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Review: Spore
- Title: Spore
- Developer: Maxis
- Publisher: Electronic Arts
- System: Windows / OS X
- Reviewer: Soulskill
- Score: 4/5
The game has five stages: Cell, Creature, Tribal, Civilization, and Space. It's best to think of the first four as mini-games, or as a four-part prologue. Each has its interesting and fun parts, as well as varying degrees of replayability, but the time each of them occupies (from a gameplay perspective) is dwarfed by the amount of time you can spend in the Space age. You can also spend a great deal more time playing around with the content creation system (and you will), but the main plot itself is fairly short in those stages. If you're going in with the expectation of playing around in the Cell stage for hours and hours, you're probably going to be disappointed — but that's not to say it isn't fun. I think each of the stages are appropriately paced for what they involve.
You start out as a cell, hitching a ride on a meteorite that delivers you into a planet's primordial soup. From there you wander around finding morsels of food and other critters who will compete with you for it. The way in which you go about that is up to you. You'll gain access to attributes you can use to customize your microbe, all of which have a "DNA budget." You can make a very efficient killing machine to keep your competitors away from your food, or you can simply make a very efficient eating machine. The editor that allows you to add and remove these attributes also lets you change the size, shape, and coloring of your microbe. It's a combination of very simple components, but the interactions between microbes allow for some cute moments. You'll occasionally run into a big piece of plant life that's swarming with herbivores, and the herbivores will attract a ton of carnivores, making for a frenetic scene of feeding and fighting. You can make your species into what is essentially a tail and a mouth, and have fun zipping around and stealing food out from under fat, slow enemies. You might even see a copy of yourself beating up some bug with way too many mouths. One of the coolest parts about this stage is the background visuals. The focus is on your microbe swimming through the water, but underneath you can see that you're swimming by larger pieces of debris and more advanced life-forms. As you feed, you'll grow into these background layers, so the huge, blurry, tentacled abomination you swam by a minute ago might now be trying to kill you.
Another thing you'll notice is that referring to your species' growth as evolution isn't really accurate. "Stylized evolution" or "not evolution" would have been more precise, so don't go in expecting it to hold up to scrutiny from PZ Myers. It's a decent metaphor for modifying your species, however. The editor is versatile and completely forgiving. Did you put that spike in a useless place for stabbing rival microbes? No worries, you can move it anywhere. Or remove it for a full DNA refund. This may bug you if you want every decision to matter, but as I said earlier, the first four stages are more about setting the table for Space colonization. Also, some decisions do matter. The way in which you interact with the environment determines your initial disposition in the Creature stage. Between stages, you're given a detailed history of your character, including physical revisions and eating habits. Carnivores start the Creature stage with an intimidating roar, while herbivores get a soothing song. Between stages you'll get to see cut scenes; they're short, but they all managed to make me smile. On a related note, I've got to give credit to Maxis for making the most interesting loading screens I've ever waited through. Instead of a progress bar, a series of cards gradually appears at the bottom of the screen. On each card is a different species (or other creation), some of which were made by other players. It's fun to see what they've come up with.
Going into the Creature phase, your microbe is given a set of legs. Your attributes from the Cell stage are mostly useless, and you'll have a chance to completely change how your species looks. You get a nest and a group of compatriots, and you're soon off to seek out new life and new civilizations (and food.) Other species are nearby and easy to find. There are two stances in which you can approach them; social or combat. If you started out as a herbivore, it'll be a bit easier to remain so, but it's not too difficult to change your mind. As you find other species, you're given quests based on the stance you choose. Kill them or impress them. Should you choose to kill them, you mash the attacks available to you until one they die or you do. To impress them, you get their attention and then mimic whatever they do. You'll get some friendly abilities — dance, pose, charm, and sing, each of which has its own animation — and you simply repeat the other species' actions. If they like you enough, they'll ally with you, which progresses you through the stage and allows you to venture out with a group rather than an individual. As you ally with or destroy other species, you gain access to new and more powerful bits of biology — a bigger claw, quicker feet, wings, etc. There's a much greater selection in this phase than in Cell, and it's worth collecting as many as you can. You also get a few cosmetic options. When you exit this stage, your species' physical form does not change for the rest of the game, so make sure you've got what you want. If you go the combat route, you may be annoyed trying to hunt down species that are faster, flightier, or more nervous than you. There were times that I ran so far away to catch Lobstermonkey #4 that I got lost and couldn't find my way back to the nest to kill Lobstermonkey #5 and complete the quest. And this brings me to a gripe...
...The controls. The key-bindings for Spore are fairly simple. They increase a little bit in complexity with each stage, but even the Space controls are straightforward. The trouble is that they aren't alterable, and they aren't what I would pick. They aren't bad choices, and you can do just about everything with the mouse, but if you're the type of player who rebinds WADS to ESDF in every game, or if you like an inverted mouse, or the ability to strafe, it will bother you.
The Tribal stage turns Spore into a miniature RTS game. You won't find Starcraft-level depth or gameplay, but if you've ever played another RTS game, your goals will be intuitively obvious. Your abilities from the Creature stage don't matter anymore, so you're free to design for looks alone. Wandering bands of non-sentient creatures still exist, but they're mainly just food (or pets if you're a herbivore). In addition, though, there are other tribes that you must conquer. You gather resources, pump out peasants, and put up buildings. Rather than creating tribe members for a specific job, you use the buildings to give them a particular task, and you can switch their task at any time. Want this guy to fight? Send him to the axe shop. Need him to impress another tribe instead? Trade in that axe for a horn. Or a Shaman rod to heal others. The focus in this stage is mostly on resource gathering; unfortunately, you have to send tribesmen out each time you want them to kill something, rather than setting them to harvest and forgetting about them. The gathering gets somewhat tedious, but the Tribal stage, like the ones before it, isn't too long. It's fairly easy to win over or beat down your enemies, just keep an eye on your raiding parties around hills. They sometimes get stuck. The AI isn't too hot, but enemies will try to take out your chieftain if they can. The editor in this stage is also less complex. Your species form is set, but you get a variety of hats, clothes, and accessories to outfit your tribe. Not as much room for creativity as in the Creature editor, but there are still myriad ways to customize.
When you reach the Civilization stage, you'll encounter a host of new creation and design tools. You'll be asked to design a city hall, a house, an entertainment facility, and a factory, as well as land, air, and water vehicles. If that sounds a bit overwhelming ... it is. At the start of the stage, I spent perhaps an hour tooling around with designs for a city hall and a land vehicle. You don't need to design the others until you build them, but it doesn't take long for that need to arise. Now, don't get me wrong; designing things is one of the best parts about this game. But after a certain amount of time you'll probably just want to get back to the actual game. Fortunately, there's the Sporepedia, which includes hundreds upon hundreds of designs from Maxis and from other players. Some of them are just phenomenal, and I'm sure the selection will only get better as time passes. Expect to see things out of sci-fi and other games. Expect to see anything Maxis doesn't specifically remove, really. Pick whichever constructions you want out of the Sporepedia to fill out the things you don't want to design, and you're ready to fight for control of the planet. Don't waste your time with the anthem composer. It sucks.
Civilization stage is like another, slightly different RTS. The focus is gone from resource gathering; you point a vehicle at a "spice geyser" and forget about it — once a mine gets built, you even get the vehicle back. It's more focused on vehicle tactics and managing your cities. Other civilizations pop up throughout the world (which is an actual globe now), and you try your best to cajole, scare, or apesmash them into seeing your point of view. You can set yourself up as a religious society to convert the populace of other cities. This stage, like the tribal stage, is straightforward and easy, but entertaining. Your species' history continues to fill out, setting your early disposition for the next stage. Before you think about bumping the difficulty setting up to "high," though, you'll want to give thought to how it will affect the Space stage, since that's where you'll spend most of your time. It has a bit more to throw at you.
