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MOBILE GAME REVIEW
Spore OriginsThere's always a bigger fish |
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Something Spore Origins is up against from the start is the obscure nature of its existence. Just like the bizarre virtual life forms springing up across the internet, on our consoles and in our mobile phones, the overall concept is a new and baffling entity.
It doesn't help that each version of the game seems to represent a different step on the virtual evolutionary ladder of the game's ecosystem. So the first task, it would seem, is in attempting to bend your mind around the entire scope of what Spore Origins is about, which is no small task from our unavoidably naïve perspective.
When the review copy of the mobile version landed, the concept was still very alien, but the review needed writing so jumping straight into the primordial ooze and thrashing about like a mutated tadpole about to venture onto dry land for the first time was the only option. As it turned out, this probably isn't a bad standpoint from which to begin deciphering the DNA of Spore Origins.
So before we get into the meat of gameplay, look at it like this: If you're interested by the mysterious fog surrounding Spore Origins, just go for it. Get into the organic mix of its inchoate life and thrash out an explorative, green existence in exactly the same way as your proteolytic creation will. If the hype hasn't grabbed you, wait until the murky water clears and look again.
Okay, on with creation. The mobile version of Spore Origins focuses on developing the most basic forms of life (quite literally a 'cell phone', I guess), while other versions on more sophisticated platforms will apparently evolve more complex forms of life. Presented with a primordial ooze filled with basic embryonic animals, you're pretty much at the bottom of the food chain as you swim around looking for ways to enhance your DNA.
In the simplest terms, this takes the form of a top-down gobble-'em-up, a kind of mazeless Pac-Man in which you have to steer your tiny spore in the direction of smaller organisms so that you can eat them.
Naturally there are spores further along than you are and looking for something a bit more substantial to eat, so a quick thumb is one of the first things you develop while discovering life in this new reality. Scoffing down the few smaller entities in this soup of life makes you grow not only literally, but in the Darwinian sense. Eating other creatures fills your DNA bar, and when it's full, you progress to the next stage of life.
This takes you to one of the better-explored aspects of the Spore universe - the creature editor. The mobile version packs in a reduced (though still suitably comprehensive) creature creator for you to customise the growth of your spore; changing the colour, shape, texture, speed, defences and all manner of evolutionary accoutrements to help it fight its way through life.
As you swim about, eating smaller animals and absorbing their DNA, your spore also grows in size. So an animal that only moments before was a dangerous predator can suddenly become an appetising main course, and risky waters become quite comfortable. Each new level introduces bigger and more perilous fish, however, so continued growth is always at the core of gameplay. The environments also evolve as you work through the levels, so there's never a dull moment while attempting to improve your single-celled lot.
Never dull, but never enthralling. Judged against traditional games, you could say the basic mechanic behind Spore Origins is a little repetitive, even a little flat if you were feeling harsh. But - and this is why Spore Origins is so difficult to score - it's simply not appropriate to judge this game against other games. The top-down action and the associated customisation are just part of what's happening.
The 18 levels contained in the mobile version are a crucible in which your creature is forged, preparing itself for unique life among the spores of the real world. Once it's been bred through the levels, the numerous additions made to the four attributes which shape the creature in the editor (Offensive, Defensive, Perception and Movement) will have created a unique beast out of 1.9 billion different possibilities. Essentially, after only 18 short levels, it's perfectly reasonable to say no two spores will ever be the same - a feat of mathematical magnificence, I'm sure you'll agree.
This forms a DNA code which can be sent to the Spore Origins website, which tells the system all the details of your unique animal, and allows you to pit it against other uploaded creatures in a non-interactive arena. Even here, the subtle variables such as environment and NPC inhabitants further add to the increasingly complex soup of these simple creatures' lives, and influence the outcome of the battle.
As if Spore Origins wasn't already impressive enough with the depths of its ingenuity, sending your creation to battle online uses as little as 300 bytes of transferred data – meaning network costs are extraordinarily negligible. You can just as easily watch the arena match on your mobile, as the outcome is determined not by an active battle but by the genetic disposition of each spore. Should you be unable to connect directly from the handset (or perhaps from the iPod version of the game, since the platform is inherently insulated from the internet), simply typing in the creature's DNA Code means your spore can live on in the online leader boards.
Just as it was when I first started dabbling with the arcade-esque gameplay of Spore Origins, the possibilities of crafting and battling your spores are mind bending. Yet the whole thing is based on such basic, fathomable principles - by all rights the Spore experience should be one of utter simplicity... which it is, only the lives of these creatures refuse to be confined to a primitive existence. It's as understandable as the most basic biology lesson, but as staggering in scope as the biology itself. Well, not quite, but close.
It's quite remarkable how familiar this brilliant representation of a rudimentary, biological existence feels. There's a lot of hype around Spore, and that can be off-putting to the best of us, and while I'm almost loath to admit it, it would seem it's all true. Spore Origins is the beginning of a new form of gaming life. If that doesn't grab your interest, it's probably time to stop playing video games.
Spore Origins |
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Extreme simplicity evolves before your eyes to become an arena of fantastical, believable, complex biological life. A genuinely new gaming experience
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Joined:
Sep 2007
Post count:
11
 So, after seeing a high rating I have bought the game, but was kinda disappointed. I actually don't know what exactly I expected from the game, but it was rather repetitive and boring. Well, it was not that bad, I finished the game, but it was not much different from any other eat-grow games (like Fisho for example: http://www.inlogic.sk/games/detail/Fisho/13/index.html). Of course, there are some differences, but not very drastical. Although you are able to customize your spore a bit during the game, it doesn't actually impact the gameplay much - I seldom used any of the new stuff I added to the spore.
Graphics of the game is not perfect, too. Yes, spores are very cute, but the background is rather poor and doesn't fit very well the graphics of spores. Also, I would expect there to be some obstacles to avoid (not counting holes with enemies). The UI and menu graphics felt bit weird, too.
Sounds are not very good...I might even say bad as it made me turn sounds off. I expected some cool wav effects and ambient music, but no :( Also, the thing that you can't control the volume was another thing which forced me to turn them off (or my phone would blow out).
Another thing is that the game was pretty sluggish on my phone. It was not that bad, but I know the phone can do more...and it's not because of a sophisticated AI of other spores, because they seem very simple.
The controls are good, but if you get hit, the game freezes a little bit which leades you to hell / heaven :) Mention death it really annoyed me that after you die you are returned to the main menu and have to load the game again which takes nontrivial time :(
Well, to stop being negative the game is not that bad. I actually had fun playing it and finished it, but the expirience was not very "deep" as you can have with other games. A very good thing is the arena mode where you can fight against other players - and it works really well! It's sad you can't customize your spore otherwise then replaying the singleplayer campaign again...
All in all, the game is pretty average remake of other eating games with few added features, but nothing which would stand out of the crowd if it wasn't the hype around it :)
Joined:
Oct 2008
Post count:
4
I agree with Hardwire.
But the thing that annoyed me the most is the very short length of the game. Yes, you can do arena battles, but that still doesn't warrant a single player campaign that can be completed in an hour :(
Alex | 12 March 2009
The thing about mobile games is that they come in many, many versions.. In fact there is a different version for every phone there is. So Spore on Nokia 2610 is very different from the Spore on Nokia N85. Keep this in mind: If the phone is smart so is the game that is made for it. Meaning that some versions of games for mobile do have poor graphics or bad sounds but that is only because the mobile phone is not so great. These reviews are made after the high-end versions of the game were played (that means that very smart phones were used to play the game).
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