo edition so the pieces to create my creatures are limited, otherwise I could spend days creating the latest fashion in monsters.

Speaking about Spore, I once had an interesting conversation with my uncle about why he didn't like videogames. He said that games are only a big, very big bunch of predetermined game states, and playing is only going through them. What he meant is that games aren't interesting because you're essentially doing something that someone else set for you, in a way he had already predicted.
While I see this is ultimately true, I don't see this as a problem... after all, games are like a story that the developers are telling us, so it's ok if they know how we're going to play it.
With Spore though, I think that even the developers haven't foreseen every possibility. And I think it's the first time in the history of games... well ok, maybe I'm too excited about it and I forget other games who had editors before it, but seriously: try Spore Creature Creator Demo.

PS: did I mention that Spore CC lets you take screenshots and videos of your creations and upload them on Youtube directly from within the game? Here's my latest one:

Oh my I also forgot another thing. The creature creator features dynamic simplicistic music, that changes based on the action you do. There's a basic beat and then the music changes when the game is loading a texture or you attach a part to the creature... Spore's dynamic music is poetry for me...

UPDATE: I just found this nice article on Spore's dynamically generated music.