Spore PC
Spore Image
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Metascore
84 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 75 Critics What's this?

User Score
4.8 out of 10

Generally unfavorable reviews- based on 1393 Ratings

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  • Summary: From the mind of Will Wright comes SPORE, a 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. Take complete control of your creature's fate as you guide it through the following six evolutionary phases: Tidepool phase: Fight with other creatures and consume them to adjust the form and abilities of your creature. It's survival of the fittest at the most microscopic level. Creature phase: Venture onto dry land and help your creature learn and evolve with forays away from your safe haven. Carnivore or Herbivore? Social or Independent? The choice is yours. Tribal phase: Instead of controlling an individual creature, you are now caring for an entire tribe of your genetic craftwork. Give them tools and guide their interactions as you slowly upgrade their state of existence. City phase: Bring your creatures' race into a new golden era by building up the technology, architecture, and infrastructure of their city. Civilization phase: Once your city is established, your creatures begin seeking out and interacting with other cultures. You can have them do so with an olive branch or a war cry—either way, the goal for your creatures is to unify the planet. Space phase: The time has come to move on to other worlds in your solar system. Make first-contact, colonize, or terraform, then venture further to find other solar systems scattered throughout a magnificently rendered galaxy. A 'mission' structure provides new goals and paths to follow as you begin to spread through the universe. [Electronic Arts]… Expand

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 62 out of 75
  2. Mixed: 13 out of 75
  3. Negative: 0 out of 75
  1. PTGamers
    100
    Spore manages quite some feats – it's accessible for casual gamers, but at the same time so real and dynamic, able to offer hardcore gamers a demanding experience and, obviously, a more appealing one than in "The Sims".
  2. G4 TV
    100
    Just as "The Sims" tapped into the human need to interact, Spore taps into a very deep and similar experience that few games dare to touch - to create and share.
  3. Worth Playing
    85
    Spore is not the gaming paradigm shift it might have been touted as, and it is quite possibly overrated. However, that's not to say you should dismiss it outright, since it's a highly impressive and ambitious undertaking unlike any other before, ultimately hitting more of its lofty targets than it misses.
  4. PC Games (Germany)
    73
    Spore’s creatures look terrific and the editor is one of the finest tool in gaming history. But Maxis forgot to build a game around it: The mixture of simulation and strategy just isn’t deep enough to attract more than a few hours attention. Instead of experiencing enthralling missions or a more intimate relation to your creature, you get shooed through five draggy phases of evolution.

See all 75 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

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Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 180 out of 610
  2. Mixed: 70 out of 610
  3. Negative: 360 out of 610
  1. Valozzy
    10
    What the f*** is with all of the bad reviews? Sure, its a terrible excuse for the trailers, but you shouldn't just give it an instant 0. Even though I was still disappointed myself, its still an enjoyable game. In what other game will you be able make and evolve your own space-faring species and conquer the galaxy? Its very fun to also just make creatures, and flex your creative mind.… Expand
  2. ChrisM
    8
    Its a good game overall. I agree, the depth could have been much more engrossing, but again, Will Wright was forced to make the game friendly for everyone. The scope is fascinating, and with a little more time, some expansions, maybe a whole new sequel for us more hardcore players, it would be everything anyone could want… Expand
  3. AnthonyB.
    7
    Meh. For a game of such scope it strangely has limited depth. A surprise - but not a welcome one.
  4. Sneetches
    2
    TL;DR You're playing the remains of Will Wrights hopes and dreams.

    Oh what a disappointment...i'll just keep this short, Spore fell short o    f the hype and Will Wright has a tombstone somewhere right next to Squidward's, i'm sure. The problems are the dumbed down editor, relatively short pre-Space modes, and just the fact that every stage except for the Space stage feels like a minigame, not seperate parts within the game itself. It introduced some new concepts, of course, but it simply did not make the game as interesting or as fun as it was imagined. The fact that EA then later charged for DLC packs was like spitting on Will's grave as EA just walked on by. Overall, it was a game with a lot of promise that simply fell very short and ended up being a "play a bunch of minigames before the final mode which is just as repetitive" type game with a very simple creature designer tacked on.… Expand

See all 610 User Reviews

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