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How Metascores Are Calculated
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4 Elements
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed games. |
 GAMES: 
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]
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more... 100
PTGamers
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".
 100
G4 TV
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.
95
PC Zone UK
So intelligently structured, with such a consistently beautiful style. [Nov 2008, p.54]
93
Games Master UK
Spore is more than the sum of its parts. A lot of parts. [Nov 2008, p.62]
93
Gamer 2.0
There is no reason not to buy Spore. Whether you take hours of enjoyment out of the actual game or spend days building nothing but city halls, cars, boats, planes, and spaceships, Spore is a delightful work of mastery that strikes a balance between sufficient and excessive, somehow finding a middle ground that satisfies on a primal level.
92
IGN AU
The creative options on offer here live up to the three-and-a-half year hype, and Spore genuinely revolutionises the way user created content is implemented on a global scale.
92
Gamers.at
Spore combines an enormous amount of innovation with a pretty much endless replay value and still manages to be accessible. It might not be as much a masterstroke as the Sims was, but it’s still one of the potentially best games of this year.
92
PC Format
Despite a clunky couple of stages and too much micromanagement, it's the vast galactic toybox that we've prayed for. [Nov 2008, p.98]
91
Gaming Nexus
Each game of Spore applies something of Occam’s Razor as a developmental guideline at first: The simplest gameplay approach is often the best.
91
GameFocus
Fantastic game, but it has times which are boring and they feel like a total chore to get through, but once you do get past those in the game the game becomes something unique, special and is a worth while must buy for any PC fan.
91
PC Gamer UK
Spore's triumph is painfully ironic. By setting out to instill a sense of wonderment at creation and the majesty of the universe, it's shown us that it's actually a lot more interesting to sit here at our computers and explore the contents of each other's brains. [October 2008, p.64]
91
PC Gamer
It may not be my perfect PC game, but I think it's well on its way to becoming one of my favorite toys. And if there's one thing we could all use more of, it's time to just...play. [Nov 2008, p.33]
90
Boomtown
The scope is beyond epic.
90
Pelit (Finland)
Spore is a surprisingly charming game/toy. Except for the civilization part, most subgames are funny, and the final part even feels like a game. [Sept 2008]
90
Gameplanet
Spore is comprised of four fairly basic phases that would rate poorly if released individually, and one mighty, awe-inspiring final phase that could be a contender for game of the year by itself. It's stacked all wrong, but who cares - it's all worthwhile in the end.
90
Gameplayer
Yes, several radically different gameplay styles are presented in Spore, but it would be unfair to call the game a Jack of All Trades — it's closer to a Queen or a King of All Trades.
90
Play (Poland)
How to design a game that spans from swimming in a drop of water to ruling the galaxy? Will Wright knows how: as simple as possible. Spore deserves success on "The Sims" scale. [Sept 2008]
90
IGN UK
God, the scale of the thing.
90
GameSpy
It may not be a perfect game, but truly innovative titles seldom are. Spore is a technological triumph that introduces a whole new way of tapping into a bottomless well of content.
90
EuroGamer
We're all familiar with the innovative, web-aware customisation cloud that underpins Spore, but nobody's done it better (even though many now do it - apparently years after Maxis thought of doing it here) and the final game is proof that it was all worth it: you're all one big Designer, and Spore succeeds as much because of you and me as the many worlds scattered across the stars and the many ways we've been given to explore them.
90
Yahoo! Games
Spore takes so many risks and introduces so many new concepts, it's far more than the sum of its parts; it's video game history in the making. Join in.
90
Total Video Games
Using various gadgets the concept is handled impressively; Sci-Fi fanatics will lap up the way in which Wright and Maxis have captured the concept of colonizing planets and expanding your empire across the galaxy.
90
Gamervision
The scope and scale of Spore is tremendous, bringing the story of life itself to gaming in a way that will not be replicated until a possible sequel.
90
PALGN
Micro to macro, creation to community, Spore is a wonderfully imaginative and engaging experience. Don't expect great gameplay - instead, expect creativity you never knew you had, and a real attachment to the creatures in your virtual petrie dish.
90
AtomicGamer
In the end, hardcore gamers will find something to love in Spore, even if it's not really what they were expecting.
