It's the year 2000. Deep in a subterranean Maxis bunker, game designer Will Wright and his team began work on what was to be heralded as one of the most anticipated games of all time. Concieved as a working title, Spore was originally named SimEverything, another addition to the murky depths of Sim- games. Wright has well over thirty titles (and a billion expansion packs) under his green-mood-crystal-studded belt, including such titles as SimCity, The Sims, SimAnt, SimFarm and SimSim, a games-industry simulator putting you in the role of a catapult, flinging as much money as possible at a game as possible in order to make it successful.
Oh, that's Spore, my bad.
Reality check to 2008 in a world of EA. Yes, folks, it's a kick in the proverbial goolies for the ones who had spent literal years of their life waiting for this game, clawing for every shred of information they could about it. You know, us. Blighted with manual misprints [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/86246-One-Account-Per-Copy-Leads-To-More-Spore-Rage], technical issues [http://forums.electronicarts.co.uk/spore-technical-support/] and a mediocre DS spin-off [http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=229602] from day one, Spore was all set to be given a sound thrashing from yours truly within almost ten minutes. A few days later, and the baby steps soaked in newborn's vomit were starting to look a little clearer. EA handled the technical errors fairly well, though there are still a swathe of them. Teething problems for something on such a grand scale were to be expected. Fans ranted and whined. The game hasn't delivered on certain aspects as advertised. Et cetera, et cetera, ad infinitum.
But hold on a moment, wasn't this game by the maker of The Sims, the game that started people gaming who wouldn't even know who Sega or Nintendo were? Surely the people that complain about these gameplay-based issues aren't playing it right. This game is fundamentally flawed on every level, but the thing is that it's trying. The game, on paper sounds deep and enthralling, but then the plot of Star Wars did too, on paper. In reality, the game as a whole is deep, but only because it tries to be so much you have to pull on the waders to grapple with it in any decent manner. The individual phases are shallow, gameplay repetitive, it attempts to incorporate Real Time Strategy elements into the appropriate phases and fails rather hard. The camera controls are unintuitive, Space phase is unbalanced. We were promised an open ended sandbo, where we could shape the stars to our very will! Instead, we get more of a blank canvas made of cheap plywood- but some nice paint and brushes.
The editors are something that will have you hooked. Indeed, most of my enjoyment was creating bizarre machines and buildings, and contrary to the internet not once did my mind flit back to the "phallusaur" that did inhabit the messageboards and YouTubes days after the Creature Creator's release. A giant box of Lego, or a set of brushes. But once you release your block paintings into the world, you'll inadvertently stand on one, barefoot. Or the canvas falls apart from shoddy materials.
The people that should be playing this game are the people that enjoyed The Sims, and if statistics are to be believed, that's a hell of a lot of people. The Sims promised to be the ultimate god-game, sculpting people's lives day by day. Instead, you got a grind sandwich and some modelling clay - and the world was hooked. Spore feels like it can or should go the same way, but of course, only time will tell. Perhaps it's not the right time for such a game, with The Sims series becoming dated and many adopting the cynical attitude towards its innumerable add-ons. But one thing's for sure - hardcore gamers aren't the target audience of Spore, we should stop treating it like we are.
Oh, that's Spore, my bad.
Reality check to 2008 in a world of EA. Yes, folks, it's a kick in the proverbial goolies for the ones who had spent literal years of their life waiting for this game, clawing for every shred of information they could about it. You know, us. Blighted with manual misprints [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/86246-One-Account-Per-Copy-Leads-To-More-Spore-Rage], technical issues [http://forums.electronicarts.co.uk/spore-technical-support/] and a mediocre DS spin-off [http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=229602] from day one, Spore was all set to be given a sound thrashing from yours truly within almost ten minutes. A few days later, and the baby steps soaked in newborn's vomit were starting to look a little clearer. EA handled the technical errors fairly well, though there are still a swathe of them. Teething problems for something on such a grand scale were to be expected. Fans ranted and whined. The game hasn't delivered on certain aspects as advertised. Et cetera, et cetera, ad infinitum.
But hold on a moment, wasn't this game by the maker of The Sims, the game that started people gaming who wouldn't even know who Sega or Nintendo were? Surely the people that complain about these gameplay-based issues aren't playing it right. This game is fundamentally flawed on every level, but the thing is that it's trying. The game, on paper sounds deep and enthralling, but then the plot of Star Wars did too, on paper. In reality, the game as a whole is deep, but only because it tries to be so much you have to pull on the waders to grapple with it in any decent manner. The individual phases are shallow, gameplay repetitive, it attempts to incorporate Real Time Strategy elements into the appropriate phases and fails rather hard. The camera controls are unintuitive, Space phase is unbalanced. We were promised an open ended sandbo, where we could shape the stars to our very will! Instead, we get more of a blank canvas made of cheap plywood- but some nice paint and brushes.
The editors are something that will have you hooked. Indeed, most of my enjoyment was creating bizarre machines and buildings, and contrary to the internet not once did my mind flit back to the "phallusaur" that did inhabit the messageboards and YouTubes days after the Creature Creator's release. A giant box of Lego, or a set of brushes. But once you release your block paintings into the world, you'll inadvertently stand on one, barefoot. Or the canvas falls apart from shoddy materials.
The people that should be playing this game are the people that enjoyed The Sims, and if statistics are to be believed, that's a hell of a lot of people. The Sims promised to be the ultimate god-game, sculpting people's lives day by day. Instead, you got a grind sandwich and some modelling clay - and the world was hooked. Spore feels like it can or should go the same way, but of course, only time will tell. Perhaps it's not the right time for such a game, with The Sims series becoming dated and many adopting the cynical attitude towards its innumerable add-ons. But one thing's for sure - hardcore gamers aren't the target audience of Spore, we should stop treating it like we are.
