Spore Reviews

• Dumbed down experience and draconian DRM

  
  By A3284KYDZ00BZA on 2008-09-07
  See those older 5-star reviews from 2006 (two years before the game was released)? Well, they had a reason to be excited. Spore was supposed to be a revolutionary experience, combining multiple genres while concentrating on evolution and genetics.
  
  Fast forward two years and here we have the finished product, ready to be installed on our hard drives.
  
  First of all, the game incorporates a draconian DRM system that requires you to activate over the internet, and limits you to a grand total of 3 activations. If you reach that limit, then you'll have to call EA in order to add one extra activation. That's not as simple as it sounds, since when you reach that point EA will assume that you, the paying customer, are a filthy pirating thief. You will need to provide proof of purchase, reasons why the limit was reached, etc, etc (it has all happened before with another recent EA product, Mass Effect). EA, of course, is not obligated to grant you that extra activation or even provide that service. In a couple of years they might very well even shut down the general activation servers, because "it's not financially feasible" to keep them running. What you will be left with is a nice, colorful $50 coaster. And you will be required to pay for another copy/license if you want to continue playing.
  
  This basically means that you are actually RENTING the game, instead of owning it. The game WILL stop to function in the future. That's inevitable, because even if EA keeps the activation servers going, there IS going to be a time when EA will simply cease to exist because of financial issues or federal laws (like most businesses eventually do).
  
  Second, the game was dumbed down to oblivion. Evolution doesn't even matter anymore. For example, you can add as many legs to a creature as you want, but the multi-legged creature won't be any faster than a single-legged one with higher leg stats. This gameplay element makes "creating" your creatures entirely pointless (cosmetic only, because everything is based on stats), and brings you about the same amount of excitement as dressing up a plastic doll.
  
  

• No Way, No How, No DRM

  
  By A32G3VY37J3H2C on 2008-09-07
  I just got through a massive headache dealing with DRM for Adobe Photoshop CS3. I've dealt with massive headaches from DRM from Civ3 gold. All of this is on a very high end vista PC. Thanks, but no thanks. I was excited about the concept of this game for many months. That is until I found out about the DRM it uses. I will not buy software with DRM ever again, particularly if they limit the installs to something ridiculous like 3.
  
  Update (9/12/08): I just learned that EA limits purchasers to one account per household even though the manual states that multiple accounts may be used per installation. What does that mean? Well, say you have 4 people in your house that want to play spore on 4 different accounts. No problem, according to EA games, just pony up $200 for 4 licenses.
  
  

• A shame

  
  By AJG877XPY8A5F on 2008-09-07
  Currently I rate this game bad been following and think the game itself looks like it has great potential. Here is why I rate so low.
  
  Cons
  1. Ability to play the only way for me to access the Demos or whatever you want to call them is to lower my security settings on my system. Here is my issue with this I did that for Mass Effect giving the benefit of the doubt after it crashed my computer and left files I couldn't remove it was easier to wipe my system and lose everything. To me that seems like Malware.
  2. 3 Activation limit I upgrade computers and have several of them at my house I just cut down to 4 and am looking to buy another by this My game will be useles before long. I play baldurs gate the original and fallout still these are some of my favorites. Ive reloaded numerous times I fail to see how this helps fight piracy also. If I own a copy of a game Im allowed a backup copy and I belive Im also allowed to get that game as a rom even and play on an emulator. How does 3 activations limit pirating if I pirated an ran out of three activations Id just pirate another This is more of a resell to paying customers package.
  
  3. EA's buisness practices with there security. They dont label it on there packaging nor put a disclaimer that this Sofware will harm your system and bypass your admin rights to your computer. Also Ive heard not sure but gamers tried a petition to ask EA not to put this DRM on game those people were temporarily banned from the forums and those petitions were deleted not a very customer friendly concept.
  
  Pros
  
  1. The concept of the game I love these types of games and this is the most indept game Ive seen. I think if the game works right it would provide hours of play
  
  2. The graphics are outstanding
  
  3. One DRM feature was taken away which is the ten day actiavtion by internet which is great being military we dont see internet in all our locations so this is a nice step in the right direction to not alienate those that are away from the comfort of home.
  
  After all is said and done I currently give the game one star for its inability to be played if EA takes a more customer friendly approach and I have no fears of crashing my system then I will boost my rating to reflect improvements but fo now it stays a 1
  
  

• Returning the game...

  
  By A2K9BFRX8DL0K5 on 2008-09-08
  I played with the creature creator a bit and had a good time. I long ago pre-ordered Spore and have not had time to look further into the game as it approaches release. When I finally did, a few days ago, I discovered that they are implementing the absurd SecuROM DRM.
  
