Metareview: Spore Creatures
by Chris Greenhough 
{ Sep 12th 2008 at 7:30PM }
With all the current hype surrounding Spore, even ardent DS fanboys such as ourselves have to strain to recall Spore Creatures. It looks like a totally different game to its PC counterpart, and we quite enjoyed it when we went hands-on at GDC '08. So which is it: the sleek, refined alpha member of its species, or a sloppy afterthought of a game, heading for history's rubbish bin? We copied and pasted some other people's thoughts to find out!
- IGN (78%) gave the game one of its better reviews, praising its sense of fun and creativity: "Spore Creatures isn't intended as a replacement for the core PC Spore experience -- it's meant to compliment that design with a unique experience that lifts many of the core elements. And for the most part it succeeds in that task: this is a fun, involved, albeit more linear DS experience with a few quirks that get in the way, but even with those quirks it's great to experience a game on the more limited handheld with a similar sense of creativity that PC gamers will have in Spore."
- Eurogamer (5/10) isn't so keen, arguing the game is crippled by its linear nature: "What it doesn't offer is any sort of Free Play option where you can do your own thing. You can indulge your creative desires or you can play the game. You can't really do both at the same time in any satisfying way, which suggests that "linear action adventure" simply wasn't the right direction to take the Spore concept for its handheld outing."
- GameSpot's (65%) Kevin VanOrd just couldn't emotionally bond with his creations: "It's still a cute adventure across multiple planets, and it features a pared-down version of the creature creation tool that helped make the PC release such a success. It has some annoying quirks, and it won't inspire an emotional connection between you and your digital doppelganger, but Spore Creatures is still a pleasant diversion and an appealing, if ordinary, companion to its bigger brother."
Gallery: Spore Creatures
This post is a part of our Metareview category, but we also like reviewing things ourselves, and making sure our voice is heard. We're conceited and self-absorbed like that.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
gary yo @ Sep 12th 2008 8:35PM
the rate it way too harshly. it was not meant to be like the pc version and a lot of people just cant seem to understand that. i think that it should get that 78% because even though it has a few flaws it is still a good game.
manaman @ Sep 13th 2008 2:37AM
Nice,
I'm glad to see this review. There is so much hype surrounding the "Spore" franchise right now that it's good to see some honest assessment of one of it's versions. I am personally overwhelmed.
Peace,
manaman
FantomRedux @ Sep 13th 2008 5:41AM
Playin the game at the minute, and while its not the PC version, it's, ya know, not a PC game. It's a DS game, and its pretty damn good in comparison to most of the other shit which gets churned out. I'd give it an 8/10 personally
Mertruve @ Sep 13th 2008 9:52AM
IMO it's better than the PC version.
Bones3D @ Sep 13th 2008 8:29PM
I actually pre-ordered this one. It's definitely different enough to keep you busy for a few hours. However, the game does feel cramped. Especially when you consider that the developers could have just given us some basic editing tools so we could create our own custom body parts by drawing out the shapes. (More like the flexibility of Drawn to Life's sprite editor.) Vector art takes very little space to store and would easily have made suitable variant to the creator creator tools on the PC version. (The creatures on the DS version are basically generated as a series of layered, animated sprite planes.)
Lianne @ Sep 15th 2008 3:28PM
This game was a ton of fun, but way too short. I beat it a few days after purchase (so perhaps 3-4 hours of playtime without looking up cheats). There isn't much replay value either. When you win you can revisit the planets from the game, but you don't have the opportunity to explore freely - you just redo the storyline from that planet.