90
MEGamers
Spore starts off fairly simple, but quickly picks up pace. If you’re not careful, this is one game that can be quite addictive.
90
GameZone
NO other game allows this much customization, and it is this customization that is the key aspect that really congeals it all together.
90
Total PC Gaming
One of the first big games leading into Christmas, and we've already forgotten the rest. Completely enthralling. [Issue#12, p.62]
90
PC PowerPlay
In the end, Spore seems to me to be like the gaming equivalent of a massive meal at McDonalds. It tastes great as long as you’re eating, and there’s certainly plenty there. But once you start to get near the end, you realise that it wasn’t quite as ‘deep’ as you thought. [Oct 2008, p.61]
90
games(TM)
This is one of the most ambitious, fun, and stimulating pieces of software for the last decade and, frankly, what does it matter whether its 100 percent videogame or not. [Nov 2008, p.94]
89
3DJuegos
Spore is an impressive videogame in many ways, although excessively simple in others. The total personalisation or the fact that all of our actions during the game define our future are simply brilliant details. Unfortunately the title fails in its attempt to become a classic, due essentially to gameplay that is varied but too easy and excessively repetitive.
89
NZGamer
Spore is one of those titles that jumps genres with ease, while not dipping too far into any one genre, leaving players with a very diverse gameplay experience, and odds are, there will be a lot more content such as monsters and vehicles to expand on the huge worlds already available.
88
GameTrailers
Spore will leave you in a state of wide-eyed wonderment one minute, and disappointed the next. The limited online interaction and surprisingly short campaign make it easy to think about what could have been. The fact is, there’s no other game like it, and a lot of things that will be hated by some, will be just as liked by others.
88
IGN
While Spore is an amazing product, it's just not quite an amazing game. I can't help but feel that Spore is ambitious and memorable, but I also admit that, save for the cool Space Stage, there's not a lot of depth here. Rookie gamers are going to feel at home here, but veteran gamers may feel like they need more.
88
GamingXP
Because of the many different phases and features in the game, Spore can be called a very creative and motivating game. Playing Darwin rocks!
88
Game Informer
Even after years of hype and seemingly impossible promises, Spore is astounding in scope and execution. The creation tools are amazing, the interface is brilliant, and the game’s ability to harness player creativity is unparalleled. The mechanics of the individual phases can make the moment-to-moment interaction with the game feel shallow, but the experience as a whole is thought-provoking and – most importantly – genuinely entertaining.
88
Ferrago
Spore really is the sum of all its parts. The first four sections could not standalone as a single game, but with the addition of being able to navigate the galaxy Spore pulls us back and keeps us hooked even when there is the gaping hole of no multiplayer mode.
85
BigPond GameArena
If you can ignore the early level frustrations you’ll feel with the controls and develop a creature which is truly yours Spore is an experience like no other game. A perfect game wouldn’t make you combat clunky controls, but imperfect is still great.
85
Worth Playing
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.
85
GamerNode
Spore is yet another wonderful creation from the mind of designer Will Wright. While it may not achieve the level of gaming utopia that many had predicted prior to its release, the final product is still a very enjoyable, engaging, and complete package.
84
2404.org
When it comes down to it, it’s Spore's technology that’s more impressive than the game itself. How it integrates user-creations into the game is remarkable. Remarkably, Spore also provokes thought.
83
GameShark
If you want a deep strategy game, this is certainly not what you want to play. Spore is more diversion than obsession.
83
1UP
Strictly as a game, Spore's a flawed effort in five different genres, smushed together in a casual-player-friendly manner. But as a tangible representation of intelligent design, with an emphasis on creation and sharing, it falls perfectly in line with the rest of Will Wright's work. It's not a perfect game, but it's definitely one that any serious gamer should try.
82
Cheat Code Central
While some of the individual evolutionary phases in Spore are either too short or could have been further developed, the game as a whole is truly remarkable.
82
Game Chronicles
Will Wright has raised the bar and any game that comes out now that wants to be remembered will need to consider the lessons taught by Spore.
81
ActionTrip
Spore is an impressive and ambitious mix of game genres. Perhaps at some point, the developers saw it as overambitious, so it's obvious they started losing perspective a bit.