  I have no interest in paying full price for a game that I will be severely restricted from being able to play at a later point. Presuming installation is flawless, the current restriction to "three installs" is something any user will exceed long before their interest in the game does.
  
  In my situation, I would be installing it on my desktop and my laptop. I would only ever be playing one of these systems at a time so there would be no violation of the ridiculous EULA most products have. Only one instance would ever be operated simultaneously and only by me, the owner (well, renter as EA and SecuROM would have it). This would mean that as soon as I ever had to reinstall an OS on my desktop or laptop, I'd be screwed out of the game unless I wanted to buy it again for full price (and what happens if you want to enjoy the game a few years down the road and re-install it)?
  
  Think about that for a minute. Even if you never upgrade your hardware or buy a new computer or use a different computer -- how often (presuming you're using Windows of course) do you reinstall your operating system? And each time, you have to reinstall the game. If you're an XP user, you'll probably install the game. Then you'll upgrade to Vista. That'll be another install. Two down; one to go. Then you may need to re-install vista from scratch for any number of miserable reasons. And that will be your third strike. You better hope that you never *ever* need to change or adjust that system for any reason if you like Spore.
  
  Imagine applying this to other products. What if you could only watch purchased DVDs on one specific DVD player and once you've played it on that system, you could never play them on another one. No lending them to your friends. No buying a new player. No watching it on your payer in different rooms. No selling your used DVDs. And if your player dies and you buy a new one, you'll have to re-purchase the movie. Wouldn't that be silly? Perfectly good content that you have physically sitting in your hand that you paid handily for and have every right to own and use... only... you don't own it and can't use it.
  
  I only wish I had known this sooner. It is already in the process of being shipped so I can't cancel the order. Once it arrives, you better believe I'm going to hand it right back to the UPS driver and tell him I refuse to accept delivery.
  
  This is truly unfortunate. I'm a fan of Will Wright, even if some of his more recent games have not been geared toward the traditional simulation or Sim City fan and have been aimed more at the "decorate a bedroom and play house" crowd. I'd love to give Wright my support. But EA is making that impossible with this ridiculous scheme. I'm not a thief. Don't treat me like one.
  
  

• Won't buy with DRM

  
  By A3NN9VPQ1NQN4D on 2008-09-07
  Since this game has DRM I will not buy. It is that simple.
  
  I came here ready to click on "buy with one click" and have it here tomorrow with next-day (cheap) prime shipping.
  
  The review showing it has DRM was extremely helpful in me determining NOT TO BUY.
  
  It is not necessary to actually own the game to make this determination and I am glad someone posted it has DRM.
  
  
  
  
• $49.99 to much for game rental
  By A343Y5INJ89IEZ on 2008-09-07
  
  $49.99 + DRM is too much to pay when the game is only a rental after the DRM. $29.99 would be an acceptable price.
  
  
• drm makes me a sad panda
  By A3CI9TJ531O6I5 on 2008-09-07
  probably one of the most innovative and well-executed games released in the last 20 years, but the ridiculous DRM means that you are either stuck off-line and lose out on the revolutionary MSO (massively single-player online) experience, or you rent 3 uses for $50 USD.
  
  will wright is an undeniable genius and its sad that the evil empire known as EA is prevent his incredible achievement from having higher market penetration.
  
  
• Maxis fails to deliver
  By A1OCRLVRJ15D27 on 2008-09-07
  The biggest problem with this game is how limited it is compared to what it could be and what I think we were led to believe it would be.
  
  Think about how varied animals are in real life, how many different environments they are adapted to live in, how different they are, their size, their biology, their behaviour, their diet, etc.
  
  Now look at Spore. There is precisely one environment your creature can live in at a given stage, and that's the water in cell stage and the temperate land every other stage. There are precisely 3 diets - any vegetation, any meat or both. Customisation is limited to selecting body parts that will allow a few different attack moves, a few different socialisation moves and a few abilities which don't really matter very much. You can create an animal without arms or legs but the fact the game only provides a single environment which isn't well suited to it and the game also seems to have its idea of what the "correct" path for evolution is it's pretty pointless to do so.
  
  Where are the animals which live in the sea, where are the animals that live underground and in caves, where are the birds (you can glide a short distance, but you're still essentially a land animal), where are the parasites, where are the differences in cold blooded versus hot blooded animals, where is the VARIATION? Creatures can be made to look different but they are basically all the same with a few inconsequential differences.
  
