SimEverything -- Spore Review

If legendary game designer Will Wright sat down one day with the intention of figuring out which of his games he liked best, only to realize that he just couldn't choose a single aspect of virtual existence he most enjoyed tinkering with, then Spore might very possibly have become the order of the day. Instead of choosing just one, Will Wright would simply sim everything.

Spore is a genre-blending evolutionary and social simulation that lets players have a hand in the evolution of species from their multicellular beginnings all the way up through galactic conquest. As cells develop into creatures, interact with other species, form tribes, build civilizations, and expand empires, the mechanics of the game also evolve, becoming more complex with each phase.

The cell phase operates like an advanced version of Pac Man. Players' microbial creations gradually grow in size and complexity as they consume food and collect parts from the environment and/or the remains of other organisms. Mating opens up an editor where those parts can be used to create more successful designs for new generations of creatures, eventually stepping out of the tide pool and onto dry land.

The creature phase moves into a fully three-dimensional environment and introduces social interaction into players' list of options. Taking a friendly or aggressive stance when coming into contact with another species dictates the goals the game sets for dealing with that group. Both killing and befriending other species earn DNA points and new body parts that help the creature to evolve. Searching the environment also yields rewards to be used in the mating/editing portion of this phase.

Once a species develops enough mental capacity to organize into cooperative social communities, the tribal phase begins. Here, the tribe's goal is to defeat or ally with neighboring tribes and be the first to achieve a civilized culture. This phase is the first to bring simple real-time strategy elements into the game, allowing players to outfit their natives with stat-boosting apparel and equip them with special tools earned by successfully interfacing with competing tribes. With each conquest or alliance, a new building can be placed in the village. Each of these provides a weapon, musical instrument, or food gathering tool to assist the tribesmen.

Successfully micro-managing a tribal village allows a civilization to flourish. In the civilization phase, players focus on global conquest, administrating multiple cities' economic, military, and religious affairs. The urban landscape must be developed in such a way that population, production, and happiness are all maximized, maintaining a steady flow of income from the planet's natural resource, spice. This is achieved by placing residential, industrial, and entertainment buildings in an effective way and then protecting the safety of the city with turrets and military vehicles. Vehicles also serve as the religious and economic links to other cities, converting or allying with them to support the civilization's cause. As in the real world, waging war is not the only answer; there are a number of paths to prosperity. Regardless of the imperialistic strategy a player employs, the goal is to unify the entire planet under the home city's rule, and then venture into the final frontier.

The space phase is the final phase, and also the most complex and expansive portion of Spore. This is the only phase that does not have predefined win conditions, but is instead set up as a galactic sandbox with open-ended opportunities to accept and complete missions, earn money, expand the empire, colonize planets, encounter alien species, establish trade, form alliances, go to war, hunt for treasure, and explore, explore, explore. There are over 50,000 planets in the Spore galaxy, all of which are accessible to the player. The many social, combat, colonization, collecting, and terraforming tools that players earn by achieving certain milestones add even more options to the dynamic space phase. To quote Will Wright himself, Spore becomes a "massively single-player game" by the time players reach the end.

So is this five-in-one gaming experience any good, or is it nothing more than a novel idea turned into reality?

Spore is great fun. At each step of the way, there is something new to play with, learn about, experiment with, and eventually master. Each small portion of the larger product appeals to gamers in different ways, and all of those parts manage to remain interesting in their own right. The editing features, as evidenced by the success of the stand-alone Creature Creator and the endless stream of user-generated content that populates the game's "Sporepedia," are enough to keep players inventing and tweaking microbes, animals, buildings, vehicles, and even the celestial bodies themselves for hours on end. Spore has so many tools and parts to work with that creativity is rarely stifled.

Another very important part of Spore's design is that it slowly guides players through progressively more complex levels of videogame mechanics, effectively making itself an analogy for the thematic content it delivers. The later the stage of evolution, the more advanced the gameplay strategy, each phase building upon the last in terms of required skill sets. Spore manages to satisfy the needs of seasoned veterans with its vast selection of options, yet remains accessible to any gamer by gently acquainting them with the gameplay environment. I see many first-time gamers getting their start with Spore, and many long-time gamers becoming obsessed with the sheer magnitude of the final phase.

Spore is yet another wonderful creation from the mind of designer Will Wright. While it may not achieve the level of gaming utopia that many had predicted prior to its release, the final product is still a very enjoyable, engaging, and complete package. With just a little more depth and polish, it would be more than just an evolutionary sim--it'd be a revolutionary one.

