Spore: History In the Making

This isn't the game of evolution, it's the evolution of games... it's video game history in the making"

 - Ben Silverman

The long awaited computer game Spore, is finally here. From the genius behind the Sims video games, Spore is about evolution, life and survival. When the game begins you are nothing but a cell, drifting around in a droplet of water and basically playing a modernized version of pacman. There are particles that you eat, and germs that will eat you, but once you eat all of the particles you lay an egg. That egg grows and evolves into an underwater creature, which after a series of games lays an egg itself. The creature inside this egg is the one that comes out of the water and starts a civilization. Afte endless hours of play, you are a civilized being in a UFO, abducting other species and creating and destroying civilizations. However, once you leave your planet, you soon realize that there is more than just your solar system to experiment with. There's a galaxy, filled with thousands of other stars, planets, and civilizations. Each with separately created creatures made by players across the world.

However, as if that's not enough, every time your creature mates, builds, or overall creates, you design the result in the creature creator, which is basically a three dimensional Mr. Potato head with endless possibilities. This actually takes away the part of the limelight from the rest of the game in some sense, as you will find yourself spending hours tweaking your creation to perfection. Every time you change a feature on the animal you've created, the rest of the body adapts to it. Whether it's the size of it's feet, the shape of it's head, or how many heads it has, the rest of the animal is realistically influenced by that part. When your monster builds a civilization, you can also design the buildings and architecture. You can experiment with different species by abducting them, placing them on different planets, seeing how they adapt, and so on. There are literally endless possibilities to this game, and it appears that it will take a lifetime to fully complete. However, we will only be able to tell that once it is released, which will be tomorrow, September 7th. 

Here's a 17 minute walkthrough through Spore, presented by the creator, Will Wright. 

Download a free trial of the creature creator for Mac or PC here.