Well, the Internet is definitely going gaa-gaa over the announcement of the Spore Creature Creator, which is now downloadable for PC & Mac (score!) via their official site.
The announcement of an exciting new Sim game by the strategy master, Will Wright, brings back a lot of old memories for me.
- I remember farming strawberries in SimFarm, given that they were often the most profitable.
- I remember being envious of my neighbor, who owned a copy of SimCity for SNES when I did not.
- I remember stealthily digging into the queen's chamber in SimAnt, only to be chopped up by a lawn mower after emerging victorious from the enemy nest.
- I remember giggling at the "ooh la la" emitted by mating animals in SimLife. I still don't understand how to play that game.
- I remember being bored with SimEarth. Sorry Will!
Truly, Spore is going to carry on this lineage in grand style. I was never a fan of "The Sims," I don't think
it really upheld Will's "epic" style, but Spore... Spore is definitely epic.
You'll be able to manage your creatures from single-celled organisms all the way up to full-grown planet dominating warriors. Everything you do will affect your planet and civilization. It touts the open-ended playing style of the greatest of Sim games, but promises to be the best yet.
The most intriguing aspect of the game is its connection to other players online. For now, the Spore Creature Creator allows you to upload your creation directly to YouTube. Many users have already uploaded their creations.
Even though Spore is single player, creations of your own will be shared "between galaxies," as stated by the official site... which should allow for infinitely expandable gameplay, and a new adventure every time.
Personally, I haven't been into online games since the MUD days (Anyone remember AesirMUD? Anyone?) as I feel they've evolved into something... unattractive. I played WoW for about a year or so, and was disappointed with the lack of... quality conversations, if you will. The integrity and maturity level of the players was... questionable. I think the barrier of entry to WoW is too low.
On the flipside, I think some of the more "serious" MMO's are far TOO serious. I don't have the time or motivation to have a "second life." (groan... bad pun)
What's my point, and what does this have to do with Spore?
To me, the most exciting thing about Spore is merging the single player strategy/sim experience with online interaction... and not requiring you to invest 40+ hours a week to keep up a raiding or level-grinding schedule.
So... cheers to Spore... can't wait for the final release!
(And thanks, EA, for supporting Mac - athough the Readme states clearly that it won't work on computers with the GMA 950 graphics chipset... guess I can't play Spore on my Mac Mini. The demo doesn't work, so that could confirm this, but I'm not giving up yet. Another interesting item of note is that it uses Cider emulation and doesn't seem to be a Mac native app.)
