Why spore is awesome

General 3 Answers How do i ally with other tribes in the tribal phase? Build 6 Answers. Ask A Question. Browse More Questions. Keep me logged in on this device. Forgot your username or password? I would've posted this earlier, if it hadn't been for the fact that I've been playing this game non-stop for the last 9 hours.

What were you really expecting? A general complaint seems to be that the Phases are too short. This is equivalent to saying Age I in Age of Empires 3 is too short. Are all these people really unaware of what a strategy game is? To be honest, this game feels quite a bit like Civilization IV.

The main difference is that you get to start as a single-celled organism instead of a Frenk and you get to see what happens after that spaceship of your gets launched.

I don't understand why a game like Civ IV can have you playing a 14 hour game that's never quite the same and with a ton of customization, and is awesome, but somehow Spore takes that one step further and in a different context and is somehow Will Wright taking a crap on our souls. There are so many details and high points to this game it's difficult to talk about them all without this turning into a short story.

By the end, it will be building cities, handling the complexities of trade or war and flying spacecraft from solar system to solar system. It does so by dividing it up into five phases, each taking on a different game style. The first, the Cell phase, is a fairly basic arcade game where you hunt for food animal or vegetable according to preference and avoid becoming it, the twist being that you can spend points earned by your munching on new bits of anatomy that will make you faster, tougher or a more effective hunter.

Oddly reminiscent of World of Warcraft, it has you searching for DNA carrying fossils which unlock new body upgrades while either befriending or eliminating rival creatures for food and points.

This is a simple RTS in which you either charm or destroy the other tribes through musical instruments or primitive weapons. By allying with or wiping out your rival tribes, you can also access their technology, helping your creature move to the next stage: Civilization.

Here your species has conquered the planet, but also splintered into a range of different cultures. Your mission is to unite them all through economic and religious power or just your regular military might.

You have access to some simple city building options, and also to fleets of land, sea and air vehicles that will defend your soil or blast other cultures from theirs. The AI plays a decent game without being too tough on the easier levels, and at no point do you feel unfairly penalised for taking the peaceful option over the aggressive stance.

What really makes Spore special, however, is its potential for creativity. This is important, because another truly impressive thing about Spore is the way it handles player content. Spore was designed to get everybody — not just the hardcore few — creating and sharing. Unless you choose to play offline your content is automatically propagated to other Spore players, and their content will automatically sneak its way into your games. Of course, there are niggles, and each phase has its share.

Still, overall the construction is impeccable. The Tribal stage is just the Creature stage with tools and clothes. This is the part where you get to sculpt your lifeform. But to progress in the game you need to pick body parts according to their stat bonuses. I went on a charm offensive rather than killing my neighbours. For that you buy every body part that offers level three or four in social skills; special hooves for dancing, hands for posing, a mouth for singing.

The Tribal phase is the one I truly hated this time around. By the time I made it to the Space stage the idea of grinding missions for cash to expand my empire was exhausting.

The Civ phase is a pared down version of Civilisation. I mean Maxis whittled a grand oak tree down to a toothpick and expected players to climb it. To escape the Civ stage I a species denoted by blue blobs on the map had to conquer or convert cities of another species denoted by an almost identical shade of blue.