80
GameDaily
New creatures added by users will continue to make the universe of Spore interesting but its lack of depth in the single player version of the game, along with linear storyline may be a sign of its eventual extinction.
80
Thunderbolt
The chronic lack of depth in the middle stages is an injustice to a brilliant start and finish which should have been the crowning moments but instead serve only to hold the game up above water.
80
Giant Bomb
Spore's most positive traits are so uniquely satisfying that it's disappointing the gameplay which underpins them isn't more engrossing.
80
VideoGamer
This is the major problem with the Space Stage: in the beginning, it's just too hard. All you want to do is to quietly learn the ropes, but the more advanced races of the world have no intention of leaving you be.
80
GameSpot
Taken on their own, its pieces are nothing special. As parts of a singular ambitious vision, they work far better. Throw in the best customization tools seen in years and an enthusiastic community brimming with creativity, and you have a legitimately great game that will deliver hours of quality entertainment.
80
GamePro
Spore is a good game held back from greatness by a few flaws and gameplay mechanics that won't appeal to everyone. But there is plenty to like about the game and if you dig its particular style of open-ended gameplay, you'll definitely enjoy yourself.
80
Level7.nu
Spore is easily one of the most ambitious games ever made and it's impossible not to be impressed by the finished product. The possible variations in what you can create feel close to endless and the ability to share these creations with other people adds a lot to the package. The five main phases of the game vary in quality, but the final phase that ties the experience together will impress you. Will Wright adds another triple-A title to his collection.
80
DarkStation
Sure Spore may not be the perfect game but its an amazing accomplishment and one that I think everyone should really check out.
80
LEVEL (Czech Republic)
Stunning, gigantic game with endless possibilities. Most powerful editors ever seen in any game. Spore is outstanding in technical terms, swift and nimble in the beginning. The only flaws on its perfect face are too simple civilization phase and bit tedious space exploration. [Sept 2008]
79
Jolt Online Gaming UK
Despite sounding incredibly deep on paper, the reality of Spore is little more than a patchwork quilt of ultra-simple games that, even taken as a whole, have the depth of a puddle in the Sahara Desert. To be perfectly honest, you’d be better off sticking with the standalone creature creator, as it’s actually the only portion of the game that isn’t half-baked and in need of some serious evolution.
79
GameStar
Electronic Arts and Will Wright send you on a unique journey through Evolution. But it's less of a game and more of a colourful biological construction kit. Spore is sophisticated and rich in details, but all this is rarely noticeable because of its uninspired game play and lack of a story, which is such a pity. It's a paradise for creative gamers, but an expensive one, too. Electronic Arts asks 10 Euros more than usual - that's a rip off.
77
YouGamers
Strange game. Technologically impressive and initially very fun, but feels overly dumbed down for the casual audience and suffers from poor gameplay balance. Manages to entertain for a while, but lacks substance and depth to keep you interested in the long term.
76
Computer Games Online RO
To me, Spore is an impressive creature in a purely technical sense – the world, the box, the engine that make it live and breathe are a big leap for humanity and allow an almost overwhelming freedom both for the producers as well as players living the experience.
75
The Onion (A.V. Club)
Once you settle into the flow of the game, the creative possibilities expand just as the actual gameplay becomes limiting.
73
PC Games (Germany)
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.
70
Edge Magazine
Something as transcendent and overwhelming as the game we hoped for – the infinite, mind-boggling space odyssey suggested so early on – doesn’t sell expansion packs. It doesn’t fit on to iPhone. It doesn’t fill the vacuum left by The Sims. [Nov 2008, p.88]
70
Kikizo
Spore was meant to be everything to everyone; casual, hardcore, old, young, fat, thin, ugly, uglier. But it isn't.
70
PC Gameworld
A game with much to like, but not enough to enjoy regularly.
70
AceGamez
Spore will most likely appeal to those who don't expect much from it. It's a curious step in the evolution of games artistry that will take its place amongst games like Black & White that, although interesting and innovative, never quite live up to their potential and promise.
70
Gamer.nl
Spore is a one of a kind videogame. It offers endless possibilities and gives the gamer a game within the game. But in the process of giving you everything you want, EA has forgotten to include some depth and gameplay. As a design program Spore deserves an A+, as a videogame a little less.
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