Spore
Preview
Chances are that this game will rock the world of gaming as we know it
by Jebus
previewed on PC
The Third Russian Doll
Your creatures now work in groups, and have built a hut. You now lose the direct control of your character, and instead control a full tribe of them. They can hunt in groups, start fires (if you buy it for them) and develop weapons for themselves. Just like with the previous phase, you are saving up your accumulated points for bigger huts. Once you have bought the biggest hut, things turn into something not dissimilar to SimCity. You now have the ability to build buildings. Now, sticking to the theme of user content - you guessed it - every building you make is completely made by you - the style, the shape, the size, everything. Thus, so far, your player character, his species, and his city, have been completely made by you, with the game's in-game editors.
In this stage, you are also competing with other cities (much like Civilisation). Alongside normal trade and interaction, there is also warfare, which, as you may have guessed, contains vehicles - land, air and sea - that are completely user made. Even at this stage, the game presents itself as a canvas for your creativity, shared with the rest of the world. Eventually, you will accumulate enough points to purchase the UFO, which leads you to...
The Fourth Russian doll
With this UFO, you can perform a multitude of actions (the more powerful ones are unlocked the further you progress). Perhaps one of the most interesting is abducting those species on your planet that once hunted your ancestors, and experimenting on them. The next level of the game is truly set however, in the bounds of space travel. The UFO can zoom out, and out, until your own planet is in view, where you can see all the different "countries" of your species. Zoom out further, and you can see your own solar system. A unique collection of planets, asteroids, comets, and moons around your own sun. All of which can be visited with your UFO.
What will you find there? Depends on the planet: Is it a desolate and icy planet at the far reaches of your solar system? Is it a molten planet at the forefront? Visit a neighbouring planet with your UFO; you may come into contact with another species (which are completely user made by other Spore players). How will you communicate? With a barrage of lasers? With your own attempted pidgin of sounds, in Close Encounters style? How will they receive your visit? Friendly trade, or full-on warfare?
However, if the planet you find is desolate, it is essentially another pallet for you to play with. No atmosphere? Easy, just use your own built-in volcano tool! Over time, an atmosphere will be created, and the planet could then sustain life. Until then, you can build your own colonies, neatly protected from the harmful pressure of space by a dinky little Jetson-esque bubble. Once safe to inhabit, a multitude of possibilities present themselves to you. You can turn the planet into a second home, or seed it with other species from various planets and see which one of them grows sentient first, and then trade with them. Eventually, once your UFO gets enough upgrades, you move onto...
The world beyond the dolls
As Will Wright said in describing Spore: in most conventional games, there is a sandbox mode to test out different playing methods, and then you move onto the real game. In that respect, Spore is the complete opposite. The player plays the game, in order to reach the Sandbox.
After exploring your own solar system, your UFO can eventually pan out even further, and reach your entire galaxy (and eventually a multitude of galaxies). The scope for play is utterly endless. What can you do with all this freedom? Perhaps you could find a horrid predator from some far off planet, and unleash it on your foes, destroying their ecosystems. Maybe your species wants to strive for complete galactic domination? Whatever you choose to do in Spore, the choice is completely yours. Using a powerful selection of in-game editors, the game focuses on your creative input, and those of other players around the world, to create a gaming experience that will, in true Will Wright fashion, turn the gaming world and the way we think about gaming, on its head.