Getting to the Space stage is reaching the real meat of the game. You'll be given some starter quests and tutorials to teach you how everything works. Pay attention to them, or you'll regret it later. Really. This stage plays like another RTS, yet is completely different from the previous ones. It isn't about pumping out units to stomp your enemies; you're limited to just one ship to start. As you get promoted, you can add more to your fleet, but not very many. Your colonies will harvest spice for you to sell. How much depends on how well the planet is terraformed. Terraforming a planet is somewhat complicated to learn, but it lets you set up a good financial base, which makes dealing with aliens much, much easier. And believe me, you'll deal with them a lot. Regardless of the way in which you interacted with your foes in previous stages, I'd recommend playing nice at least for the first few encounters of the Space stage. You can run some simple quests for other races to increase your standing with them. You can also bribe them. Once you're in their good graces, you can establish trade routes and alliances, which are much better than the alternative. When you run into a hostile society, you'll see what I mean. They like to raid your planets. A lot. They also like to raid your friends' planets. And your friends will occasionally have crises they need you to deal with. The demands on your attention range from "keeping you busy" to "driving you to distraction." This stage could really use a Leave-Me-Alone slider in addition to the difficulty setting, although cheat codes can accomplish that now. But, if you start out surrounded by friends, it's a lot easier to find time for developing your empire. Again, terraforming is important to learn. It's also the basis for creating custom planets. You get a variety of tools to alter the atmosphere and temperature, and you can bring in flora and fauna to make it more prosperous. But you also get devices that will shape, sculpt, and color the planet to look however you want. Once again, Maxis has provided a huge sandbox to play in. You can control the look and feel of literally hundreds of thousands of star systems.
The combat system is simple, but a bit clunky. Some of your weapons require Diablo-style button clicking, which can be a problem if there are a ton of ships flying around. Battles tend to be lopsided, but the more often you fight, the better weapons you'll have access to. Enemy ships will occasionally beat a hasty retreat when low on health, then stop, heal to full, and turn on you. It doesn't usually change the tide of a battle, but it can be annoying to track them down and finish them off. Other aspects of the game give you more tools the more you participate as well, which is why Spore is so open-ended. Don't want to run around blowing up enemy ships and cities all the time? Do a bunch of terraforming, get good at it, and then cause an enemy homeworld to turn into a burning, hazardous rock incapable of supporting life. Want to explore the galaxy or collect rare artifacts? Feel free, just watch out for the mysterious and powerful Grox. Make sure your borders are secure before straying too far, though, or enemies will pick your empire apart. The Space stage will keep you occupied as long as you're still entertained by it. Building an empire is a job with no end.
Spore isn't about deep, innovative gameplay. If you're looking for a next-generation RTS, look elsewhere. None of the stages, individually, would hold up in today's game market. But all of them combined, in addition to the almost limitless capacity for creativity, make Spore into a good game that will only get better with time and participation. The low learning curve and the ease with which you can pick a point in the game and find something to play around with makes it very appealing to the casual gaming market, while still offering a ton of achievements and ways to squeeze out every last bit of efficiency for the hardcore gamers. Despite the DRM fiasco, it's definitely worth picking up.
I read the headline as Sore . Thinking is was a first person game to give your opponents herpes.
it infects your system with a rootkit.
That alone is a reason you shouldn't buy it. Just Say No to DRM.
The DRM means I will never buy it anyway.
Shame really, but I'm not putting that DRM crap on my system.
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How do I pick it up?
I'm not about to run a Sony rootkit on my machine.
Please explain how I can legally play Spore without the rootkit. (And no, I will not take anyone's word for it that there is not a rootkit in SecuROM. And no, the Mac port doesn't omit SecuROM.)
If you could post an explanation of how I could safely play this game without buying a dedicated machine which will never do anything but play this one game, that'd be great.
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DRM
But I have a major complaint - while you are exploring the deep stretches of the galaxy and traveling to unknown locations using blackholes, you get these fucking annoying alerts
"Please eradicate diseased stuff on Planet X" - I can totally keep doing that when I am near the planet but on the other side of the galaxy? Fuck you . You get penalized for ignoring those requests/quests.
Your homeworld gets attached by alien UFOs - I mean what's the point in having your homeworld surrounded by 50 allied alien races if they cannot come to your aid while you are on the other side of the galaxy?
Those gripes aside, the space age is pretty much as is the rest of the game.
No rootkits allowed on my machine, sorry. You can decorate a piece of shit to look like the Venus Di Milo, but that doesn't change the fact that it's a piece of shit at heart.
All that summary, and no mention of how well the creature creator ties into the actual game.
Anybody want my mod points?
I await a patch.
I played a bit of Spore and found it somewhat fun, if not greatly gripping. My five and nine year-old kids love it, though. It's been incredibly cute to watch my five year-old talk about all her adventures as a cell, though I admittedly had to correct her use of "flagella".
I'm withholding judgement until I play each stage, but so far my kids have loved the creature creator aspect as well as exploring to see what's over the next ridge.
I think they did a great job leveraging the content that everyone is creating and put it back into the game. I'm big into creating Neverwinter Nights modules, so I'm familiar with some of the traditional methods. This new approach is very innovative (if perhaps slightly devious). I love the fact that players create content as part of the game, which then gets shared with everyone else.
Unless the couple of *nix-based rootkit detectors I've run are totally clueless, they haven't found anything. There *is* a Securom folder under: /Users/Chris/Library/Preferences/SPORE/Creature Creator/Preferences/p_drive/User/Application Data/SecuROM
but it looks more like a remnant of Cider's emulation than anything.
If all Securom does on Mac is DRM-ize Cider, I could care less. It's like getting a virus in a VM.
Oh, and the game rocks. Very enjoyable (as long as you're not looking for Civilization -- if you are I recommend FreeCIV or any number of commercial alternatives).
It's a toy.
You just muddle around in the world, you play here and there, and don't accomplish much of anything.
While it's a neat 'toy', for a *gamer* like myself it's ridiculous. Besides, while I love Will Wright, and I *want* to support him -- he knew what EA would do, I'm sure he was aware of the DRM scheme, and he let it go in. While it might be ignorance on his part, I will not buy this game in an effort to send that message that even a good game developer will not be tolerated if they infuse their brilliance with the stupidity of draconian DRM.
That said, Pirate Bay is very appealing in this instance and has been for me to determine it's not worth buying anyway, DRM or not.
The price is always right if someone else is paying.
SecuRom is awful, as is the stance of most major game companies today.
Go with someone like Stardock or try Mount & Blade if you want a satisfying, DRM free gaming experience with great support and no hassle.
I think it could really use a multiplayer where you and friends could be in the same "world" and be able to help/complete with each other.
Executive summary - So-so
Mid-management summary - overhyped, enjoyable, but not really ground-breaking.
Easy. 8/10. I lurned my fracshuns in elamentry skool.
I think the OP did a solid job with the review. You didn't get caught up in the DRM issue, which is a big one. Good job on it.
My biggest disappointment so far are the controls, the camera to a degree, and the lag. The lag is particular bad when you land on a planet for the first time. I wouldn't mind a longer wait screen, but when I have 6 minutes to find one particular creature, and it takes 2-4 minutes for the landscape to finishing rendering, it sucks. This particular shortcoming is killing my fun in the later stages of the space game. The 'radar' sucks too, as it doesn't start working properly until the landscape renders. (Imagine the 'pop in' problem on loading textures, but it's not just textures but entire cities.)
The lack of a randomize button on a lot of different creatures is sad too. Sometimes I don't care how the building or ship works, and I'd rather use something unique. heh
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It is the only way to get the word out there - any reviews should mention the type and invasiveness of the DRM scheme.
Otherwise the review is a disservice to the potential buyers of the game. Maybe even mention some of the side effects of the rootkits - which they effectively are - such as meddling with the ability to burn cd's on some PC's/drives.
So you're in the middle of the tribal stage?
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after trying to play for about half an hour, i got bored, gave the game to my wife, and re-installed master of orion 2.
Can't code it, I'm just sayin'...
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The same install DVD will install to either your PC or a Mac. If you don't like what it does on a PC, put it on a Mac.
Yeah, because theres no way in hell Slashdot would stoop as low as putting up a front page review of one of the most anticipated and talked about games of recent times, now is there? Everything has to be 'bought', or somehow otherwise underhand these days, otherwise someone just isn't happy.
