Flashback: FLY MY PRETTIES

All right Ladies and Gentlemen! Guess what we're talking about today!

No seriously, guess.

Oh fine, I'll tell you. Its Spore. You know, that one game where you made everything? Yeah, turns out that Spore is 4 years old now, and I think that qualifies it to be flashbacked at. Its pretty hard to find a requirement for PC games, since they never really change, just require better components to play. 

Spore is, for whatever reason, one of the few games my computer can run without crashing. Team Fortress 2, no. Sims 3, no. Minesweeper in HD, no. Sopre, yes. I remember it like the day I bought it 4 years ago. I remember playing it at my friend's house, remembering how cool it was (especially since his computer could run Minesweeper HD)  and the free feeling of creation in the air. Yes, Spore was the Minecraft before Minecraft, like Legos were the Minecraft before Minecraft, ntil they started making Minecraft Lego sets.

Spore has 5 stages, at each stage you do more customization.

1. Cell Stage- beginning design of creatures, depending on whether you eat meat or plants, you decide whether or not to be an omnivore, carnivore or herbivore.
2. Creature Stage- Main design of creature. This will be the final design of your creature. You go around killing, making allies, etc to evolve, finding genetic traits from those who you conquer.
3. Tribal Stage- Decides the traits of your race, you can be aggressive and kill the other tribes of your race, or you can choose piece through  singing. Your call.
4. Civilization Stage- Depending on your feelings towards other members of your race you end up as either Religious, Economic or Military. These are all self-explanatory. As other city-states like your own pop up, then you have to change them into your own way of thinking, to unite your planet.
5. Space Stage- The big leagues. Kill everything Pull moons out of orbits, colonize the world, accelerate the learning of races. Whatever you please.

Spore promised a bit more than I believe it could handle. It ended up being some sort of space oddesy, but never truly reached its full potential. Its just missing something, and I'm just not quite sure as to what that may be. Spore is a fantastic game, and the customization is great. I spent probably 200 hours playing it back when it was first released, but its a game I haven't gone back to since. Although its makers are Maxis, the geniuses behind the Sims series, it just isn't good enough to be called a perfect game.

--Santa