Spore Stinks? Or Just its DRM?

Helping Beanie Elephants to Evolve (Click on pics for larger)

If you're a regular reader, you probably noticed that I took a small--unusual, for me--hiatus the last few days (usually, I post daily even though I promise to post only 3-5 times a week. That's because I never expect to have much to write about, but then I do. That's life). Well, I've been playing Spore. And really enjoying it. But I've also been reading forums and browsing through the "Spore protests"--like the almost 2,000 1 star comments on Amazon.com--and wondering to myself what exactly I should say about this game. I also didn't want to write a book about this subject. But I wanted to address it, because problems need to be brought out into the open.

Like everyone, I want games to deliver what they promise. I want fun with little hassle. Same as the 2,000 Amazon protesters. I've written about SecuROM and Spore before. Yes, EA will be including it in all their products, apparently, whether the box lets you in on it or not. Does EA's DRM (Digital Rights Management) software stop piracy? Not in the case of Spore. It was cracked almost immediately upon release in Australia. There are most likely bureaucratic, political, and economic reasons for this DRM to remain in place which the consumer will never know about without serious investigation (beyond the scope of most of us), leaving her with few choices. It's not like you can get another Spore from another manufacturer like you can underwear. Either you buy Spore or you don't. Will it matter?


Lush Paradise

Probably not. Realistically, there's over a million people registered with the Spore site, and 12 million creations uploaded proves that someone's playing Spore. 2,000 isn't even 1% of a million. You can probably see where I'm going with this. Do I think people should continue to protest? Of course! EA did listen to the Mass Effect protesters, although some think that perhaps that might have been a bit of a set up--that EA just wanted to see what consumers would swallow. There's no way to know.


Hot World

What about the game itself? Is it fun? Yes...but. For a game made for ten year olds (as the box states), yes, it's fun. Is it the unlimited sandbox that some people feel it was designed to be? Kind of. The editors are amazing, and everything is editable (...that isn't a plant--because only God can make a tree. Okay, that was a terrible and very old joke. I'm sorry). But many interactions and events are scripted, not spontaneously generated by what you do in the game. It's not Fable, which I think was the impression left by the what-you-do-affects-what-you-become mantra that Maxis had been dishing out in large quantities. In fact, you can undo just about any evolutionary path you have taken just by selling all your body parts and slapping on new ones with no penalty. However, I did find myself getting frustrated because I wanted to be an omnivore trader and got saddled with herbivore because my spore was a few floating pieces of hamburger shy, but that petty problem was fixed with a reroll.


Bending Them to My Will

Okay, so the odd choices are permanent, but most everything can be changed at whim. Vehicles are designed as you choose, with percentage-based enhancements. If you want a war ship, you balance speed, military power, and health based on the parts you choose. Easy. Yes, little missiles do fire and ray guns shoot. Beams based on the vehicle's power (religious, military, or economic) shower the target to let you know what it's doing. I actually like the RTS (real time strategy) in the civilization stage of the game. It's a weak version of Sid Meier's Civilization 4 which is one of my all-time favorites. What's not to like?


Space Ships Can Be Anything - Even Lobsters

Is the game beautiful? Yes. The planets and views of space are breathtaking. Voice acting? Top notch. Music? Wonderfully sci-fi. You can choose the theme of your people, and it greets you when you see them.


A Creature as Big (And as Strong) as My Ship

There are some annoyances, though, floating around the message boards, and some of them are big:

• No auto save.
• Bugs ranging from "This mission doesn't start for me" to "Game crashes to desktop".
• Too hard. Everyone keeps attacking me when I start space phase.
  
• Too easy. I can bribe/kill/plunder everyone. There is no challenge.
  
• Modding looks like it will be difficult.

Myself, I've encountered the game crashing one that happens in the space stage (after leaving a planet) which I hope they fix. It was game-stopping for me, and I decided to create a new race to bide my time and so far, with the new race, space has been fine. At first I thought the "too hard" and "too easy" issues were based on user perspective, but I read a few posts that some missions have been buggy for some players. It's possible that the difficulty problems are not user related, but I have no way to tell.

Do I recommend this game? I would definitely say that if you are the finicky sort, try this game out first before you buy. If you are a hardcore gamer and want a game that pounds you as hard as you pound it, try before buy. But if you like to make space ship models, or creatures, or want to try out basic RTS, or just like the idea of zipping around space crafting planets, this is probably your game. Personally, I love it. Sure, it could be improved, and those improvements could be awesome, but I'm having tons of fun just as it is.