I was also looking forward to this game for ages but I'm not buying into the DRM crap.
to the point where the DRM disappears?
Some people are only alive because it's against the law for me to hunt them down and kill them.
Apparently what we have is unintelligent design.
This issue is a bit more complicated than you think.
How does "Bought" sound?
It sounds cynical. Without evidence it also sounds childish.
I'm not a regular gamer any more, but I like to keep an eye on titles which push the genres a little - e.g. GTA IV, Little Big Planet and Spore. Even though I run only Linux now, and won't be able to play it anyway, I found the review interesting and not out of place.
On one hand, true, I haven't seen a game review here before.
On the other hand, let's face it, Slashdot _is_ running out of newsworthy things for nerds. We have the _Idle_ section on the front page. You know, something as lame as what flames the Slashdot mods received per email. Honestly, filling the space with reviews instead sounds like a step _up_ to me. It _could_ be a genuine experiment in finding some better filler than Idle.
(Mind you, I'm not saying it _is_ so. Just that I'll give them the benefit of the doubt.)
On yet another hand, it _is_ one of the most (A) anticipated and (B) innovative games of the decade. Duly noted, it has a rather annoying and oppressive DRM, and it does miss the mark in a few categories anyway. But it does try to do something new, in a games industry which mostly just pumps out more clones of whatever sold well last year. I see no problem with giving it a fair review, much as the DRM trolls would rather see only "Spore sucks", wall to wall. Yes, the people must be warned about the DRM, but I see no problem with mentioning whether it's otherwise fun to play.
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I *think* the answer may be Process Explorer, because Securom really, really hates Process Explorer: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896653.aspx
But I have not actually looked into this. I'd like to take this opportunity to ask:
How can a user set things up so that the user is notified when Securom attempts to install itself, and allow the user the choice of going forward with the install or not?
I ask this because Securom has a nasty way of installing itself when the user least expects it - for example, from the Bioshock demo and from the Spore Creature Editor demo.
I guess this is a good place to link to my own review, which isn't as good as this one, and so did not make the front page.
Spot on, mate. The /. crowd is insanely paranoid about astroturfing, past the point of all rational thought on the subject. It's not like this is the first game review in years, or something. This is a highly anticipated game that a lot of people will enjoy. Saying that this positive review was "bought" is purely delusional.
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If you think it's a slashvertisement, I strongly encourage you to tag it as such and Firehose it down.
Already did it myself.
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spore works on wine, using 1.13 + special patch that can be found in wine's appdb in spore creature creator section. It runs very well.
So you'll live up to the expectation and act like a criminal. Yeah, really bright.
Let's try an analogy:
That's like walking into a store you've never been, and the owner keeps an eagle eye on you because he doesnt recognize you and suspects you might try to steal something, so in return you steal a candy bar.
Yes, software piracy is not physical theft, but your attitude is a good mirror of the situation I just described. Rather than simply saying "I won't buy it," threatening to pirate it is actually ENFORCING and ENCOURAGING the decision for further, stronger DRM.
The DRM isn't nearly as bad as people make out (it is NOT a root kit - it installs a Ring 3 service, which is the least privileged, but only if you aren't running under an admin account), and I would not be surprised if EA ups or eliminates the install limit a month or two after release.
It does have one advantage: I don't need the CD to play.
Hopefully the backlash makes EA change it's mind regarding Securom, but attitudes like yours are the least helpful of all.
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There haven't been many reviews recently because not many games are released during the summer. Whether or not Spore deserves 4/5 I don't know, I'm yet to unrar it (hint to EA, it doesn't work).
As a pure game... the 4/5, 8/10 ratings are about fair. It's a good but not amazing game that leaves you with a sense you'll have seen pretty much everything within a few days and then be left kind of tweaking around before letting it gather dust.
But...
It's also one of those games that just has "landmark experience" stamped all over it. Black And White was a slightly worse game yet, even with a more limited scope, is still discussed as being a key moment in gaming history where people's eyes were opened.
There has never been a game with this quality level of procedural animation and texturing. There has never been a game with such a stunningly easy to use editor that lets you build incredibly complex vehicles and texture them in a couple of minutes with absolutely zero experience in modelling and texturing. There has never been a game with cross pollenization of content like Spore.
I've been gaming for way too long. I still count Elite as my greatest game of all time for just how utterly beyond what anyone else even contemplated at the time (3D, huge universes, flight, you name it). I still remember the ultimately kind of boring but amazing for what you could create Disney's Stunt Island. I remember the movie feel of the original Wing Commander and finally having characters that felt like they mattered getting killed off. I remember Dungeon Master finally giving a real feel of being in actual dungeons even if it was 90 degree block movement. I remember Sim City and Sim Earth blowing me away with their depth. I remember the Lemmings taking the 2D everyone thought was dead and slapping it upside the head with its new mechanics. I remember getting blown away by the scope of Ultima Underworld, my first time on a MUD and stepping in to EverQuest for the first time...
This game is going to be one of those memories. Even if the game itself gets old kind of quickly, the sheer volume of new things it introduces, that are going to be copied and used in differing combinations in games from here on out... For me, it makes it unmissable.
In several years time, when I pick up Doom V, I'm expecting to see an editor that doesn't take a degree to master but instead lets me quickly throw in corridors, rooms, doors, gun turrets with the ease of Spore's building editor. Instead of dropping in generic creatures or spending weeks building them, my NPCs are going to take me five minutes to drag custom shapes on to, slap on a few cybernetics that already have properties assigned and then drop on a bigger gun that it already knows what to do with. I'll drop a tank that I threw together in five minutes in... then decide I don't like it and quickly change it out with a six legged walker. In two or three hours, I'll have a huge mod, completely different to anyone else's, with all new creatures, weapons, vehicles, buildings, etc.
At that point, gaming will be take as big a leap forward as it did when Doom first introduced WAD files and modding.
And I've no desire to have missed that moment's birth because I thought Spore might get boring after a couple of days.
So...
Game: 8/10, maybe even 7/10
Innovation/had to be there: 15/10
Ultimately: No brainer purchase for people who like being a part of gaming, not just playing the latest flashy shooter.
following the growth of a species from the cellular level to galactic domination was an ambitious goal
It's a good game, but it's still a fairly traditional combination of elements: a bit arcade style action, a bit of Civilization. You can also think of it as a bunch of different variants of a game all rolled into one.
However, it's not the artificial life game that it could have been, and it has nothing to do with species or evolution. Furthermore, there isn't a lot of variation in the game play depending on your choices, so in some ways, it's actually worse than many other games.
Sweet - thanks for the tip! I found the Wine/Spore report page - looks like there are still a few bugs, but very promising.
My problem with the controls is that they change between phases. In the creature phase, you move using WASD and look around with the mouse. In the tribal phase that's reversed -- you rotate and move the camera with WASD and move your selected units with the mouse. And, as stated, the key bindings are non-customizable.
Design decisions like that have diminished this game for me. The reviewer says it has a 'low learning curve', but it has you climb up the learning curve over and over and over again. And the penalties for not being a master of all the controls and tactics can be harsh, especially in the space stage. I worry that kids who love the creature stage will bawl with frustration when they set foot into the galaxy.
It's an okay game. I'd give it 7/10, and will probably stop playing it much after a week or so.
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If the DRM is preventing you from buying the game, just go ahead and buy the game, but don't even bother opening the package. Download a pirated, cracked copy and play that one guilt free, knowing that you actually paid for the game.
So, there's a way that the word "bought" relates to Spore after all!
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I don't get it. A game review is on the front page for a game that was anticipated for three years. It is good. There are crackable software locks on it like every other major commercial game for the past twenty years. Test Drive II for my Mac Plus required the floppy in the drive.
Get over yourselves.
Also, it's Slashdot. It isn't the fastest or the broadest or even the best, but you're here and commenting, just to say so. Whatever. It's by the guy who did Duckpins and was hosted by MacOSRumors' stupid owner so it's cool, and it was a damn pioneer for all this Digg and Linux crap.
Here is a neat idea: Don't play the game at all.