The Count | Top 10 Most Anticipated Non-Sequels of 2008

The year 2007 was an incredible year for the videogame industry. I'd even be willing to go out on a limb and say that it was one of the best ever. Needless to say, 2007 had many great games, but 2008 may very well be set to top it. As a matter of fact, this article started as a list of just about 30 titles. I can't begin to tell you how much difficulty I faced trying to narrow it down to only a third of that, but I probably would never have completed the task without setting some requirements.

1) Unless the game has been distinctly labeled as a 2008 release, it didn't make the cut (or else you know Resident Evil 5 would take the number one spot).

2) The second requirement was imposed late in the article-writing cycle, not only to make things easier on myself, but also because I thought it'd make for a more interesting, less predictable list of games. Original IP only; No sequels! That's right, there go all of my "safe" answers like Metal Gear Solid 4, Final Fantasy XIII, GTA IV, or Super Smash Bros Brawl. Not even Star Wars was exempt from this mighty ban.

Anyway, get your own weapons ready (preferably flamethrowers), because I'm sure each and every one of you will find some reason to hate me over the course of the next couple of pages. Ready...aaaaaannd...GO!

10) Army of Two (360, PS3) -

I've said it before, and I'm sticking by my story; cooperative play enhances the gaming experience in nearly every situation. EA's Army of Two shows that at least somebody agrees with me. The game is based entirely off of tandem combat and obstacle navigation, making players rely on each other much more than your standard co-op game. Gone are the days when a shout of "cover me" or "I'll take the left" encapsulates the entire tag-team strategy. In Army of Two, the team must act as a unit...or fail. As a bonus, interactions between the leading duo can be pretty funny, even in the game's somewhat grim setting.

9) Saboteur (PC, 360, PS3) -

Pandemic Studios have certainly shown the gaming community that they know how to deliver open-ended gameplay in a sandbox of warfare. Although Pandemic's Mercenaries 2 (a sequel) has been hogging the spotlight as of late, it's their OTHER 2008 offering that has landed on today's countdown. Set during WWII, Saboteur tells the tale of Sean, an Irish race car driver and general tough guy seeking revenge on a particular group of Nazis. The stealth action will take players from the city of Paris to the coastline, and into the mountains of Germany on a free-roaming tour of Europe. Film noir and pulp action influences are evident throughout, and the war serves only as a backdrop to a completely original story, so don't worry about playing the same old WWII game yet again.

8) Dark Sector (PC, 360, PS3) -

We all loved Gears of War, right? How about Resident Evil 4? I though so. Dark Sector is a third-person action game that borrows heavily from these two triple-A titles, sporting an over-the-shoulder view in a dark and gritty world, and even using Gears' pop-and-shoot gameplay mechanics along with plenty of context-sensitive actions. Digital Extremes has worked arm in arm with Epic Games in the past (Unreal Tournament 2003, 2004), so it stands to reason that Dark Sector would be influenced by their masterpiece. In Dark Sector, players will have a small arsenal of firearms at their disposal, along with the powerful glaive - a boomerang-like blade that not only minces enemies to pieces, but can also be imbued with various elemental properties to inflict even more damage or solve environmental puzzles. Add to that some stealth elements and huge boss battles, and you've got a winner on your hands.

7) Left 4 Dead (PC, 360) -

Turtle Rock Studios has a vision. That vision is to take the near-perfect competition found in Counter-Strike and apply it to cooperative zombie warfare. Left 4 Dead pits a team of four players against an ocean of zombies who are just dying to munch on your gray matter. It's up to these survivors to protect each other long enough to escape the outbreak. Additionally, four other players can join in as beefed-up, commanding members of the zombie hordes. This is a game of true survival, with limited ammo, creepy locales, and a massive amount of enemies. It's like Dawn of the Dead...on the Source engine...with co-op...and counter-op. Need I say more?

6) White Knight Story (PS3) -

White Knight Story wowed gamers with it's beautifully rendered scenes and nearly flawless animation when its debut video was shown at the 2006 Tokyo Game Show. Since then, only a few new pieces of footage have made it into the spotlight, but everything about this game screams, "play me!" The combat is especially refreshing, and seamlessly blends real-time action with pre-defined tactics while maintaining a new-yet-familiar RPG feeling. This all comes as no surprise, of course, considering JapanStudio and Level 5 (Rogue Galaxy, Dragon Quest VIII) are behind the project.

5) LittleBigPlanet (PS3) -

Speaking of refreshingly original games, LittleBigPlanet is really unlike anything I've seen before. Aside from how wonderfully stylish the game looks, it also presents gamers with new ways to approach the games we play. Not only do players have a variety of methods by which they can physically interact with their environment (woohoo for physics!), but the game is actually a miniature game creation studio, allowing players to design and share content with others over the Playstation Network. This game has the potential to be endless, and it's all about fun.