  The second main problem I have is there's really no evolution by natural selection at all in this game sadly. What features a creature has is not affected in any way by what came before, you can completely remove all features and completely reshape your creature in one fell swoop. The one tiny nod to evolution is the way your creature has behaved at a stage can give it one of three sets of abilities when it moves onto the next stage, but this has nothing to do with its physical characteristics. It's a shame really since this could have educated children somewhat on how evolution works and in this incarnation it does the exact opposite.
  
  I would have given the game 3 stars for sort of having an interesting idea but failing to implement it in any meaningful way, but I'm going to give it one star for the DRM which has been mentioned in all the other reviews.
  
  
• Fun but no multi-login!
  By AL3LUR87JI289 on 2008-09-08
  With 1 computer we were planning on playing Spore with our seperate logons the same way we play other games. But that's a big no go! EA has seen fit to not allow multiple logons ON THE SAME COMPUTER!! So we have to settle for limiting ourselves with sharing the universe. This would be OK if it were just the 2 of us but I'd like to let my son play too. But with 3 of us we're limited to 2 planets per and will end up unlocking things that the other 2 haven't earned yet etc...
  
  This user limitation is just dumb. Does EA expect families to have 1 computer per family member?!? I'd love that but can't afford it.
  
  I will be attempting to return the game. Maybe later on we can buy it again when EA fixes this issue.
  
  
• I don't understand magazine reviews giving this game high marks
  By A1XMZFVV591B3 on 2008-09-09
  This game has some revolutionary concepts, such as automatically shared user content and amazing design tools (that were already introducted and perfected, and some would say superior by Galactic Civilizations 2 years ago).
  
  However, there is no 'game' here. As some people put, the 'game' amounts to over simplified tasks that are monotonous and repetitive. The creature stage isn't as fun as you would imagine, as not all the parts are available, and even if they were, you are encouraged to use the 'highest stat' part effectively limiting you to maybe 6-10 parts to place onto your creature.
  
  Why would you use a cool looking mouth with a social rating of '1' if that means that you can't befriend the other tribes and hence progress in the game?? Basically, many of the parts become useless, no matter how good they look. Furthermore, other creature nests (only one nest per species) are arranged with weak creatures immediately around you, and progressively higher level creatures at increasing distances. How predictable. Basically, its designed so that you only explore or run around your immediate nest. I always imagined finding random creatures walking around, hunting, eating, grazing, finding mates, etc. Nope. All creatures basically hang around IN or NEXT TO their nest. How lame. So basically there is no mixing of the creatures. Creatures dont wander around the world as you would think. They are all found in clumps and really only have limited interactions with each other (limited since they only interact [partially] with surrounding nests, as they dont wander around the world)
  
  The civilization stage is HORRIBLE. Basically it amounts to the most simplified and boring RTS I have ever played. Quickly grab a few resources, and then keep clicking on 'create vehicle' and send it to the enemy city. Repeat the last 2 steps endlessly and you have the game. No strategy, no thinking, no variety. You might as well have a script do this for you.
  
  Then there's the DRM. Let me just clarify what people are saying by adding, it not only counts installations, but changes to your hardware ! Upgrade a system component (memory, CPU, vid card) and you are out an installation. Not that it matters because its really a pretty bad game (except for the creation tools) Nice job. Basically I just paid $50 for a coaster.
  
  
• Yet another canceled order
  By A17O5F41JIUNQJ on 2008-09-08
  I had the game on pre-order as well and after finding out about the DRM they choose, I canceled. It really saddens me that the decisions made by the execs at EA ruined all the hard work by Wright and his team. What I really don't understand is who they think they are stopping. I would gladly hand over more than $50 to have this game without unwanted spyware wrapped as DRM. Did they stop the pirates from getting a copy onto the web? Not even a little bit. Did they stop a legitimate customer from actually purchasing their product? Indeed they did.
  
  
• Extremely disappointing and shallow.
  By A1XCKQF03G5BPS on 2008-09-12
  I've been a fan of Will Wright for many years and when I first started hearing about Spore years ago I was very excited.
  I watched the videos and they looked superb. I downloaded the creature creator and it too was excellent!
  
  Finally the day came when Spore was released and I went to my friend's house to play it. I was super excited!
  He said it was so lame that I could have it. I didn't listen to him and was overjoyed to have been given his copy! I rushed home and installed it.
  
  EPIC DISAPPOINTMENT.
  I played through the whole thing hoping in vain that it would get better but feeling the bitter sting of FAIL with every passing moment.
  
  The Cell phase- A pretty and cute rehash of the PSP game "Flow".
  Lasted all of 20 minutes with the only consequence being choosing a mouth and a diet.
  