There is no "-1 offended" or "-1 you don't agree with me" mod options for a reason.
It's probably not because it's not powerful enough but because it doesn't implement certain needed features (Shaders probably). By curiosity, what's your video card?
I've got to the space stage and even got to the end of the evolution meter on it, but there doesn't seem to be any end to it other than the shiny medal flashing on the stage. Has anyone managed to get a completion that was rumored for the "hardcore"? Somehow I think it has something to do with the "go to the center of the galaxy and find the grox" -- which I did only the mission never was marked as complete.
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Talk about a glass-half-empty attitude. Would you have preferred that the Creature Creator allowed itself to be installed, give you the illusion that you've got the horsepower to handle the real game and cause you to buy it, only to find out that the game is unplayable on your machine?
I hate to be the one to break it you, but one of the required costs of playing most new games is keeping your hardware relatively current. 5-year-old video cards aren't typically going to cut it, any more than will 5-year-old CPUs. These companies are in the business of selling games that look good and play well on current hardware and, hopefully, future hardware. To accommodate all the older machines currently in use would require extraordinary time and money, and probably wouldn't help the bottom line.
For the record, I don't have a PC that can run Spore and may not for quite a while.
It still sucks. Why use WASD when it moves your fingers one "column" further over than where they normally sit on the home row? Stupid stupid stupid decision on their part. I won't buy games that won't let me remap this. So add this to DRM as a reason not to buy the game!
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Maybe they just don't want their brand image tarnished by their game looking like crap on an old video card.
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The cell stage plays very much like Flow, with the addition of the stripped-down creature creator (which basically takes the place of traditional 'powerups').
The creature stage... oh god, fuck me running, it plays like a bad MMO. If you go off exploring, you're fucked-- the complexity, toughness and aggressiveness of creatures increases with the distance you head out from your first nest, and moving to the next nest is thematically identical to the process of binding yourself to a respawn point. Combat and interaction depend on pressing the same four buttons over and over again, waiting for cooldowns, just like you might in WoW or any of its antecedents. Even making friends requires you to literally level your creature up, earning DNA points so that you can add bits that boost your charm rating so you can make tougher friends. Despite all of that customization, there are basically only two tracks you can move down: a fighting carnivore (because meat doesn't grow on trees) or a social herbivore (because buying both charm bits and combat bits is prohibitively expensive).
I haven't made it past the Creature stage because, like your average MMO, draw distances are terrible and your rate of movement is worse. Even the people that I know who enjoy the game describe the later sections as stripped-down RTS and 4X games, more proof-of-concept demos than anything else.
Wright's come out and said that Spore will be getting expansion packs, like the Sims, but 'different'. I suspect that we'll be asked to fork over another thirty bucks every few months for some actual depth of gameplay, rather than the biological equivalent to Sims fashions and furniture.
I second this. I thought about ordering Spore for my son for his birthday.... Nope. Not with the DRM. Sorry, EA.
I'd rather have someone respond than be modded up.
Give me a warning or a heads up, fine. Flat out to refuse to install? I don't think so. They should give the user the CHOICE! It is my computer! And since they don't, they can stick it!
blue-collar summary?
I'll see your hokum and raise you a boondoggle.
Yeah, they'll let their incompetence and poor business practices take care of tarnishing their image. They don't need help from your ten year old 3dfx card.
Except if you're only using the top 80 percent you have 4 or 5 with a scale to ten you get, 8, 9, or 10.
Wow, sent an e-mail as suggested when clicking on "use classic" banner, and got a fast response that addressed my msg
I hope this post was a joke. I'm betting your card doesn't have some pixel shader version that it needs to run this game. In other words, you can't run the game with your video card, slow or otherwise.
I believe Mount & Blade does have DRM. When you buy it, you have to provide an activation key. They said they used the least intrusive protection they could to provide a free demo, then unlock the full version. It's not like Stardock's "as long as you have the files it will work" system at all.
That said, I like the game. Of course I don't play it since after I paid for it I found out that "big battles" crash my system (and many others) and even caused problems after I restarted. Hopefully version 1 will fix. Then I pre-ordered Spore. Maybe I'll just stick to consoles.
The cookie told me to.
Just a word on the controls...you can strafe using Q & E. Thought I might point that out.
Well ... then they'll have to learn that not everything in life is easy, spoonfed to them and can be annoying. Even games.
Believe it or not, I hear that games like Baseball that are so easy when it comes to fantasy leagues can be really difficult in real life, and *gasp* sometimes even require that you practice, practice, practice all day long and still it won't get you on the team.
http://arstechnica.com/reviews/games/spore-review.ars
If it's delusional, where's the Vista review or the review of Bioshock or even the new Civ? which is far more topical to /. (ubiquitous enough to be mentioned in the Spore review!)
This "review" is very unusual and suspect at the least. It's very positive (without talking about actual gameplay) while being critical of interface and mechanisms from other games most readers are familiar with. All in all a template review. Delusional is a strong word and you should do your research before throwing it about.
Often wrong but never in doubt.
I am Jack9.
Everyone knows me.
That's idiotic conspiracy theory. Spore has had more hype than almost any game I've ever heard of, so it only makes sense that a review of it shows up here. I've only seen a few games have reviews on slashdot, and almost all of them were because they were high profile games.
it is NOT a root kit - it installs a Ring 3 service, which is the least privileged, but only if you aren't running under an admin account),
It installs a ring 3 service without the users knowledge or consent. May not be a root kit but it fits the defintion of a trojan.
That is the only way I can think of to teach you that you can't try to control my computer.
How about boycotting the game and perhaps all of EA for that matter and actually writing to them and let them know in no uncertain terms? I think that would be more effective.
While EA may have someone reading this, let's be honest, announcements like this are done for the benefit of the heard, not EA. While it may make others cheer you on and follow your lead it's not that effective of a tool of protest against EA.
Dedicated Cthulhu Cultist since 4523 BC.
Seriously, WTF are you talking about?
A rootkit is a piece of software that modifies your computers behavior to allow back-door access to unauthorized users and hide traces of activity. DRM is designed to prevent you from copying other people's data. I'd take DRM over a root kit any day.
As far as I know, there has only been one major instance of DRM installing a rootkit.
Do NOT bastardize computer industry terms in order to sensationalize your agenda. It undermines the terms, and makes you look like a tool to anyone who understands their meaning.
Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean that they are not out to get you. /. article gets by not even commenting on the DRM controversy ...
I agree with the appraisal of the review, it seems to be skipping all the points made by others, especially the "boring" and "limited replay" parts. And how a
I'm aging rapidly, I bought a new game and had no idea if my machine was good for it.
It's disappointing that I can't find one. I know someone who loves the game but I'm a bit offset by the number of people who put in a couple of hours and dished it off as old hat. Maybe that's a good reason not to have a demo but still...
Dedicated Cthulhu Cultist since 4523 BC.
Just because one thing gets reviewed, doesn't mean all things must be. Hell, the new Civ doesn't even necessarily belong getting reviewed here, since this is a fairly PC-centric site.
This "review" is very unusual and suspect at the least.
No it isn't.
It's very positive (without talking about actual gameplay)
There's nothing wrong with being positive, and it does talk about the gameplay.
while being critical of interface and mechanisms from other games most readers are familiar with.
There's absolutely nothing wrong with that.
All in all a template review.
Not in the slightest. It isn't even a wholly positive review, for God's sake. It specifically says that the individual parts of the game are weak on their own merits.
Delusional is a strong word and you should do your research before throwing it about.
It's a highly accurate word. I did do my research, I have played the game, read the review, and for extra credit, I read this site every day, and have seen several reviews. This is not out of the ordinary in any way, shape, or form. I will say it again: saying that this positive review was "bought" is purely delusional.
"16MB (fuck off, MiB fascists)" - The Mighty Buzzard
It's on my kid's computer. It is an nVidia 5500.
If you're reading this, EA, I will pirate this game. That is the only way I can think of to teach you that you can't try to control my computer. Not wise to treat your customers like criminals.
Really? I would think that simply not buying the game without 'proving' the need for DRM by pirating would send a far more effective message. I'm not sure what logic leads people to think that pirating something will make publishers believe that they don't need to put anti-piracy protection on it (however ineffectual that protection may be).
