Spore

A bit of a disappointment, to be honest.

	Version PC	Developer EA Maxis	Publisher EA	Genre Sim

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Regardless, this is mass-market fodder and is five barely-games in one, hyped to Jupiter and back and forced on us as if it's the second coming. So I for one am going to remain a bit miffed about it all - it's not the game I expected, and the only really great feature about it is numerous creation tools, all of which can easily eat hours of time for the most committed knob-makers out there.

You can even make penis buildings and vehicles, should you so choose. As I did.

But knobsession aside, this is not something that can be recommended as a game for the ULTRACORE gamers or whatever they wish to be known as. 'Casual' types, on the other hand, are sure to be drawn in by the simplicity and charm of the early levels.

That is, of course, until they reach the fourth stage, which sees a brutal, endless assault the likes of Supreme Commander made famous. You cannot do anything without complete twatberg enemies pounding you, relentlessly, non-stop, for ages. You can't regroup, you can't build up for a big assault and you can't save any money as you're constantly building and re-building structures and vehicles.

Yes, it gets to a point where the tables turn and you can happily kick the snot out of anyone and everyone (or try and buy them, if you're a pansy), but surely most of the 'casuals' will have been put off by having their arse handed to them on a platter non-stop for an hour or so? It doesn't make much sense, that's for sure.

Spore certainly isn't anything approaching bad, but it's everything approaching a letdown and much more. Where we expected the game of all games, charting the evolution of life from nothing to everything, we are left with something that looks like it would have been a lot better remaining an idea written down. What worked in theory falls flat on its bottom (if you gave your creature one, that is) in practice.

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