The Game Druid

To quote Henry Louis Mencken - “There is something even more valuable to civilization than wisdom, and that is character”. Such is the journey you will need to take through this game. Well enough of the words of wisdom jazz, as promised earlier we’ve got a good look at Spore finally!

So here’s the basics - there are 6 stages to the game:

stage1 - Tide Pool Phase

In this phase, you will be fighting with other creatures in a microscopic level. This stage is said to be similar to classic-arcade games (like Pacman), though with analogue movement and overhead 3d-graphics. This stage is where you actually get to have your creature develop, at least in form and you can arm your creature with various defensive and attacking organs (all this is done in the microbe editor). As you grow you will be able to defeat bigger creatures that were previously killing you. This stage will be relatively short and is supposed to introduce the game to you by serving as a disguised tutorial (muaahhhaaa - very clever indeed)

stage 2 - Creature Phase

Taking a line from the Spore official site: “Venture onto land and help your creature learn and evolve with forays away from your nest. The only way to grow is by taking chances.”

We’re not really sure how this stage will function cuz we didn’t get too much time to look at it, my best guess is that it will take place underwater and then you’re creative will evolve into a land walker. Maybe the creatures from the Spore Creature creator can be used here. We do know that this stage ends when you upgrade your creature’s brain to achieve Sapience.

stage 3 - Tribal Phase

Ok as the stage title itself says, instead of controlling an individual creature, you are now caring for an entire tribe. Give them tools and guide their interactions as you upgrade their state of existence.

In this phase you will interact with your creature using tools. Give them weapons and they will evolve to be fighters, give them drums and music instruments and they will evolve to be more social.

This stage will also feature the Hut. The Hut will be a sort of ‘Home’ to you creatures. The goal here will be to upgrade the hut which will allow you to give your creatures more tools and objects.

Eventually, when the hut is upgraded to the highest level available, you will move to the next phase, the City Phase.

stage 4 - City Phase

Again self-explanatory, taking a line out of the official site: “Bring your creatures’ race into a new golden era by building up the technology, architecture, and infrastructure of their city.”

Think Sim City here. Also this stage will see the introduction of technology, buildings, roads etc..

stage 5 - Civilization Phase

“Once your city is established, your creatures begin seeking out and interacting with other cultures. Make contact with an olive branch or a war cry. The goal for your creatures is to conquer the planet.” - Sounds simple enough. Yeah, just try it. What we saw was nothing short of mind blowing and trust me, it’s just so damn tempting to give out spoilers right now, but I won’t! oh ok, i’ll just tell you that this stage ends when you build a UFO or gather enough technology to build one Any guesses which stage is next? Yep, the Space Phase

stage 6 - Space Phase

Yet again from their official site (what? they write so well!!) “The time has come to move on to other worlds in your solar system. Make contact, colonize, or terraform, then venture further to find other solar systems. A ‘mission’ structure provides new goals in your quest for galactic dominance.”

In this stage, you will be able to explore the whole galaxy. At first you will begin with interstellar travel, then upgrade to intergalactic. In this stage you will be able to conquer other planets, forge alliances, and even (if you have the technology) blow up planets.

Not every planet will be habitable though most of them can be terraformed by using your available technology. The more extreme the condition of the planet, the more difficult it will be for you to make a planet habitable. This stage can be considered as infinite as the galaxy will contain millions of planets. As your technology progresses, you will be able to access the editors and possibly the levels in a sandbox mode.

Initially, however, you begin in the neighboring solar systems, trying to open trade routes with new species. Some will agree right away, whereas others will ask that you perform missions to prove your worth as a trading ally. One race asked us to whisk off to a distant planet and retrieve several types of plants known to have healing properties. Using our trusty abduction beam, we quickly filled our cargo hold with trees, bushes, and even a few species for our own personal study. Another race simply asked us to kill five innocent creatures with our onboard lasers. Keep in mind that these missions, unlike space, do not exist in a vacuum. There will be consequences with other species if you encroach on their territory and abduct valuable artifacts or, even worse, innocent pedestrians milling about in their cities.

Your spaceship is equipped with only standard weapons, radar, and scanning ability, but you’ll quickly earn new, more-valuable parts as you complete missions and earn badges. Aside from a repair rating, your ship is powered by energy, and every bit of space travel will drain the gas tank. To refill, simply head to your homeworld or colonies for a free refill, or you can purchase energy and repairs from friendly species. Your ship’s energy level will limit you to jumping from system to adjacent system, but later, technology upgrades will let you traverse a much larger portion of space in one warp jump. Anyway, I’ve said too much already. Check back for a full review here on the 8th of September.

Oh, and EA did confirm that there is a secret ending to Spore, but the company said that only the most hardcore players will discover it. Does that mean you’ll learn the true nature of the universe once you discover the center of the galaxy? Wait and watch.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 2nd, 2008 at 12:06 pm and is filed under upcoming games. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.