It'll have ring 0 components as it's able to hide from the user... you can't do that at ring 3. Those will be patched directly in as drivers on boot (which is why you can't remove it even in safe mode - drivers are supposed to detect safe mode and not load, but malware like this can ignore the rules).
Well, then it should have told me that. Instead, the software just says "No". Look, I'll be the first one to admit that you can't expect all software to run on all hardware. But its the way it was handled that irks me. Just crappy bedside manner!
This reminds me of when I put GTAIV in my xbox and it wouldn't run the game because it wasn't an XBox360! The nerve of Take Two! Do they have an agreement with Microsoft, where they force you to upgrade consoles? What business is it of theirs what console I'm running it on? Fucking ridiculous.
So, with wine, I'd assume that you at least remove the possibility of the above-discussed rootkit problems with your OS, right? That's an improvement in and of itself. I'd almost be happy with a Linux VM just to run it wine... or with cygwin and wine? wow, that's a lot of effort, but it might be worth it, I don't know.
use your turn signal! you people act like it's divulging information to the enemy
Well your wine install would be trojanned (but you could sandbox that), and you'd still have the 3 install issue... but it'd work.
Does DRM stop people from playing the game for free? Nope. Then why they are using it, apart from annoying the paying customers?
Love many, trust a few, do harm to none.
Ummm....What!?!?!? Don't treat me like a criminal! I'm a criminal! Yeah, that'll show em.
Hey, y'all, lookee this here computer game. It's got critters n' shit. Can't shoot'em though. But Rev'rend says it's a crock cuz of the evilooshun stuff though.
Oh, I'm sorry, I thought you wanted the hillbilly summary.
The more people I meet, the better I like my dog.
You're right. Honestly, all rootkit crap aside (obviously there are ways around it), the 3 install issue is a deal-breaker for me. That is nothing short of supremely annoying.
use your turn signal! you people act like it's divulging information to the enemy
In particular, Galactic Civilizations II, The Political Machine, and Sins of a Solar Empire
Or you could just go to stardock.com and find the full list for yourself.
"I think an etch-a-sketch with an ethernet port would beat IE7 in web standards compliance."
No, it doesn't. I've worked with Securom (though I argued against it), there are no drivers installed. The service is solely to handle launching of the executable on non-admin accounts because of the encrypted executables.
Please provide a link to your source that claims it does.
Securom is NOT Starforce. Yes, it limits installs, it installs a ring 3 service if installed on non-admin accounts, and a version was incompatible with Process Explorer (since fixed by a newer version of PE). However, people keep making up all these extra evil things it does, and it's all hearsay and rumors, with not a single solid source or citation.
Hunt your preferred prey at Aliens vs Predator MUD. Join the war at avpmud.com port 4000
Well, my point is, parts of Spore are too complex for a child, while other parts are too simple to keep the interest of an adult. Yes, you can play only the stages that interest you, but the game ties them all together, enticing you to try them all. But it's almost guaranteed that there is no person who will like every stage. I think that's a design flaw.
Genocide Man -- Life is funny. Death is funnier. Mass murder can be hilarious.
wait wait wait... that analogy didn't include a car at all!
use your turn signal! you people act like it's divulging information to the enemy
Easy to translate system:
1 - Shit game
2 - Passable game
3 - Average game
4 - Pretty good game
5 - Fantastic game
There, that was easy.
There is no theory of evolution. Just a list of animals Chuck Norris allows to live.
Pirated version Secure. You bet.
These days Reloaded is a more trusted brand than EA.
WASD is a de-facto industry standard created for Quake in the 90's by non-touch-typists. (I think it might have been something about proximity to tab/shift/ctrl as well, but I'm not sure.)
I agree that ESDF would have been (and is) a better choice. I have to do that particular 'rebind' with every FPS I buy.
--Welcome to the Realm of the Hawke--
Plus, it's bullshit anyways. Name one DRM scheme that hasn't been cracked all to hell. All it seems to take is one bored teenager in the Netherlands somewhere and wham! That's it. Now the only people the DRM harasses are the paid customers.
I know that the industry knows it too. What they tell themselves is that this is to prevent "casual copying". A kid with a DVD burner and not much know-how. But that's not how it works anymore.
Now, you don't need to be some uber-leet 0day warez nut to get your hands on cracked software. Any idiot with a cablemodem can get it. I'm not going to look for it, but I'd bet there is a torrent of this game out there already. All that kid really has to do is wait a week or so and it will be out there.
So what's the point of the DRM then? Only systems it's running on are the paid customers. It does no tangible good, other than to delay the pirates from getting it by a week or two. Is that really worth all the hassle? How could it be?
Weaselmancer
rediculous.
A legal way to play a legally purchased copy would be nice :-/
Um no, that's not a good analogy at all, because you haven't bought the candy bar. The better analogy is that people all around you are stealing candy bars, but because you bought one, he puts a GPS tracker on you and takes down all your information to make sure you're not giving the candy bar to anyone else.
Moo.
The road to hell is paved in good intentions.
The road to a crappy game is paved in good intentions.
The road to DRM is paved in good intentions.
Good intentions do not equal a good game, let alone a great game. This is hardly a game in a classical sense and I must agree that it is more toy then game.
Spore is now the poster child in my opinion of how game play has been dumbed down into an over glorified "Simon" game.
A challenge implies failure and that is what many feel is the core of a game versus a toy. You cannot fail at toys. Games you can fail at because they have some measure of success.
A comic book isn't a game nor is a book. Proceeding from one page to another, or in short having an objective, doesn't imply there is a measure of challenge or risk of failure.
Few health people get excited when they check the mail, objective: yes, challenge or risk of failure: 0.
Now if you had to solve a puzzle to open your mailbox, you've just made checking our mail a game.
If Spore passes as a video game I'd wager that a superman comic is passing for conteporary literature at the local colleges.
Like Ewoks, no good can come of this...
-=[ Who Is John Galt? ]=-
Isn't it a limit of three installs which have all talked to the spore server within 10 days rather than a lifetime limit? So after 10 days of not using an install on PC:A, you can reinstall it on PC:B?
Annoying - yes, but you'd have to try very hard to be legitimately disadvantaged by it.
Yes, software piracy is not physical theft, but your attitude is a good mirror of the situation I just described.
How do you even function with reasoning like this? You explain why your analogy does not work and then insist that it is "good"?
Rather than simply saying "I won't buy it," threatening to pirate it is actually ENFORCING and ENCOURAGING the decision for further, stronger DRM.
Yes. This is a very coherent response to DRM, because (drum rolls) he is not hurt by DRM at all. Reloaded is looking out for him. He is nice enough to let EA know that THEY are being hurt by DRM. Not him. As far as showing that DRM is impractical from the business point of view, this is the most helpful approach for the gamer, because it (1) provides software (2) removes DRM (3) saves money (4) lets EA know that they are headed for a real shitstorm.
That's different. That is a versioning, where the game was designed for a specific version of the console. However, the newer console should be backward compatible to play the older games (but thats another story). We are talking about a modular system, where one can build their own components. If there was a problem with my video card, give me a warning and allow me choice to continue or not. Don't just make the decision for me.
I have to wonder when I read about a reviewer getting to the Space stage in a few hours, and then complaining that theres no depth in the game.
It's not a linear story, if you want to rush through a level you can but there ARE other things to do.
I spent all yesterday in Creature level and enjoyed it long beyond my evolution bar reachng its edge. I won merit badges for making 20 species extinct and for getting 5 of my stats up to max level. As a culmination I made allies of some giant chimps and took out a huge squid, it was awesome (1000 DNA points)!
I admit the game is very 1.0, the creature stage isn't Warcraft (yet), it does get repetitive (but not as bad as WoW) but thats nothing an expansion pack can't fix, its fun and cool and something everyone can sit down and enjoy, you don't need to study it endlessly just to get anywhere.
By far the worst thing about it is that I have to boot my MacBook into WinXP to play it. Get on the ball TransGaming, fix Cider!