4) Dead Space (360, PS3) -

The survival horror genre has seen a large amount of growth over the past few years, expanding into new settings, new subject matter, and even new realms of gameplay mechanics. Everyone seems to want a piece of the survival horror pie, and EA is offering up Dead Space - a deep space sci-fi fright-fest. The development team is taking the the concept of fear very seriously, researching horror movies and making sure to run the gamut of ways to scare people. They want gamers to be afraid to play. The protagonist is an engineer with no combat training, and the vessel on which the game takes place isn't exactly overflowing with weaponry. This is going to be a bit of a challenge; custom-built tools of war are surely in order. On top of everything, the game features top-notch visuals that bring the situation to life, and will quite possibly bring nightmares to your slumber.

3) Brutal Legend (360, PS3) -

It's hard to imagine that a game put together by Tim Schafer and his team at Double Fine Productions could be anything but incredible. They did, after all, create the surreal and captivating Psychonauts. Well, these wild imaginations have run wild once again, grabbing Jack Black and a handful of rock idols along the way. In Brutal Legend, roadie Eddie Riggs finds himself in an open world of all things heavy metal. The elder metal gods have created a place where spiders "spin guitar strings out of silk, and if you chop a tree down the cross-sections are perfect tires, and there are V8 engines growing underground. ...all these things are just waiting for you to discover." Of course, humanity has been enslaved by demons, and Eddie is charged with building an army against them. You can bet that the cast will be colorful, and the tasks will be insane. It's got that Schafer magic, and that's enough to land on my list.

2) Prototype (PC, 360, PS3) -

Another open world game, this time set in New York City, Prototype tells the tale of anti-hero and amnesiac Alex Mercer (the Prototype), the Infected (a mutant race that has invaded the city), and the U.S. military (you know them...sortof). Little else is known about the details of the game's story, but as for gameplay, Radical Entertainment is claiming "more gameplay per square foot than you've ever seen." Mercer is a total badass - a shapeshifter with the ability to "consume" human victims in order to increase his powers. These include turning his hands into giant blades, armor-plating his skin, assuming the form of other individuals, and acrobatically navigating the city like no human being could ever hope to do. The city itself will evolve as the game progresses and the mystery of the whole situation unfolds, making for a truly dynamic experience.

1) Spore (PC, Mac) -

Oh, Will Wright... Casual gamers and uber-nerds alike have all found reasons to absolutely adore him. From SimCity to The Sims to Sim-anything-else-you-can-imagine, Will was there to show us the way. His newest project, Spore, is what one might call an "evolution sim." Players act as grand puppeteers, guiding organisms up through the generations, eventually taking control of entire societies, and even worlds. The game features a massive amount of procedurally generated content, from the creatures that populate the game universe, to the very place itself. Furthermore, Wright has dubbed Spore a massively single player game, because as players progress, their creations will begin to show up remotely in other users' worlds. They become AI-controlled parts of those other players' games, tagged with their creators' information. It is quite an interesting concept - something Spore just seems to be full of.

Well, there you have it. Amidst all of the big-name sequels and heavy hitters coming in 2008, there is still a wealth of original content on the way. There is a lot to look forward to this year, and hopefully I've even been able to introduce you to a few lesser known titles. Feel free to make comments, ask questions, throw cans, spew venom, or what have you. I will be here to receive it all.

-Eddie

The Count | Top 10 (+1) Most Anticipated Games Of 2007

Experience has taught me that oftentimes, gamers are better off taking projected release dates with a grain of salt, but I can't help but feel like 2007 is going to be one of the best years in gaming history. There are enough high profile titles on the way to drown a fish, and they all look outstanding. I had trouble limiting it to only 10 of them - so I didn't. Here are my most anticipated games of the coming year:


(+1) Halo 3

Now I know somebody out there doesn't care about this game, but the rest of the gaming world is salivating in anticipation. The third installment of the critically acclaimed franchise is set to be huge, with high-def visuals and enhanced online gameplay, not to mention the climax of the series' story. The near-universal love of the series is clear, as Halo 2 remains the most-played game on Xbox Live to date. With the online beta of Halo 3 just around the corner, there is a lot to be excited about.


10) Blue Dragon


This one has already been released in Japan, and is responsible for selling more Xbox 360s there than any other game can claim. This RPG is the craft of a dream team who, when last working together, created one of the most lauded RPGs of all time - Chrono Trigger. A game that tweaks its genre just right, Blue Dragon does away with random battles, putting enemies on screen at all times. It also features a unique system for GETTING INTO battles, allowing players to string together fights, building momentum as they go, as well as drawing rival creatures into the same bloody fray - where they will attack EACH OTHER. Other points of awesomeness are the party of five characters, which all fight in every encounter, and the deep class system. It sounds like an RPGer's dream.