  The Creature phase- The best of all the levels, but that's not saying much.You painstakingly created a creature by grinding through a bland "world", and performing the same repetitive actions over and over again; killing or charming creatures that all hang around sullenly by identical nests. By the time you "level up" your creature and are ready to progress to Tribal phase, you get a nasty surprise.
  
  Tribal phase- All the stats you grinded for in the Creature phase are now useless and you now get to play an insultingly simplistic, kiddie version of Age of Empires or other similar RTS games.
  Again you must repetitively charm or attack other creatures but this time you are viewing your painstakingly designed creature as a speck from a bird's eye view. You get to dress your creature in clothes now (only a few choices) and Tribal phase is over faster than you can say "WTF?"
  
  Civilized phase- Now you have a crappy template city and you design your buildings, ships and such with the sweet editor only to once again view them as specs. Now you're playing Starcraft but the shiny, shallow kids version. Why did I design all this cool stuff again? I can't even see it and I'm bogged down by a boring, linear clone of an old game.
  
  Space phase- You are now trapped in your speck-sized spaceship for the rest of the game and can only get out as a clunky "hologram" that cannot interact with anything (but can be killed by other creatures for some reason.) You have ONE ship and spend your time jumping from star to star looking at planet after bland planet and running errands for aliens who appear as icons similar to games released in the early 90's.
  So that's it. You can visit and terraform planets (which more or less all look the same) and look at other colonies, trapped in your spaceship and constantly under attack from "pirates" of whom you must destroy using the buggy space laser system. You can create another dull planet if you like to contain another template "city" but that's it.
  That's the end.
  
  The whole game is a collection of 5 unoriginal, regurgitated, simplistic and insultingly easy minigames with a nice custom content editor that serves no purpose whatsoever in the game itself.
  All the customizable content is 100% cosmetic. For looks only and nothing more.
  
  My extreme disappointment can barely be verbalized. The videos of the game still look superb and EA doubtlessly reserved these features for the real cash cow - expansion packs.
  
  Hey, Will. Make a Sims 2 style Spore with lots of complexity, voluntary combat, interaction,variation and surprises and you may have something.
  Right now all you have is a lousy collection of minigames and a whole lot of disappointed fans.
  
  Glad I didn't buy it and hope my review saves others from the total let down that is Spore.
  
  
  
  
• DRM ? keep your game
  By A8CJQOOQ27PMA on 2008-09-07
  I even have problems to get the creator demo to run error free on my high-end vista PC. With DRM and the limited installs, no thanks EA, I will not be the guinea pig unless you pay me.
  
  
• Such a Shame
  By A2DHXLKE6L8ZVN on 2008-09-07
  I'm very disappointed that EA has chosen to treat us all like criminals. I've always enjoyed Will Wrights games, and have been looking forward to Spore for years. I am not a criminal, and I refuse to pirate these games, so there is unfortunately no way I can play this game. Well, atleast the criminals who are willing to pirate it will be able to play unhindered, good thinking EA! I'm angry that I've spent several hundred dollars with EA in the past, and this is how they treat me. I will not do business with them again until these issues are resolved.
  
  
• Only 1 login per purchase. No hope for families...
  By A1R043QLGPA3QR on 2008-09-08
  My wife and I bought 2 copies of Spore for our computers. We have 2 kids and planned on letting one play on her computer with her copy and the other playing on my computer with my copy. However the game only allows for 1 login per install. So if I let one of my kids play on my copy they use the same universe and can basically destroy anything I've setup. There appears to be no way to allow a second login to work (which is contrary to other EA games like Sims 2).
  
  We're trying to figure out the best way to do this and will probably give our kids other planets to stay on or something. But this issue has definitely limited our experience. My guess is that this is part of the whole overly protective attitude they've seem to have taken which is why I'm rating this 1 star.
  
  I could care less about DRM and understand the need for it. But at least allow multiple users to play with different logins on the same machine without risking other player's content. That type of feature has been around for nearly a decade now. It just doesn't make sense that EA did this. Somebody there just isn't thinking about the customer scenarios. If they fix this to allow multiple logins (even at a small sum) I'll probably up the rating.
  
  A single user won't feel this pain but any family/couple is going to find that this sucks. I now have to be home here to login with my EA account so my kid can play instead of just providing him with his own account.
  