I am not 12 years old anymore. I don't have to have any game. By accounts of actual reviews this is an OK game, not a must have.
But in this case it is an ok game with egregious DRM. They are renting you the game with 3 installs for $50. You don't think that is an incredibly steep price for a rental?
This has to be fought vigorously. Ignore this game, move along. If you are insatiably curious, visit the Torrent networks, it is widely available ,obviously this DRM does nothing to reign that in.
We have to fight this as this strips everything from the consumer. Make no mistake this is not aimed at "pirates", it is aimed at the honest paying customer.
It stops the paying customer from selling his game used. The next great evil the game companies are chasing. Honest folks selling their games. Now if you buy a game that you don't like, you can't return it and you can't even sell it.
It stops the honest paying customer from playing his old games. I have a lot of old games and I still like to play them, part nostalgia, partly because they were great games and still are (Total Annihilation, Baldurs Gate 2). Do you really think game DRM servers will be running in 10 years. How long did yahoo music DRM servers keep going. Not to mention the support to staff for you to convince when your 3 activations are up.
I am not even getting into what else the DRM installs/does/messes up on your computer, I am just completely offended by this shift to a rental model. Don't take this lying down. Don't give them money for this. You are giving them the right to veto your playing of a game you purchased. Why would you do that.
I have to say that's one of the best-written reviews (of any kind) I've read on Slashdot. Makes you realize just how bad the Zonk reviews really are...
I will pirate it as well until EA decides to wise up and remove the DRM. What you don't seem to understand is the same thing EA doesn't understand. DRM is hurting their bottom line, because otherwise paying customers take the DRM free alternative. I have no problem paying for the game. I just refuse to pay under those terms.
Increasing the DRM is just going to piss off more people, making people MORE likely to just download the game. This is akin to someone giving away books on the streetcorner, that are copies of a copyrighted book that will destroy themselves after one viewing. Gee, that's some choice. You might be infringing IP by making a copy of the book, but the author is clearly on some misguided attempt to prevent piracy, adn is alienating potential customers who might want to read it more than once.
In my case, there's no way in hell that I'm buying a game that disables itself after being installed 3 times.
The conspiracy theory part comes in because the review was glowing and pretty much everybody who is not a reviewer and has played it has said 'meh ... it's not very fun'.
"Who is the Journal of Quantum Physics going to believe?" --Stephen Hawking
Indeed, the center of the galaxy is the ending. Getting there is a major discomfort in the posterior if you've managed to piss of the Grox, though (is there even a way not to piss them off?). Seeing as they occupy every single star within a solid 100-star radius of the core, getting to it hurts *a lot*.
All in all it is a fun game, and even though I've "finished" it, I suspect I'll get quite a few hours of fun out of it before I get tired of it. I have yet to create my grand armada of armpits with legs!
Bwaaah, jumping through that many hoops just to play a game?
What is wrong with these people? Can't they write a not-emulator that Just Works? Or, are game developpers actively trying to discourage Linux users from playing their games?
Making laws based on opinions that stem up from false informations leads to witch hunts.
Yes, if you wander off first you will die, it sets you up so easier opponents are closer allowing you to ramp up your abilities.
But if you explore, and fight or impress when appropriate, you can eventually level your character off with top scores in fighting and socializing, which is needed to start eliminating the giant creatures that inhabit your world. You can max out in fighting and charming capabilities!
You'll need to get big and be friendly enough to ally yourself with creatures bigger than you, but then you can start to take out the rogue giants!
I'll admit the gameplay is simplistic and repetitive (but not as bad as a WoW grinding session) but its lots of fun, my favorite is to impress two creatures of a small pack, then turn on them and eat them all, its worth it for the look of surprise on their faces when you pounce!
>
Many - or just the obsessive-compulsives who post their rants to Slashdot - or Amazon.com?
The Top 25 in PC Game Sales at Amazon.com [4 PM ET Sept 9]
1 Spore
4 Spore Galactic Edition
5 Spore Creature Creator
11 of the top 25 slots are held by EA games.
6 slots are pre-release.
Meaning that the train has left the station before the geek can block the tracks:
EA Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning
WofW: Rath of the Lich King
EA Left4Dead
EA Cyris Warhead
Civ4: Colonization
Fallout 3. The $120 Amazon Survival Edition and the $50 game.
I'm trying to figure out who you're astroturfing for... and all I could come up with is Cookie Monster.
Interested in a Flash-based MAME front end? Visit mame.danzbb.com
It's not different at all. Your video card doesn't have the capabilities to do what it needs to do. The model of video card is just another example of versioning, and your version wasn't new enough. Get over it.
I found Spore to be mildly fun, no more or less fun than any other average game. I just started the Space phase. I don't think it has lived up to all the hype. Having said that, the creature and tribe stages are really quite funny. I caught myself laughing out-loud often at the critters antics. Especially when trying to impress other critters and tribes. I thought the micro-stage was quite fun (in it's simply way) but it ends so very quickly. The civilization stage seemed like a typical RTS game.
There are lots of reasons to expect a respected Scene group to deliver quality without any hidden agenda, just as they always have.
Holy crap, your analogy was about 1000 times worse than the O.P.'s. Check a few posts back for a response that actually made sense, where someone corrected the O.P.'s analogy by citing that the DRM is only applied to you if you buy the product, but not applied to pirates.
All that being said, you are just a whiny loser trying to justify your selfish actions if you try to claim that you are pirating the software to try to teach the company a lesson. Not buying or playing the game is the way to accomplish this. Pirating it is for one reason and one reason only, no matter how you try to spin it: to play the game without paying the people who created it.
You do have another choice. You can not play the game. I am sure that even someone who cannot grasp basic concepts like this can find something else to fill your time with.
Additionally, well, even as an RPG, I'd rather have something that's not yet another high fantasy setup. Honestly, I have nothing against Tolkien-rip-off settings as such, but God knows there's no need for every single bloody RPG to be yet another clone of the same setting. If you want to play a computer RPG in any other setting, well, there was Mass Effect, but nothing after it and nothing before it, all the way to KOTOR2. (Though thankfully Fallout 3 is coming soon.)
So even if you want to see it as a reskinned RPG, making it themed around creatures hunting for food instead of yet another dwarves-and-elves-and-magic theme, I'll call that borderline innovative in its own right. And most welcome anyway.
A polar bear is a cartesian bear after a coordinate transform.
If I'm not mistaken, there hasn't been a Slashdot editorial review since the last big EA title people were up in arms about over DRM. In November 2007.
And if my PC craps out at the beginning of a long weekend? Or if I go on vacation, and want to install it on a PC at my destination so I can play in the evenings? Or hell, maybe the network just goes down and I want some single player gaming to pass the time.
If a single player game has to call out, ever, to get permission to let me play, that's a deal breaker.
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
Just make the game connect online and check your code in the registry, no need for stupid root kits and other bloatware malware to get loaded. Why can't they just FSCKING do this?
Tsukasa: All I really want, is to be left alone...
The DRM isn't nearly as bad as people make out (it is NOT a root kit - it installs a Ring 3 service, which is the least privileged, but only if you aren't running under an admin account), and I would not be surprised if EA ups or eliminates the install limit a month or two after release.
erm...
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%22spore%22%2B%22DVD+burner%22%2Bproblems%2Bstarforce&btnG=Search
bad enough for me. If it did not have bugy DRM in it I'd buy it. now I'm going to wait for the proper crack / DRM-killer / whatever allows me to have working hardware.
If I wanted gaming rig without DVD burner, I'd buy something cheaper than PC.
Bioshock review - http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/09/12/1532229&from=rss
Vista review - http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/06/03/1744201
Well, when playing Twister, sometimes that's exactly what you have to do. Better get that game taken off the shelf, because it isn't ergonomical.
Oh, and sometimes when playing board games, I move my token with my left hand. But, I'm right handed, and move my mouse with my right hand. Maybe I should make an effort to only ever move game tokens with my natural right hand.
Seriously, though, my hands rest on the keyboard wherever I put them, because keyboards aren't anything natural in the first place. When I'm playing a FPS, my left hand goes for WASD, with my middle finger resting on the W. When I'm typing, my hand rests on ASDF. Is it bad to be versitile?
