Review: Spore Creature Creator

Spore released it’s creature creator recently and you can download it for free here: http://www.spore.com/trial with approximately 25% of the features available. Alternatively, you can purchase it for $9.95 with all the features unlocked. I hear that you can get about 75% of the features unlocked if you download the trial and then replace the “CSA_Main.package” file with one from the full version off of your favorite torrent site.  Now I hear you have issues with saving, do so at your own risk. Now keep in mind this is just the creature creator, the full game will not be released until 9/7/08.

I tinkered with it a bit and it is simply pretty amazing. I haven’t run across a avatar editor this in-depth since City of Heroes. You start off with a random blob of a creature. You are able to bend, enlarge, and shrink his spine, the basis for your creature, any which way you please. You can enlarge/shrink each vertebrae with the mousewheel. You can pull each end of it to shorten/lengthen. Once you come up with a good body you can start adding the parts.

If you choose to follow the categories in order, you can add the mouth first. The trial version is limited to a few reptilian and insectish mouths. Now as with any feature you can enlarge/shrink it as you please. Most of the other features are pretty explanatory. You will notice as you add features your creature will gain abilities in the upper right corner of the screen. These are related to the parts you are adding, i.e eyes grant sight.

The limbs are a tad bit different than the other features. This is due to the fact that they have joints. You can pull and twist on the joints to adjust the orientation of the limbs. As you are adding the parts you will notice the complexity meter in the very upper right corner start to increase. When it is full you are unable to add any more parts to your creature. This is quite alright though. This is for balance, gameplay, and memory issues. It will help improve game stability when the full game is launched. And the meter is fairly generous, unless you are going crazy you should not have a problem.

The last two categories of features are Details and Weapons. Details include stuff like leaves, grass, nipple like protusions, and other goodies. Weapons include well, weapons. Horns, antlers, spitters, etc. These two features also add unique abilities like sneak and spit. Well it isn’t clear what impact some of these will have in the game you can make pretty accurate guesses. Sneak will probably lower your chances to aggro near by creatures or might even be some sort of stealth mode.

Build Mode

After you added all your nipples and spikes it is on to the paint mode. You can either choose from some provided styles and do your own in 3 layers. I would recommend doing the latter as you have tons more control. For each layer you can pick the appropriate color. The first layer is the Base . You can pick bases that will give the appearance of scales and other lifelike textures. The second layer is the Coat. It pretty much gives you options for coat patterns, like stripes and polka dots. The last layer is Detail. It includes things like splotches on the joints or a different color for the underbelly.

Paint Mode

When you’re finished with the painting it’s on to the test drive.  Here you can issue pre-programmed commands like “sumo” and “hippity hop” to your pet in a playpen. The playpen is kinda small and limited but it does its job.  You can choose different backgrounds for your playpen and even add spawn of your creation. You can also take screenshots and record movies. For some interesting creatures go youtube search “spore penis” or something along those lines.

Test Drive: Sumo

Some Creations:

Lurker

My wickedly awesome bush creature.

Sprinkle

My GF’s atrociously retarded pink-cow-fly.

Verdict:

Gameplay: 9

You can create creatures for hours and never run out of ideas, though the trial version is limiting.

Graphics: 8

Only complaint is the lackluster background images.

Sound: 8

Your creature takes on different voices based on the mouth you give it, pretty clever.

Overall: 8.3

All-in-all, a great teaser to waste hours playing with.