  
• Thanks, but NO THANKS EA.
  By AD220ZK8P0OWO on 2008-09-08
  I was excited about this game when I recently saw it had come out. I had forgotten about this game, but I logged on to buy this game for my wife this evening...thank goodness I read the reviews posted on Amazon. The game looks like a fantastic concept and lots of fun creating our own civilization of creatures, BUT the DRM was the deal killer. I am not a fan of a company (EA) installing programs on my computer which I cannot remove and if I do finally get to do it I lose an activation and download of the game (ONLY 3). To me this is extremely messed up that those who pay for the game are the ones who get the shaft in the end. I hope EA reads these reviews and the unhappiness of those who would have bought the game and see the amount of money they have indeed lost by having the DRM as part of the game. I guarantee the amount of money lost by the honest paying individuals is far greater than any amount they would have lost to piracy. Get the DRM out and the money is yours EA.
  
  
• Had so much potential
  By A25DGZLPCBYKEW on 2008-09-08
  Unfortunately, this game had SO much potential. Seeing the demo videos and trailers... and it coming from the Sim master himself, I figured this game would be tremendous fun.
  
  I tried the Creature Creator utility (sold seperately) and had some fun with it.
  
  Sadly, they managed to mess up this game. The creatures do not evolve, they only Level Up. Aside from the ability to customize the LOOK of your characters to a marvelous degree, the ABILITIES stay the same. If you level up two completely different-looking creatures - say one with blades for hands and bipedal... and the other some gentle looking thing with 6 legs... guess what? They BOTH have the SAME abilities to hunt, walk, mate and Level Up if you play them the same way.
  
  I think that's the biggest failure of this game. I get more variety from stat-based Levelling Up in Square-Enix games!
  
  
  
  
• Limited Activations = RENTWARE
  By ATC16BS2EZWZM on 2008-09-07
  DRM with Activation limits has nothing at all to do with piracy. The game was already pirated days ago before it was released in the UK or America. They are using limited activations to prevent second hand sales and to limit the lifetime of the game. You will perpetually require an Activation Server to be running all the time if you want to install this game in a few years time. The DRM is also the beginnings of forcing games to become a RENTAL revenue model, as per the wishes of Electronic Arts own CEO, John Riccitiello, who wants us all to buy bare bones games in the future and pay for all the content as "extras".
  
  (see: [...]).
  
  SecuROM has already been prosecuted for using similar DRM technology in the music industry. The DRM that EA is using in Spore is unlawful.
  
  You can read the FTC ruling here: [...]
  
  
• Will not buy crippleware
  By AFJZI3SDFFWUO on 2008-09-08
  DRM makes buying this game the equivalent to a rental, but without the rental price.
  
  Once this game gets below $20 it might be worth putting up with it, but until then no.
  
  
• Own it, Like it, Bad DRM
  By A21BNH92Z8CWBO on 2008-09-08
  I purchased this game and like many parts of it. However, it's DRM is atrocious and therein I give the game only 1 star. Sorry EA but, come on, lighten up.
  
  
• I will not buy it because of DRM
  By A1XQMQMF07QZQS on 2008-09-07
  I came to Amazon to buy it, but clearly the DRM is repulsive and malware in nature. I will not buy it. I would have purchased two copies, one for me and one for a friend. Say good bye to my $100 EA!
  
  
• Worth buying just for the DRM!!
  By A18UZMT1JTDEFB on 2008-09-09
  So I picked up this game Sunday morning expecting it to live up to the hype, I was slightly disappointed until a few hours of playing when I realized that during the installation process the game generously installed a bonus program that came with it that I didn't even know about.
  
  DRM!!
  
  This program is amazing, I don't hesitate to call it the greatest program I have ever installed on my computer. I could not even sleep last night from excitement just knowing that only feet away, my computer was joyously running with DRM in the background. I swear I heard my computer laughing and having fun while I lay in my bed trying to drift off to dream land.
  
  So if you have been contemplating getting Spore, do not hesitate. I am sure that this game will fly off the shelves in spite of the disappointing game play because...
  
  DRM RULES!!
  
  
• Looks great, it's just not fun.
  By A2YBJ79UAVTGCN on 2008-09-08
  This game looks good, but overall it's just not fun to play.
  
  Having now played through the various stages of the game at least once, I can safely say that the game is disappointing. The start is very promising, but as you progress, you realize that your choices are actually very limited. You can be peaceful, aggressive, or intermediate, which correspond roughly to herbivore, carnivore, or omnivore, respectively. This narrow choice of strategies, combined with the grind required to find "parts" for your creature in the early stages really limits the experience.
  
  The grind for "parts", combined with the limits placed on how your creature can "evolve" really dampen the limited fun that might have been garnered as a creature builder. For example, while you can build a six legged creature, you are charged more DNA points, even though a six legged creature has no advantage over a 1-legged creature. If more legs equated to some sort of evolutionary advantage, I could understand the limit, but since it amounts to an aesthetic choice, it makes no sense to artificially limit your choices.
  
