Spore: First Impressions

Playing God isn't a novel concept to gamers. Building cities in the Sim series, or nurturing whole eras of humanity in the Civilization games. You could actually include any game where a main character can "die," or is forced to kill other creatures to survive. But the first games to really bring this concept, Digital Divinity, were The Sims and Black & White. Whereas in The Sims, you controlled every aspect of one character's life, in Black & White you were actually a God. It took the Sims basic idea, simplified it and deepened it at the same time. A race of people were yours to command, benevolently or maliciously, through your giant, fuzzy avatar. The Sims, obviously, was a giant success, with the third iteration of the series already in the works. Black & White, however, saw some success, but little hoolpa even as the sequel was released. Will Wright's Spore, which hit shelves September 7th, blends these two games into something that is infinitely complex and childishly simple at the same time.

The game begins deep in the ocean. A meteor fragment breaks open and you, a simple celled organism, swims out. Your objective is this: Eat, and by eating, Survive. You have the choice before the game even begins as to whether you want to be a herbivore, sucking in plant particles, or a carnivore, feasting on the remains of your kills. But eve this is not set in stone, since the frequent upgrade drops enable you to "equip" both types of mouth and live as a herbivore. Whatever you choose, once you crawl out of the sea and into the Creature Stage, your path is set.

At this point, you establish a nest, meet the other members of your species, and find your mate. Your basic goals remain the same: Eat and Survive, but the added ability to befriend or make extinct the other species on your planet forces your play style to change. Instead of just eating and upgrading, you have to decide how to upgrade. Do I choose these feet, which look ridiculous but up my dancing skill, or these hands, which strip away my ability to grasp objects but let me deal more damage.

Once you've established a few new nests, and made allies or enemies enough to up your brain power, you enter the Tribe Stage. As of this posting, that's where my creatures, the Rynus, are. Ready to begin building towards a post-modern civilization, and later intergalactic colonization.

One of the coolest features of Spore is the game's tendency to automatically integrate any creatures you made in the Creature Creator. A cheap buy at around $10, the Creature Creator is basically a paired down version of the in game creator, which allows you to go crazy and make any creatures you want or can imagine. Already I've befriended a couple of my creations, exterminated a couple, and seen two stalking around as Epic Creatures.

I'd say that a serious gamer could reach this point in the game in a good day of playing simply to play well. But the magic of the game is in the customization of your race. Definite replay-ability.

If I were rating this game, and I am, it would easily be a 8.5 out of 10.