9) Grand Theft Auto IV

Just one image. That's enough. Heck, ZERO images would be enough for this game. We don't know where it takes place, what time period it spans, or who the main character might be, but it doesn't matter - we know it will be good. As of this posting, 19 days remain until the first trailer of GTA IV is shown at http://www.rockstargames.com/IV/.


8) Mass Effect


"BioWare presents..." Those words alone are enough to gamers excited. The company's track record is indeed a sight to behold - they are responsible for Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and Jade Empire. Mass Effect's gameplay is reminiscent of prior games, but with a few huge improvements. The branching dialog in this game is done completely in real-time. This will allow the player to interject as he pleases and give these interactions a much less-scripted feel. The combat has also been improved, with all-new tactical control over party members' actions and equipment. Lastly, let's not forget that the voice acting is excellent and the graphics are some of the best around.


7) Super Mario Galaxy


This is the Mario game we're supposed to be excited about...and I am. It's Mario in full 3D again, and with a slew of Wii-centric controls, Super Mario Galaxy aims to take gamers on a ride unlike any previous Mario adventure. My only reservation was that game might focus too much on a single theme, quickly wearing out it's initial appeal (a la Super Mario Sunshine). Considering the variety of locales seen in this latest video, I'm not terribly worried, and can't wait to try it out.


6) White Night Story


From the developers of the recent hit RPGs Rogue Galaxy and Dragon Quest VIII, as well as the Dark Cloud Series, White Knight Story appears to be the game that could coax me into buying a PS3. Not only does it LOOK amazing, but it features a battle system unlike any other. Encounters are rendered in accurately choreographed sequences, where successful strikes on the enemy are mixed amongst a barrage of attacks that are either blocked or parried, before tasting the sweet reward of steel on flesh. As seen in the trailer, the protagonist is also capable of transforming into a hulking white knight, which is ALL KINDS of cool.


5) Metal Gear Solid 4


Metal Gear Solid is an incredible series, and MGS4 is sure to be an incredible game. Snake has grown old and battle-weary, but remains in the heat of combat, aided once again by his old friend Otacon. The jump to the newest console generation has done wonders for the graphical presentation of the game, and will propel the already stellar cinematography of the series to new heights. The story promises to be just as interesting as previous games, and will surely have plenty of underlying messages to deliver to eager gamers. This game will definitely be an experience.


4) God of War 2


If you've played God of War, then you MUST BE excited for God of War II. The first game was...well, awesome. It was fierce action combined with fun platforming and a top-notch story. If that game, and this trailer are any indicator, then God of War II is shaping up to be one of the best games the PS2 has to offer. We'll find out this Tuesday if the term "swan song" is applicable here.


3) Spore


When Will Wright creates something, people take notice. The legendary designer is hard at work on an ambitious new game, entitled Spore. Borrowing elements from games ranging from Pac-Man to The Sims, E.V.O. to Cubivore, it is what one might call a "life sim," where players guide the evolution of of an organism up through the generations, and at the same time through multiple game genres. The game features a huge amount of procedurally generated content, from the creatures that populate the game world, to the very world itself. Furthermore, Wright has dubbed Spore a massively single player game, because as players progress, their creations will begin to show up in other users' worlds. There, they become AI-controlled parts of that other player's game, and are tagged with their creator's information. From protist to intergalactic conquerer, there is just TOO much to Spore NOT to be excited.


2) Super Paper Mario


As a huge fan of the old 2D Super Mario Bros games, as well as the stylish Paper Mario games, there is no describing how exciting Super Paper Mario is to me. Not only that, but when Super Mario Sunshine promised an "incredible new feature," all I hoped for was a game that transitioned between classic 2D platforming and 3D exploration. It's finally here. This game introduces a myriad of new character abilities and gameplay opportunities to gamers, and combines 2D side-scrolling, 3D platforming, and role-playing elements all into a single bundle of AWESOME.


1) Assassin's Creed


I am in love with this game. Besides the ability to navigate your surroundings based purely on the physics and structure of the game world, it is everything I could ever want in an action game. Free-roaming exploration, acrobatics, stealth, swordplay, horseback riding, assassinations, and BEAUTIFUL visuals. Additionally, there have been rumblings of a very unexpected and intriguing plotline. All this from the people who brought us Prince of Persia. *swoon*


There you have it - a complete year of gaming goodness.