  The much hyped evolution concept is non-existent. You simply build your creature from parts that you find, like a paper-doll. The parts have statistical values, and these determine your success with the limited strategies available to you. You run around with your paper doll, make friends or enemies, and move on. Rinse, repeat.
  
  If you enjoy paper dolls, you'll enjoy this game. If you're looking for the evolution simulation that Spore was purported to be, keep looking because Spore is not it.
  
  
• The copy protection PREVENTS YOU FROM TAKING YOUR SAVED GAMES (your "profile") AND PLAYING ON A FRIEND'S PC!
  By AZAHFQLTQROPA on 2008-09-08
  The copy protection PREVENTS YOU FROM TAKING YOUR SAVED GAMES (your "profile") AND PLAYING ON A FRIEND'S PC!
  
  The system requirements, or indeed, no advertising materials whatsoever make no mention of SecureROM. There is also no mention that EA lets you only "activate" the game 3 times.
  
  What this means that when you install the game, you must activate it before playing. This leaves you with 2 activations left.
  
  The problem with this is that the game can go into "activation required" mode for a number of reasons, one of them being adding hardware.
  
  EA has never mentioned what kind of hardware, so it could require activation every time you add a printer, a scanner, even a BluRay drive. If you upgrade to Vista (or switch back to XP), that will require another activation.
  
  If you have to take your computer in for service and they have to reload it, that will also count as one of the activations. Everyone knows how bad spyware and viruses can be, and because of this DRM, you face the prospect of having to rebuy Spore in addition to the cost of getting your computer reinstalled.
  
  If you beg EA and fax in your proof of purchase, they MAY grant you one additional activation for a total of 4. After that YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO PLAY THE GAME ANYMORE. You agree to all this in the terms and conditions during the installation process.
  Once your 3 (maybe 4) activations are all up - you will own a $45 piece of plastic that is completely and utterly worthless.
  
  Even if you're ok with all that - part of the copy protection PREVENTS YOU FROM TAKING YOUR SAVED GAMES (your "profile") AND PLAYING ON A FRIEND'S PC (who "activated" with another key). This is just plain stupid.
  
  As for SecureROM? It is bad software and has affected many people's computers in the past in very negative ways (crash when trying to burn cds, etc). There are literally thousands of people complaining about SecureRom on the internet. There is also an almost complete lack of anything positive about SecureROM. Don't take my word for it - go run a few searches.
  I've had problems with SecureROM in the past (a game would refuse to run if the CD drive was connected via USB). I emailed both the Vendor and SecureROM - each company will tell you to talk to the other and you will get NO SUPPORT for any issues. In the end, I figured out it didn't like USB CD drives.
  Because of SecureROM, I was not able to play the game on my subnotebook (no built in drive). I had to mail the game into the vendor for a refund because the store wouldn't take it back. It took them 3 months to send me a refund.
  
  
• DRM kills all
  By A34CUY1EWKA3SX on 2008-09-07
  If it wasn't for the DRM I would give it high scores. However, it is asking to much to have only 3 installs. I would wait until EA gets it through their thick heads to remove the install limits before buying it.
  
  
• Boycott this Expensive Paper Doll Decorating and Exchange
  By AYR5DMIK6SLIB on 2008-09-08
  The DRM is not really a problem on this game since you won't be installing it more than one time. Of course, EA didn't know that, and their DRM is invasive and unacceptable. You should pass up this clunker for that reason alone.
  
  However, there are other reasons as well. The gameplay is SO boring and dumbed down that it appears to be aimed at five-year-olds.
  
  Most of the much-ballyhooed editors actually do nothing at all. That's right, they have no effect on gameplay WHATSOEVER. You can spend ten hours in the building editor, making models for EA (that's right, they own all your creations) but these models will have no effect at all on your in-game stats.
  
  Spore is essentially a collection of five separate minigames, all of which are dumbed down to the level of 5-minute Flash games with glitzy graphics. There is little or no integration between the various minigames. That means that what you do in Cell stage has very little real impact even in Creature stage, aside from what mouth you choose. Do you want to eat meat only, plants only, or everything? OK, so you spent 15 minutes choosing your mouth.
  
  Then we get to Creature stage, where the awful realization of the terrible debacle that is Spore begins to hit. See, Cell stage is much too short, too simple, and with too few choices, but it's not until you reach Creature Stage that you begin to understand how completely EA dropped the ball here.
  