As long as the patches are cumulative, there's nothing to complain about. If you have to switch back and forth between patch level to play two games, that's a bit much. I'm quite used to needing to get the latest video card driver for WinXP for any new game - doesn't seem any worse to me.
Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
No, its a lifetime installation limitation.
(I think it might have been something about proximity to tab/shift/ctrl as well, but I'm not sure.)
Even before then, there were two-player games in the '80s that could be played one keyboard, and you'd try to put the controls as far apart as possible so your hands aren't hitting each other as you try to play. So one player would have WASD, and the second could use IJKL or the arrow keys.
More often than most. Why do you ask?
Dewey, what part of this looks like authorities should be involved?
Damn! You figured me out! It's true, I've been secretly working for Cookie Monster, trying to get his cookie message out to the people. How did you know?
"16MB (fuck off, MiB fascists)" - The Mighty Buzzard
Well, this ain't another The Sims. That game gets some flack from hardcore gamers but is perfectly suited for the casual gamer.
Yet despite its complete lack of depth, Spore isn't a casual game.
Yes, you can create some wonderful creations but where is the gameplay? The Sims combined its audience desire to create art for the game with the capcity to then use it. But in Spore, your beautiful factory with moving parts is just a backdrop in the colony display. Nothing interacts with it, your creatures at this point are just a bit of animation you most likely never even zoom in enough to see.
The first stages are easy and over fairly quickly, but the space age then quickly becomes one of those conquer the entire universe with a single ship and micro-manage everything.
Perfect example? Was trying to terraform a planet when I got a call that a colony was under attack, so I abort and go to its rescue, defeat two waves of enemies in a boring turning fight (one you figured out that you turn faster every battle is won in seconds) and take off, am almost out the system, and bam, another alert, same colony under attack.
WHEE! Micro-management, others who played the game for longer have noticed this, the space stage will see you constantly rushing off to take care of everything. The only real way to win this battle is to just wipe out everyone, try to build a large empire and you will spend all your time running around dealing with whatever crisis the game decides to throw at you.
The lack of depth also quickly become irritating. The cell stage is to simplistic, there really isn't that much difference between the options. You either go for speed or defence. As a carnivour you need some form of attack although I found poison defence plenty good for killing as well.
Because the game is Intelligent Design, you can easily flip your creature design around whenever you wish. This allows you to quickly explore the various routes and notice that in the end, they are pretty similar. I can't escape the feeling that I played this before and done better.
The creature stage seems to give you more options, but doesn't. There are a lot of parts but basically, you have four attacks, charge, spit, claw, bite. You can't even super-power them by making a critter with ten mouths for instance. If you want combat, just build something with good part in the four attacks and you will clobber everything else.
Be social? Then a typical maxis problem comes out. You GOT to follow their path, one social option is to dance, to dance you need feet, so if your critter is a snake, you can't dance so if the social mini-game does a dance move, you fail.
Neither does any choice really affect your creatures survival changes, there are fruits for herbivors and omnivores, some on the ground, some on low shrubs and some high in the trees. A low creature can't reach the highest, but it don't matter, there is enough fruit and no difference between them. An omnivore can get plenty of food from fruit, and your creatures at the nest don't eat.
There is no survival of the fittest, as long as you can either charm or fight with your creature, and building one to do either or even both is trivial, you win. At no point do you feel like a god, mad scientist setting your creature out in the wild to fend for itself.
The tribe stage has two options, kill everyone or do a DDR style minigame. Fun enough, doesn't take long and all elements of evolution are gone. It don't matter SHIT what you developed your creature to be, just stick with what you did before, if you build a warrior creature, kill everyone, if not, or you are bored, sing them into submission.
Civilization is the closest to an RTS and it would be considered simplistic for a flash advergame.
Space, is the closest to a real game but one that should have been left behind the 1990's. It is not that the game elements themselves ain't fun, just that the amount of micro-management needed quickly becomes boring while the actual fights
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
Suppose you would really have to like games to understand all of this. My XBox works just fine.
Work smarter, not harder, with gps tracking
Now that's actually a somewhat fair point (especially given the review of Bioshock about a year ago). It could be that there is a reviews partnership, or it could be that the most anticipated titles right now are coming from EA (since they do have a giant hype-machine).
The grand parent asked:
If you buy the 360 or PS3 port, you are still buying into DRM just on another platform. Its a more subtle version of DRM that is harder to spot but it is still very much a system designed protecting their rights instead of yours.
Did you read the same review I did? It was hardly glowing. It wasn't negative, but it had many critiques of the game. I've also talked with a number of people who rather like the game.
I heard SecureROM eats babies and molests dead grandmothers.
It's true. I read it here:
http://www.shamusyoung.com/twentysidedtale/?p=1846
Save the Music; Save the World at http://www.TuneTriever.com (Our latest Android game)
Type "syncrosoft" into Google.
The seventh link returned is: "Cubase Studio 4 Hybrid ISO with Syncrosoft Patch". Site is a pirate torrent looking site, so use precautions if you decide to click the link.
Interestingly enough, the link just above that one is "Microsoft Licenses Software Security Technology from Syncrosoft." That's your real reason for DRM right there. Make up a super-uncrackable-no-shit-we-really-mean-it-this-time copy protection and get some sucker to license it from you.
Like I said earlier, snake oil.
Weaselmancer
rediculous.
Here is a review of the iPhone version "Spore Origins" if anyone is interested. http://www.iphone-hacks.com/2008/09/09/spore-origins-for-the-iphone-reviewed/
Or wait for it to show up on torrent sites with the drm cracked and play it safely and free (DRM free, and free in price).
I don't think you're going to have to wait. The game showed up online around Sept. 3rd or 4th.
I don't think there's too much to worry about. Now that there's been sufficient outrage (though, I reckon' a lot of it it just bandwagon stuff) EA won't need such strong DRM in later articles.
That is to say, in my opinion, I reckon' they were "scared" (so to speak) of having a game that didn't require a CD so they had this draconian DRM (that, well, I don't really mind) that hopefully they'll weaken in patches or later titles (even if it doesn't help now, atleast they're trying to improve the user experience by not requiring discs... even if they did get a little paranoid).
I've never seen a simple request get downmodded as "troll" so fast. And he's not the only one - EVERYONE who has pegged this properly as a fake review has been downmodded.
Someone's obviously trying to protect a fake slashvertisement that got slipped in as a bogus "news" story here.
If you can read this sig, congratulations, you have your glasses on!
Every person who's posted that they think yes, this review gives too high a score and yes, this is a bogus review is being downmodded as "troll." I watched one move down from a score of 3:Insightful to -1:Troll in under two minutes.
I've never seen ratings move THAT fast before.
That right there tells me someone with serious access is doing the downmodding, and is even more evidence that this is a Slashvertisement that EA paid someone off to post this and overlook their DRM.
If you can read this sig, congratulations, you have your glasses on!
Let's try an analogy:
That's like walking into a store you've never been, and the owner keeps an eagle eye on you because he doesnt recognize you and suspects you might try to steal something, so in return you steal a candy bar.
Yes, software piracy is not physical theft, but your attitude is a good mirror of the situation I just described. Rather than simply saying "I won't buy it," threatening to pirate it is actually ENFORCING and ENCOURAGING the decision for further, stronger DRM.
Your allegory doesn't illustrate the situation at all. In your scenario, a candy bar is stolen in reaction to the eagled-eyed store owner. In reality, regarding this game, some choose to pirate it to avoid being subjected to what they see as unjust treatment. They do not pirate it as a reaction to unjust treatment.
A better allegory would be that the newest, latest candy bar comes out but it is only available from one store. The store jealously guards its recipes (think Willy Wonka) so each customer is finger-printed and a DNA sample is taken and put on a database as a discouragement. Some consumers really want to try the candy bar, but do not wish to be subjected to treatment they see as unjust (fingerprinting and DNA sampling). They obtain a copy of the candy bar on the black market to avoid this treatment and none of their money goes to Willy Wonka.
