Spore

Verdict:

[+] Darwin:
Unique blend of game genres; detailed customisation options

[-] Dogma:
Simple visual style; stages lack depth

Will Wright likes giving PC gamers the ability to meddle. The all-time classic Sim City cast you as dictator of a city full of virtual people. The Sims became the bestselling PC game ever by letting you pry into every aspect of a virtual person's life. With Spore, Wright has gone one step further, giving you control over the DNA of a virtual life form.

Spore is a simulation that lets you control and shape the development of a species from its beginning as a single-celled proto-organism to the zenith of its development as a galactic space-faring race. Given this enormous remit, it's no surprise that the game was originally called SimEverything.

FIVE STAGES

Spore simplifies this huge and complicated topic by being split into five distinct stages. The game kicks off with your monocellular creature fighting for its existence in hostile oceans. Depending on whether you've chosen to be a carnivore or herbivore, you gobble down plant or animal DNA material, expanding in size until your creature is ready to evolve. Only then can it take its first steps on land and proceed to the next stage.

There's more to this level than merely aquatic Pacman. Some of the creatures you eat have organs that can be very useful, such as bony spines, poison glands and extra-fast fins. Eat enough of these and you become a different species, which can affect the game in later stages. For example, if you discover a proboscis you become an omnivore, with obvious knock-on effects.

AMPHIBIANS

The game becomes more complex at this stage, as the game mechanics shift to a completely different genre. Your creature leaves the 2D environment of the ocean and crawls around a 3D landscape. You discover other organisms that have also evolved from the oceans, where you're faced with the choice of either devouring them or becoming friends with them. Eating them sends you to the top of the food chain but it also denies you possible allies. Whichever decisions you make, both your DNA balance and your brainpower continue to grow. Meanwhile, you'll be discovering new body parts and evolving the physical make-up of your creature.

One of Spore's defining characteristics is the opportunity for customisation it offers. You can create an organism with virtually any appearance, from an eight-legged ravenous flesh-monster to a gentle one-legged goat. The graphics engine may not look as advanced as the latest first-person shooter, but it's extremely versatile.

You can choose each body part and place it wherever you choose on your creature. The game decides how to animate your creature based on how you've designed it. A multilegged creature will crawl about like a caterpillar, while a bipedal creature moves like a human. One limitation is that you must give your creature eyes and a mouth, otherwise it isn't likely to survive for long.

The next stage involves another game type. Eventually your race of creatures becomes civilised - building houses, vehicles and expanding your territory. All of these objects can be customised using an editor similar to that used when you create your species. Your customised armies of creatures then conquer nations and capture territories, resulting in a game that plays like a simple RTS.

AN EIGHT-LEGGED STEP

After becoming the dominant force on your home planet, the final stage of the game sees you venturing into space (in your fully customised spaceship) to colonise new worlds. In order to reach this stage you may have already put in more than 20 hours of play, and less ambitious games would simply end at this point with a cut-sequence. With Spore, this final stage is the biggest part of the game.

The space strategy level borrows ideas from games such as Sins of a Solar Empire. Galactic domination is your aim, and the game ends when you reach a quasar at the centre of the galaxy. Just as you had to compete with other creatures when first crawling out of the water, in this scenario you have to deal with many advanced alien races, all jostling for power in outer space. The universe is enormous. You can scroll out to view the entire galaxy, complete with rotating galactic spiral arms and supernovae, right down to the surface of individual planets. There are hundreds of stars, each with its own planetary system. You seize control of these planets, either to build up colonies or just fight some aliens.

Spore's approach to terraforming is as creative as the rest of the game. Unlike the usual technology tree that you grind your way through in the majority of strategy games, Spore relies on real-world theories to explain the changes of a planet. You can divert comets to crash onto a planet's surface (thus adding water), or try to solve the problem of runaway greenhouse gas effects should your planet start producing too much carbon dioxide.

CUSTOMISING

The options for customisation and potential for user-generated content adds yet another dimension to the game. Going online and sharing your creature designs, only to see them pop up on the next planet, almost turns the game into a top-down MMO, except that the end result is a single-player experience shaped by real-life players. Equally exciting is the music score, which is penned by Brian Eno.

A PROBLEM

Although Spore offers multiple genres within a single game, it has been criticised because none of these elements offers the depth of standalone titles. For example, the RTS element is far more simplistic than that of Command and Conquer. Under the same logic, Microsoft Flight Simulator could be criticised for not providing a fully accurate portrayal of air traffic control systems.

However, these games can't be directly compared with Spore. Will Wright has managed the impossible - taking a very diverse set of ideas, and producing a workable and fun game from them. When considered in its entirety, Spore is more than just a loose collection of mini-games; it's totally unique, and only the most cynical gamer will find it difficult to enjoy.

You can buy Spore for £26.99 from Play.com

For more information, visit the main Spore website.

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