  But in Creature stage, it becomes apparent very quickly that what you do in the editor has very little effect on gameplay. If you get an eye, or a nose, it does nothing. Creature form does nothing, other than the creature having to face its prey with a mouth to bite. I understand that creature height allows herbivores to eat from taller trees. Big deal.
  
  There is no physics engine. It doesn't really matter how many legs or arms your creature has. It doesn't matter if you have eyes on its rear end. Creature stage fighting is mindless MMORP-style buttonmashing with no point to it. Go to a new nest. Eat. Mate. Put some new parts on your paper doll.
  
  And that's the main problem. Those new parts, most of them, don't actually DO anything. A few of them do different things but they don't do them within the context of a physics model, they do what they do as simple numbers: 5 speed, 3 bite.
  
  Big deal.
  
  Then we get to Tribal stage, which is a well-made little RTS game that will last you all of 5 minutes. It's so easy on Hard (and the others of the first 4 stages are as well) that it takes about 20 minutes to beat. And it's the same every time, so there is zero replay value. That's true of the other stages as well, by the way: there are so few choices-- and the small number of choices has been cunningly obscured by the complexity seeming to be available in the editors but in fact missing-- that there are really only a couple of ways to play each stage. There really aren't any glaring problems with Tribal, it's just far, FAR too simple. It doesn't even have the redeeming value of multiplayer. It would still be much too simple in multiplayer, however.
  
  Age of Empires this is not. Age of Empires came out in 1998.
  
  Then we get to Civ. Civ is the worst of the five stages, and is so dumbed down as to be insultingly pathetic. You have one type of each of three kinds of vehicle available, land sea and air. You can design the vehicles but there is again very little gameplay impact from your choices. You win by assimilating the other cities somehow. You do this by either buying them, by shooting them with bullets, or by shooting them with bullets of religion. There are three types of buildings that you can place, and there's a simplistic web of relationships that connects them. I am making this sound very much more complicated than it actually is.
  
  Then, there is the building editor. The building editor DOESN'T DO ANYTHING. IT HAS NO IMPACT WHATSOEVER ON GAMEPLAY.
  
  Now we come to space stage. Space stage is the widest of the five stages, and the most plagued with grievously horrible gameplay decisions.
  
  Again, it's oversimplified. It looks like it's complex but it's really not. There is an ecological model for planets, but it is so simplified as to be not worth even bothering with. It's not even on the level of a five-minute Flash game. The cities from Civ are back, but they don't actually do anything at all this time except harvest spice. They don't even seem to defend themselves, even if you buy turrets.
  
  See, you're expected to defend your entire empire against alien attacks and against internal ecological problems (random events, in other words, that require that you go to the planet and kill some diseased animals with a laser) WITH ONE SHIP.
  
  Consider that against the backdrop of the vast galaxy. You have one ship. You get more ships to fly with you but the other ships in the fleet are similar to the Options in Gradius. They fly around with you and attack what you attack. That's all.
  
  This is a game that tries to be Master of Orion, but only gives you one ship to maintain an entire empire and protect it against attack.
  
  SO, to wrap it up, Spore is a bunch of hacked-together, overdone, simplistic minigames, with hackneyed gameplay, which are not integrated together at all. It is not fun even for the first play through. If it were only oversimplified, that would be reason enough to avoid it like the plague. If if only had invasive DRM, that would be reason enough.
  
  But the gameplay in this title is just horrid. Horridly bad, on the level of bargain bin children's titles from dev houses in eastern Europe.
  
  What an asinine, unforgivably bad game this is.
  
  
• Very fun game! Agressive DRM needs to be removed!!
  By A16NH52K0SKHNI on 2008-09-09
  About a week prior to Spore's release, I obtained a pirated copy from a friend (who had downloaded it). The game was so fun and addictive, I had to pre-order it. I eagerly awaited the day when I could unlock Spore's true potential by experiencing user-generated content.
  
  The first thing I noticed after I installed my real, uncracked copy of Spore was that it failed to launch. A bit of googling the obscure error message revealed that it was failing to launch because I was running YASU. YASU is a helpful utility which lets me play other games without the discs in the tray, and has no relevance to Spore whatsoever. But Spore includes the entire filthy SecuROM DRM package, so there's no avoiding it; I have to quit YASU every time I play Spore.
  
  On top of that, I'm worried about activations. I have it installed on my desktop and laptop, so I've only got one installation left. As an avid PC gamer, frequent hardware upgrader, and user of Windows... I know I'll be reinstalling things again several times.
  
  The DRM needs to be removed, ASAP. A pirated copy will always come out for every game; haven't the developers figured out that they only hurt the paying customers with this DRM garbage? This may be another time I'll have to crack a game I paid for. (It was GRID last time, which I could never get to launch at all -- cracked copy worked fine.)
  
