Spore Needs Another Chance

Spore is probably one of the most notorious sandbox games ever released, right up there with Minecraft. At least, that’s what I thought. Up until I started streaming Spore on my Discord server I thought everybody and their grandmother knew what this game was all about, but it turns out I was wrong. Many people had never even heard of Spore on my server, even though it was released in 2008, older than Minecraft. For comparison, a sandbox game is typically a game that allows the player to explore and create as they please, usually with an ending that is optional.  So because geeking out about decrepit old games is what I do, here is what Spore’s Cell, Creature, Tribe, Civilization, and Space Stage are all, and have been all about for over 12 years.

Spore is a game about evolving a single cellular organism and getting it to the center of the galaxy, known in-game as the Galactic Core. When you start up a new game you decide whether you want to start as a herbivore or a carnivore. Then you name your home planet and view the opening cutscene. In this cutscene, you discover your origins as a small organism that has emerged from a meteor that has crashed into the ocean of your home planet, in my case being The Yes Planet. Cell Stage plays pretty simply: you eat either plants or meat. Or, if you play like me, become an omnivore and start eating both. As you progress through the game you will need to evolve your cell over billions of years, unlocking new parts as you progress. After you have gained enough DNA points by eating enough matter, you evolve to reach land, bringing the game into its most notorious stage.

Now that you’re not just an itty-bitty cell and actually have some legs on you, you now have three whole dimensions to explore. Creature Stage is very similar to Cell Stage with a few differences: instead of eating either fruit or meat to gain DNA points and decide your evolutionary path, you must either ally or hunt down other nests of creatures. That’s the other thing about Creature Stage: you now have a base to call your own in the form of a nest. Throughout the Creature Stage, you will migrate three times. The only other things that are different in the Creature Stage are the ability to add other creatures to your pack and more parts to choose from. Creature Stage is generally considered “the best stage” out of all of them by many, but as someone who has completed Creature Stage many times, I find that it is overrated in that aspect. After a while, you start to realize that there isn’t actually a whole lot to do in this stage, but in my opinion, the next stage is even worse.

Tribal Stage is my least favorite stage because there isn’t very much creation in it. The only time you will ever enter the editor in this stage is when you need to get a new outfit for your tribesmen. The Tribal Stage takes a top-down view of everything, allowing you to command your tribe (now done with physical evolution), and decide whether you want to ally or conquer neighboring tribes. As you do this you unlock new armor to equip your tribe members, as well as new buildings that offer tools like maracas for allying other tribes and axes for waging war on them. You cannot customize these buildings whatsoever, just where they are placed and how they are rotated. You are also required to gather food for your tribe, make babies, and defend your tribe from raiders and creatures. The next stage is extremely short, even though it feels like it should be longer.

Civilization Stage is basically a Tribal Stage with extra steps. You make houses, factories, and entertainment centers to keep stable cities that make a lot of spice, as well as vehicles with which to face off against other nations and claim spice geysers with (side note, until recently it never actually occurred to me how weird the concept of spice geysers are since I grew up with this game). Depending on how Tribal Stage turned out, you can make either religious, economic, or military vehicles. The thing I find most interesting about this stage is that you are now fighting only your own race, it’s all your people, you just need to unite them under one belief to advance to the Space Stage.

Everyone thinks Space Stage is long and boring. I disagree because I love it! I also think it’s unfair to label Space Stage as “long and boring” because they’re only half right. Space Stage is very long, but that’s because Space Stage is the end game. Space Stage is long because it never ends, and it isn’t supposed to—because it’s not boring. I think what many people mean to say about Space Stage is that it’s too complicated for them. In Space Stage, you have to trade different kinds of spice, keep tabs on your alliances with other races, complete missions, prevent ecodisasters, terraform planets to the best living conditions, and so much more! I think a lot of people played Spore because they thought that making weird creatures sounded pretty cool, and therefore weren’t ready to play and understand the game on its own terms when the time came. Because the truth is, Spore is a life simulation game, not a third-person animal simulation game. I feel so disappointed when I see time and time again people just wanting to play as animals more while there is so much more to do. I could literally write an entire article on the post-game content this title has to offer, in fact…

Maybe I’ll do just that. But it’s important to realize what Spore actually is. I think Spore is so fun because I’ve reached the Space Stage. Even though I’ve beaten the game, and unlocked a ton of weapons, there is always more to do here. There are so many more adventures to be had in Spore, but people won’t look away from Creature Stage long enough to experience it.

Gameplay   ★★★★★

Story           ★☆☆☆☆

Visuals        ★★★★☆

Soundtrack ★★★☆☆