Just as the candy consumers obtain copies to avoid unjust treatment, gamers who pirate DRM-free copies do so to avoid what they see as unjust treatment (rootkit).
Someone must be trying pretty hard to protect their slashvertisement.
I mean seriously - EVERY person who's written in and disagreed with the review, no matter how much merit and insight in their post, is getting downmodded.
So how much did EA pay Slashdot to get this astroturfing "review" posted, huh?
If you can read this sig, congratulations, you have your glasses on!
"Just wait for it to hit the consoles. Unless it fails so hard that it doesn't get ported. But that is unlikely. DRM SecuROM type tactics are killing pc gaming more than piracy."
Riight! Killing it to the point Piratebay will close up shop.
Shai Schticks:"You don't make peace with friends, you make peace with enemies"
You can apparently get 3 more installations if you run out (at the discretion of EA customer support) - but that's hardly any better.
I paid for XP. But my copy sits in storage. I have no qualms about using a copy of my friend's disc and reg code so I don't have to put up with that activation nonsense when I do upgrades/reinstalls.
and dump EA now, or there will be a Rage like no other.
Glowing? Didn't look all that bright and glorious to me.
And the only people you've been hearing say 'meh... it's not very fun.' from are the ones not playing it anymore. The ones who enjoy it are too busy playing it to bother with someone predisposed to disliking it.
Frankly, I don't have any problem removing DRM and completely bypassing any sort of protection on software I buy. But there's the important part - software I buy. Downloading and installing software illegally does not help the situation at all, but I don't lose a moment of sleep circumventing everything that makes things difficult for legitimate users like myself, such as a 3-install limit.
See, I do go into the store and buy the candy bar, and pay a fair price for it. I just then proceed to do whatever I want with it, because I purchased it. Installing software multiple times falls under fair use law, the power of which is being usurped by DRM. DRM doesn't stop pirates, it only punishes those who use software legitimately.
But, to clarify, I do consider it wrong and an act of theft to somehow commandeer a copy of the game without paying for it.
Yes, I did use one of Yahtzee's descriptions. But, this is really what the game seemed like for the first two eras and part of the third. I felt like I was playing WoW all over again. The grinding was about to put me off until the Space Age happened, it was quite fun. Still, why Will? Why so much grind?
The Space stage will keep you occupied as long as you're still entertained by it.
So to summarize, I will be entertained for as long as I am entertained?
You should re-read the post you were responding to. His exact words were, "So EA gives us 2 choices if you want to play the game."
Kudos, you've managed to be an ass and make an ass of yourself, in just one post!
come visit us for a free breakfast and lunch for some wonderful timeshare opportunities, you can find us on the third rock from sol.
but really here is the video
http://www.wegame.com/watch/Secret_Ending_to_SPORE/
You're right, I misread the post. It is hard to tell all of the piracy whiners apart when discussions like this come up on Slashdot. I thought he was another one of those people who claim that they *have to* pirate software because game companies charge too much/use DRM/whatever. Instead, he is a whiner who doesn't realize that pirating the game is NOT a "choice" that EA has given anyone.
Anyway, thanks for pointing out my error, although I'm not sure exactly what the difference is between being an ass when posting and making an ass of one's self when posting.
And how would you know this? Did you pirate the game from wherever it showed up on Sept. 3 or 4? Or did you just happen to notice it while you were pirating other stuff? Or maybe there is another explanation? Do tell.
I work for MediaDefender. You can decide whether or not that's a plausible explanation.
Based on what? Your own delusions?
If not here, where would it be apropos? Wow. Really? It's a PC-centric site. I didn't know that. I wonder why a random game is reviewed over one that is easily considered the most recognized game on /. Maybe because it's YAGG (see: http://www.urbangeek.net/geek/dictionary/geekspeakg-k.html : god game) but don't let reasoning get in the way of your "responses".
Last Civ reviewed was: http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=99/05/11/1750246 as every version (including different platforms) was critiqued as sure as the earth goes around the sun (dig through them all since you didn't bother the first time). You don't remember how annoying that was? This time Revolutions was completely bypassed and Spore came up. What a surprise! EA gets the press and 2k Games snubbed (meh who the fuck are they anyways) right?
No research. Ignorant troll.
Often wrong but never in doubt.
I am Jack9.
Everyone knows me.
Based on what? Your own delusions?
Based on the fact that it's not a lopsided review, and it is far from unusual to have game reviews on this site.
I wonder why a random game is reviewed over one that is easily considered the most recognized game on /.
You really think Spore is "a random game"? If so, you really are delusional. This is a game with massive amounts of hype and anticipation behind it. I haven't seen a game get this hyped up since Bioshock, last year. This is easily a game which is worthy of some coverage, and not just "a random game".
If not here, where would it be apropos?...
I didn't say that here wouldn't be apropos, I said "not necessarily". There is a very large difference between the two. Simply put, though, I don't care if Civ Rev gets reviewed, because I tried it myself, and it's a dumbed-down console version of Civ 4. I really am not gonna get worked up if a game like that doesn't get reviewed.
No research. Ignorant troll.
Calling someone a troll because they disagree with you, especially when you are firing accusations of astroturf without merit, is the last resort of the pathetic.
but don't let reasoning get in the way of your "responses".
Well, I try to do just that, but I see that you have taken your advice, and choose not to let reasoning interfere with your "responses". You practice what you preach, I gotta give you that.
"16MB (fuck off, MiB fascists)" - The Mighty Buzzard
The former is when you insult someone. The latter is when you look stupid because you're incorrect.
Which Civ review did you want? Perhaps when we got to ask the developers of Civ 4 questions? (Answers here)
No, you are showing them that if you are treated like a criminal too much, you will become one.
I believe you have to actually go down to the surface of one of their planets, not just encounter their ships. Then you have to get home again (or just die, that works too).
Why would anyone engrave "Elbereth"?
My gaming machine is on a crappy wireless connection, so I can tell you that you *do not* need to call out to play single player.
You can click the "Play Offline" button when asked to login, and apart from a warning that you won't see other people's creatures in your game, it will happily let you play.
Spore is a RTS game for childrens.
Spore is not about evolution, it is about creationism.
too much?
I am waiting that EA will start selling addons like they did on The Sims games. Mayby first addon will allow you to make vehicles what could have turrets/missiles/lasers for all "sides" (not just for aggressive)... instead music keys, coins etc and all would shoot different way and not with same homing "mortars" of blue beam.
I would not buy Spore until it is finished game. It is not such until you have 1+10 addons on it.
When I tried the game on my friend PC, I didnt actually find anything intresting what I readed and saw of demos and interviews.
Ah... ESDF it is.... Reminds me first game what I got what used it.. Tribes 2. First it was bretty much simple pain when fingers went "automatically" to WASD but soon the ESDF proofed to be much better for all FPS games.
I hope that would be new "standard" for FPS games, we would get few buttons more. But now the direction is going to consoles what has even less functions. I have tried to play Crysis on PC with Pad... And I hate that few important functions ain't possible to have, like "lie down", only crouching and standing (+jumping). So the sneaking is more restricted.
Ohhhh, that's just what you WANT me to think! This is all just an delicate and elaborate plot to ever so slightly increase the chance that I will buy this game!
I think I'll go to bed. I've had WAY too much to drink.
You know, there is a difference between trolling and pointing out the flaws in your reasoning. Just saying.
It sounds cynical. Without evidence it also sounds childish.
Welcome to slashdot!
Yeah, but if you had to patch, say, DirectX (in CLI) and recompile it, so as to be able to play some given game, that game would Just Not Sell, right?
Making laws based on opinions that stem up from false informations leads to witch hunts.
On my system big battles occasionally pause for a few seconds when the action gets crazy but apart from that it's fine. I have the settings turned up full as well.
Indeed, it doesn't happen to everyone but to enough people to have a several threads about it in the forums, and no suggestion like "lower settings" or "update drivers" seems to have worked for me so far.
The cookie told me to.
Easier to translate system:
1 - bad game, I didn't get paid to review it.
2 - unused
3 - unused
4 - bad game I got paid to review
5 - anywhere from "doesn't suck" to "best game ever"