[Updated] Spore reviews start rolling in; Leaked

by Jason Sanders | September 3, 2008 at 10:22 pm | 474 views | 15 comments | 2 recommendations

[Updated September 5]

Although Spore is supposed to be released on September 7th in North America, Australia got an early crack at the Massive Single Player Online Game. At the moment, Metacritic gives the game a 86 – Generally favourable reviews – which dropped from a 90 only two days before. Also, over 123 users have rated the game, giving it an average 8.3/10.

The game has also been leaked onto the net almost a week before the North American release despite the presence of cripple-ware, SecuROM, that is included with every game copy sold.

The game sounds amazing and seems to have lived up to the hype. I've seen several Spore ads at several of the bus stops here in Vancouver, so their P.R. machine is in full swing.

Here's some quotes from a few of the reviews:

The sheer size of the game and its malleable nature means that the limit is quite literally your imagination. Spore certainly isn't flawless -- the camera controls could be much tighter, especially in the space stage. Being unable to pan up is extremely frustrating when you're being attacked from above, and a lack of auto-targeting makes dog-fights somewhat frustrating.

Of course a couple of these are from magazine editions that aren't available yet, either by lack of time travel technology or the fact that they're based in Poland. Really Mr Wright? Poland gets the game before the rest of the world?

Spore's triumph is painfully ironic. By setting out to instill a sense of wonderment at creation and the majesty of the universe, it's shown us that it's actually a lot more interesting to sit here at our computers and explore the contents of each other's brains. [PC Gamer UK October 2008, p.64]

How to design a game that spans from swimming in a drop of water to ruling the galaxy? Will Wright knows how: as simple as possible. Spore deserves success on "The Sims" scale. [Play (Poland) Sept 2008]

Electronic Arts and Will Wright send you on a unique journey through Evolution. But it's less of a game and more of a colourful biological construction kit. Spore is sophisticated and rich in details, but all this is rarely noticeable because of its uninspired game play and lack of a story, which is such a pity. It's a paradise for creative gamers, but an expensive one, too. Electronic Arts asks 10 Euros more than usual - that's a rip off. [Gamestar]

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tru.olanis

at 19:53 on September 4th, 2008

Can't say much about the game itself at this point, but I can say that the packaging for the Galactic Edition of Spore is beautiful in its own unique way. Me and my fellow Gamestop employees are all looking forward to getting a crack at the game on Sunday. Looking good!

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Jason Sanders

at 20:31 on September 4th, 2008

It does look pretty amazing, eh? I'm liking the reviews that are popping up because it sounds like Will Wright hit it out of the ballpark on this game.

Are you guys getting many preorders for the game?

tru.olanis

at 09:20 on September 5th, 2008

More than we get for most games, but still not staggerign amounts. Less then ten for the Galactic Edition and standard combined.

adio9293

at 20:30 on September 4th, 2008

Spore is a huge game with massive replay value. From what i played at PAX it seems like it will be loads of fun.

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Jason Sanders

at 20:32 on September 4th, 2008

I really wanted to go to PAX this year, but had no money. How was it?

vmax137

at 22:08 on September 4th, 2008

Spore’s potential success can be seen from the crowds of people with different backgrounds excited from just watching the game play onscreen. Although obvious liberties were taken with how evolution actually goes about, Spore may help generate new interest in the sciences such as biology and anthropology.

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lethal lolita

at 00:58 on September 5th, 2008

A somehwat blury picture I took at P.A.X. (8-30-08) in Seattle,Wa of the soon to be released game Spore.

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ED209uk

at 02:49 on September 5th, 2008

I was lucky enough to see Will Wright, the creator of Spore, speak about the game at the Apple store in London. He talked for an hour about the gestation and development of the game, from his childhood passion for space travel and model building through to the seven years of intense work that has gone into the finished game, and what's next for the man himself.

One of the most exciting aspects of Spore is the fact that creatures, vehicles, buildings and spaceships, which are created by you during your own play through, are uploaded to the game servers and are then used to populate the games of other players when they start to explore the universe. This means that every planet you visit will have creatures, vehicles and buildings that other players have created and not the game designers. If you like a particular creature or vehicle you can send a message to the original creator.

All items created are tracked in detail so you can see how your creature is treated in other parallel universes. Even if it's killed the original remains alive and well in your own universe.

Wright described the game as the first to be a mixture between a Massive Multiplayer Online Game and a single player experience. Even before Spore was released, over 3.8 million unique creatures were created by players who had purchased the pre-release standalone game 'Spore Creature Creator'. Wright compared this figure to the number of known creatures on earth which is currently around 1.8 million. Pretty impressive stuff!

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robink1993

at 04:26 on September 5th, 2008

Huh? I bought it at my local store. Nothing special here.

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TINZ

at 05:25 on September 5th, 2008

I wanted to post a rating of "1" against Spore on Gamespot.com because it has limited activations (aka "RENTWARE") and uses a similar draconian SecuROM DRM technology that got Sony BMG punished by the FTC in 2007. I was surprised to discover that no matter what rating I entered, I got an "Invalid Rating" message, despite 26 people having already given an average vote of 9.0.

So what is the value of these "public" rating systems if they don't reflect the truth?

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Jason Sanders

at 08:21 on September 5th, 2008

I'm not a big fan of Gamespot, their rating system has always seemed pretty weird to me. THough I did agree with them on GTA IV

Lipe Kiss

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 05:42 on September 5th, 2008

Spore... It's a big promisse... And we are all after it. Nice job here ;]

Jason Sanders

at 09:43 on September 5th, 2008

Thanks for the GS Lipe Kiss. I can't wait for it!

Neuroptik

at 10:37 on September 5th, 2008

Harvard Square subway station in Cambridge MA on August 30th 2008. The entire station was plastered with very colorful and crazy ads for Spore. This is a Helio Ocean camera phone shot of a 10'x10' ad on the floor. There were several other people snapping shots. Very creative and catchy ads.

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