Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #11 in Computer & Video Games
• Brand: Electronic Arts
• Released on: 2008-09-05
• Platform: Windows XP

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

Manufacturer's Description
The next evolution in gaming is upon us. From the mind of Will Wright, the creator of The Sims, comes SPORE, an epic journey that takes you from the origin and evolution of life through the development of civilization and technology and eventually all the way into the deepest reaches of outer space.

Begin your odyssey at the dawn of life as a simple microbe just trying to survive, then use the fun, intuitive Editors to evolve the creature from its microscopic origins into an intelligent, tool-using race. Guide your species as it builds (and the player designs) villages, buildings, cities, and vehicles. Along the way to becoming a global civilization you can choose whether to hunt or forage, attack or trade, be nice or play rough!

All the action takes place in a huge, lush world populated with creatures evolved by other players and shared over SPORE's central servers. When it's ready, your one-time pond scum launches into space in its UFO on a grand voyage of discovery, planet forming, or destruct-ion! As you explore and play in this limitless universe of unique worlds, your personal Sporepedia tracks all the creatures you've met and places you've visited.

Customer Reviews

Rebuttle
I was just comparing prices to this product and all over the internet are people like the man above who are continuously ranting about these limited installs and yeah; that blows, but these review sections are supposed to be about the game content and its presentation not the PR decisions the publisher has taken. If you spend at least one hour looking over some of the fantastic coverage of Spore that has been oozing from EA and Maxis over the last month towards release you can tell without even a second glance that it's going to be something truly special, not only going down as the largest gaming environment in history, but surely also one of the best.

Appauling Decision
As with the other reviewer, I've cancelled my pre-order for this game. I've been excited about it coming out for something like a year now, being a big fan of the Sims. I love this kind of game.

However, the limited installs and validation checks are not acceptable to me. The only people these steps will affect are the normal, honest people who buy the game from a shop. People who want to pirate the game can and will find ways to crack the software, allowing them to install it and play it as and when they wish. Genuine consumers however will have insane restrictions placed on them. I have bought my game, I expect to be able to play my game. On any computer I own (I own several), in any place (who says I'll always have a net connection?) and at any time (do I lose my game if the validation servers go down?).

The only way to make sure these measures are not placed in other games is to refuse to stand for it. I will pay for Spore when I get to pay for my game in full, not for a couple of installations. I can only hope that other game producers don't go down this same road.

Great game
Don't listen to the person below, this is going to be a great game, so what if you can only have it on 3 computers at once, since you don't need the disc to play after installing, this is just EA's way of making sure they don't lose money. I can't wait for this game, i have pre ordered as the amount of people buying this game is huge, expect major delays in getting it if you don't pre order now.