  I fear PC developers are going to kill the entire PC game industry with DRM, and we'll have no choice but to play everything on DRM-laden consoles with limited input and output options. It sucks.
  
  I hate to give this 4 stars with all the DRM problems, but I'd like this review to surface as the "most helpful positive". Also, the game itself is very good, even if it didn't really stand up to the hype that surrounded its development.
  
  
• I Really, Really Want to Love This Game.
  By A2K5RVNC6R93EA on 2008-09-12
  It was supposed to change the way games are played, it was supposed to be ground breaking. It had been dubbed "Sim-Everything"
  
  Expectations for this game were high... I knew better, having been a veteran of games such as Black & White. Nonetheless, I was determined that I would enjoy this game, that I would love it. And I tried very hard to see the good in it, but after around a week of time spent with it... I have to say that my interest is wearing thin. I've already exhausted all novelty that this game has to offer, and there is very little in the way of depth to keep me interested. The Cell Game is probably the most excited you will ever be when you play this game.
  
  The most important and touted aspect of this game- the creature evolution, is simplified to such a degree that the game affords virtually nothing like evolution, its more like.. A very simple and shortened Action/Adventure type game that only takes 1-2 hours to play from beginning to end. It also distinctly lacks variety in gameplay, despite the virtually unlimited amount of user-created content available. While this content does number in the hundreds, and will likely soon be in the thousands, of millions of different things, it is generally amateurish and uninteresting to most people. Also unpleasant shapes and/or names for user created objects are not uncommon.
  
  The space game does get interesting for awhile. Mostly due to the on-the-surface vastness it possibly offers... and it does for awhile. The power to destroy a planet offers significant appeal to ones geeky megalomaniacal side and its "Star Wars" flashbacks. (You may fire when ready!) But only so much of this may truly keep one's interest for any length of time, and when that is exhausted (all too soon!) there is sadly little to bring a person back to this game again.
  
  All of that is really not so bad. It is a great game for young children, it is (generally) family friendly, and light easy gaming fun. Not for hardcore gamers, but this has been known since early development of the game. Its gameplay depth is in the vein of "The Sims". Which Is a game I thoroughly enjoyed.
  
  No, all that considered would still have made me give this game 3-4 stars, as the game itself does deserve a lot of credit for doing what it tried to do as well as it does. No other game designer on Earth is capable of doing this like Will Wright has.
  
  What makes this game one star is the police-state nature of its copy protection. Three installs, and then you are out of luck. EA claims that this can be rectified for those with legitimate reasons, but of course, this is an exaggeration on their part- they will make you pay for more installs of this game. The DRM has already failed to prevent cracking and piracy of this game. So now, it only punishes legitimate users who properly paid for copies of their game. The only practical purpose of the DRM, therefore, is forcing honest people to pay for the game again if they decide to upgrade their hardware, or get a new computer, more than twice.
  
  EA really should be ashamed of itself for this despicable business practice. Treating their customers like criminals, and then providing absolutely abominable customer service to the people who have allowed EA to become the massive corporation that it is.
  
  Its rather likely, that this will be the final game I purchase from that publisher, if they feel that they are able to treat their customers in this way, than I don't wish to be one. My software purchases only amount to several hundred dollars a year, but its several hundred that they won't be seeing again; and they could have, if only they demonstrated that they truly wished to have my business.
  
  
• If you are a 10 year old kid, it's probably fun.
  By A1C0QED1CBW42E on 2008-09-08
  All complexity has been removed from the game. You pretty much spend all your time clicking 1000's of times all over the screen and that's it. No interactions other than clicking and occasionally adding dumb and limited additions to your creature.
  
  They spent all of their time making a cartoonish world with lots of graphics, but no real game play. If you are a 10 year old, it's probably fun for a couple of days. As an adult, it's mind-numbing.
  
  
• Not buying this after reading the reviews here.
  By A2WZ3TVPKI4A92 on 2008-09-07
  I came here with my credit card in hand ready to buy, but after reading the reviews here and seeing that this game has DRM, there is no reason for me to waste my money. Being treated as a thief even though you bought it legally is poor business.
  
  I am sure the game is great, but I won't give anyone my money if that's how they are going to treat me.
  
  

• Spore: Prima Official Game Guide (Prima Official Game Guides)
• Spore: The Evolution (Prima Official Game Guides)
• Spore Limited Edition Bundle: Prima Official Game Guide

• Spore Creature Creator
• Spore: Prima Official Game Guide (Prima Official Game Guides)
• Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
• LittleBigPlanet
• Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning