Spore!

Spooooore.

SPORE

Unsurprisingly, I’ll be talking about Spore today. Never mind the entire hubbub about copy protection. Never mind the fact that the entire internet is parroting the word ‘draconian’ as a two year old would repeat his or her first polysyllabic word. Never MIND the fact that nobody that legitimately purchased the game has had a real issue with the copy protection, and NEVER mind the hypocrisy involved in people using the fact that a company wants to protect their creation as an excuse to steal it.

Yes, never mind all that.

What I’m going to do is what I usually do. No, not bag on Halo… probably. I’ll instead talk about the gameplay.

Many people have described Spore as a series of minigames (the first four stages) leading up to an actual game (the space stage). This is fitting but not entirely accurate, like saying the inside of the sun is ‘somewhat balmy.’ As said in this fantastically written review, the first four stages are really tutorials designed to introduce players to the mechanics used in the space stage. Let’s take a look at what each stage adds and how it’s used in the final stage of the game:



This one’s easy. The cell stage introduces the main control of spore – point and click. The player can either click on a place to move, or hold down the button to move in a particular direction, Diablo-style.

In a more metaphysical sense, the cell stage also introduces the idea of competition in the game. Throughout the game, the player never competes with the game’s mechanics to win as they do in a traditional game. In the cell stage, food is all around. The hardest part is getting to it before other animals. Most of the game is spent competing with other animals for advancement. This stage gets players in that mindset from the get-go.



The creature stage builds on the control aspect by adding (however tenuously) the third dimension. Creatures with the appropriate feet can jump. While useless, it does introduce the players to movement in the third dimension.

The biggest addition in this stage, however, is in the UI. As the player adds the appropriate parts to their creature, they unlock a number of skills that can be used to either attack or entice other races. These skills show up as numbered icons along the bottom of the screen, which can be activated by hitting the corresponding number key or clicking. This mechanic is the chief way players use weapons, cargo, tools, and basically everything else in the space stage, so it’s vital that it’s introduced as early as possible.



So far the additions have been fairly physical, rooted in controls or UI terms. The tribal stage introduces something a bit more ethereal. This stage introduces the concept of a resource – an idea vital to the rest of the game. Tribal members must collect and maintain food. Without a constant food resource, the rest of the game is unplayable. This clues players in to the notion that they must form a solid base of resources before expanding.



Finally, the civilization stage introduces the concept of diplomacy. In the tribal stage, the player can interact with other tribes, but only at the point of a spear or on the driving power of a didgeridoo solo. The civilization stage introduces the dialogue trees and communication window that will be the player’s communication interface during the space stage.



If only the game caused your computer to sprout a fist and punch you in the shin every five minutes to prepare you for the annoyance of constant alien attacks or pirate raids. Unfortunately there are parts of the space stage Spore doesn’t properly prepare players for, and those happen to be the most egregiously annoying.