April 20, 2007

Spore - can it deliver?
By: Michael Knutson

Will Wright has to be applauded for bringing such a unique idea to the gaming world

Every time Will Wright opens his mouth the gaming world listens, and with good reason. This is the game developer that created the world of the Sims that has drained many hours of life from game enthusiasts. He has proven that he has a knack for creating great simulation video games, and his newest game seems to be the biggest one to date. The questions remain: what is Spore and why should you be interested?

To be honest, the first time I heard of Spore and saw the demo, my jaw literally dropped. I then started talking about it with my friends who had the exact same reaction. What other game allows you to take a pile of goop and turn it into an intergalactic powerhouse? All other games always start off with something, but this game allows you to control almost every aspect you could possibly think of. Not only do you get to adapt and control the very look of your creatures but now Will Wright unveiled that you can control the weather, climate, and even got into some religious overtones that this game will offer. This game has it all, simulation, real-time strategy elements, and the list can go on and on, but can this game truly deliver what it says it will?

Let us take a step back for a moment and view other games that promise the world, yet only deliver a small island. Even though this game has been picked on multiple times, it is the easiest to relate to, since it is so fresh in gamers mind, the game I am referring to is Fable. This game promised you that you could plant seeds and they would grow into trees, children would mimic you depending on your affiliation, and many other things. While this game did offer some innovation and was extremely fun to play, many of the features didn’t make it into the game at all.

Developers, at times, get a little overeager with their products and want to spill the beans on every little feature to get gamers hyped up about their latest project. Many times this backfires because of time constraints and budgets, which leads to gamers being “less the happy” with the final product.

I am trying not to get my hopes up with all that I have heard that Spore will offer gamers, but I am beginning to believe that it might actually give what it says it will. The reason why many can believe that is that Will Wright always shows a demo of the newest features in the game, and it always makes the audience hush with silence and bewilderment when what he says it has put into action.

Now it is time to discuss how Spore CAN deliver and really change the landscape of gaming. First off is the fact that Spore has so many different forms of gaming wrapped up in one package. From day one Wright has stated how this game will be more then just one singular game type, each stage of the game will play different from one another. The official Web site lists five phrases: Tide Pool, Creature, Tribal, Civilization, and Space. Each of these phases of the creature’s evolution has different gameplay features show by the various demos, from a Pac-Man like beginning to a real-time strategy gameplay later on.

One of the most compelling pieces of this game is the Creature creation phase. The amazing thing about this game is that once you make your creature all of its animations are made up on the fly. Depending on how many legs you give it will define how it walks and reacts to its environment. Some of the examples that have been shown are outstanding and many gamers are looking forward to just playing around with the editor creating their perfect creature.

What makes this game even more unique is that all the data is hooked up into a central database. This means that it is possible that while you are in the space age you might come across a planet of creatures that your friends have made, and then try to conquer that planet, if you so desire.. The possibilities can be endless, as this will be a game that will never have a true ending and you can only look forward to see what you will do next.

Will Wright has to be applauded for bringing such a unique idea to the gaming world, especially if the game works exactly like it has been shown. Players will have the ability to do some truly unique things and truly have a tribe of creatures that they can call their own. Hopefully Spore will be released soon, as the anticipation of getting to play this game is killing many players out there, including me.

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