| Spore (Mac/PC DVD) |  | From: Electronic Arts
Category: Video Games
List Price: £39.99
Buy New: £23.99
You Save: £16.00 (40%)
New (6) Used (5) from £23.99
Avg. Customer Rating:  560 reviews
Sales Rank: 68
Platforms: Windows Xp, Windows Vista
Media: Video Game
Age: 11 - 18 years
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 7.4 x 5.4 x 0.6
EAN: 5030930057060
ASIN: B000FN7K2S
Release Date: September 5, 2008
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.co.uk Preview
From the creator of The Sims comes the most ambitious video game ever made: here you don't just control a single family or city but control an entire species from a single cell organism to a galactic conqueror. As impossibly complex as that might sound, the most impressive thing about Spore is just how accessible and fun it all is. The game is split into six evolutionary phases, starting with almost action-style gameplay at the microscopic level. From there you move to the creature phase on dry land, before going on to the tribal phase and the beginnings of society and technology. From there it's onto the city phase, which plays a bit like SimCity, and from there to the Civilisation phase which plays something like, you guessed it, Civilization. The final phase takes part in outer space where by hook or by crock your species must reign triumphant.Each phase has its own editing tools associated with it for things like vehicles and buildings. By far the most fun though is the creature tool, which allows you to create your own fully animated lifeform from scratch using a huge range of limbs, facial features and colourings. What's also interesting is that the other planets in the galaxy aren't all pre-populated by the game. Instead, by connecting online you can upload your races, and download those from other people, to fill the galaxy with civilizations from other players around the world. Any one of the six phases would normally be enough for any one game on its own, but this looks like it's going to turn out to be the world's first everything simulator.
HARRISON DENT
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| Customer Reviews: Read 555 more reviews...
 My son loves Spore November 30, 2008
We really don't care about the DRM and the endless debate about it. My 11 year old son loves Spore. He's really enjoyed every bit of it, and he's now looking forward to getting some of the parts packs for Xmas. He loves all of the ways you can create in this game and the different avenues you can take with it. Fun!
 Why is everyone putting this game down November 30, 2008
I have only been playing this game a short while and i am already captivated, the bacteria stage is fun and allows you to grab the basics of the game (e.g. add the right mouth for what you eat)and settle into it. After this stage though comes the fun part the Creature Stage here you can design your creature in what ever way you want you can make anything from a shapless blob to a dragon !!! I can only assume the people who gave this game a bad review either were expecting another age of empires or have no imagination but so far its a thumbs up from me :)
Dont buy it! November 27, 2008
I bought this for the eldest lad and now the only time I can get on the computer is when he's at school! It's a game that is helping his design skills, he's created some great monsters and as he wants to get into computer game design this is quite a good start for a kid.
 Beware if you think you can buy this game and sell it if you don't like it (which you won't) - you can't! November 22, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
This game is dreadful - My 6 year old's Barbie games have more depth and better graphics. To add insult to injury I tried to sell my copy on Ebay and have just had to refund the purchaser because they can't re-register the game even though it's a legitimate copy. Once the game has been registered once, EA lock those registration details to the game code and refuse to allow any changes. The only way anyone else can play the game is if you give them your registration details including email, password etc. EA certainly won't be getting any more of my money.
All the grind of a MMORPG without the social reward or variety. November 21, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
This was one of the most hyped games for about the past 3 years. Great things were made of the procedurally generated graphics and creature customisation. If what you want are toys that let you build the freaky alien of your choice I can recommend no better solution.
Unfortunately, I was expecting a *game* and what game there is in this product is seriously flawed. Overall the game is mind-numbingly repetetive. The cell stage is well executed and fun. You rapidly form an attachment to your blob of goo and rejoice as he eats things and grows strong. Exactly where his spikes are is something you get excited about as this can make all the difference to fending off other blobs or being lunch.
Unfortunately, the game doesn't get much more complicated. The creature stage is a dumbed down 3rd person action-adventure affair with your attributes determined by the parts on your creature. The interest is damaged as you are forced to change parts for better ones regardless of the aesthetics. There is little variation - you either kill or befriend other species until you suddely go tribal.
The tribal stage and civilisation stages are like dumbed down RTS games with few units (one land, one sea, one air) in the civilisation stage and little thought required. You can trade people to death (buy them), preach at them until they convert to your religion or attack them until you win. The latter two options are near identical.
Once you have your planet under control you reach the space stage. This is a little more interesting but not much. Your ship appears to contain the only brain in the galaxy. You can set up trade routes but they function only as a trojan horse to let you buy the other party's planet eventually. To actually get money you have to cart stuff round yourself or do missions. The missions are basic (fetch 3 of these, kill 5 of those) and ultimately dull. You get attacked on a semi-regular basis and have to hurtle back home to defend your planet (annoying). The diplomacy is feeble.
Apparently the 'story' element involving the Grox (baddies) is worth following and getting to the end is a big surprise and rewards the effort. I no longer care.
The final kick in the teeth comes now when they release details of the expansions which contain features that were announced for the main game months before release but apparently cut so they could sell the expansions. Imagine how impressed I am by this.
Oh, and the DRM policy sucks, but if this were actually a good game I would ignore it as a downside. As it is there is very little chance I will want to reinstall it ever anyway.
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