Thread: Spore in 4 days.

Well very soon we get to see if Spore is worth the hype or not. I was not impressed with the creature creator and I'm not impressed with the screenshots. However if the game is as deep as they say it is this game is a must have for me.

Needless to say that I will be visiting my local Best Buy on Sept. 7 to pick up a copy. Just maybe since my expectations are a bit low right now this game will blow my mind.

And if not then there is always Fallout 3 and hopefully a GTA 4 (if Rockstar's pattern continues).

Looks like Sim Earth Redeux, Ill probably skip it.

It isn't true until it is on the shelf

I've got a better idea. I'll download Wild Metal from Rockstar Classics (seriously, what's the deal with this "omganewgame!!!" thing?).

seriously, what's the deal with this "omganewgame!!!" thing?).

It's a gamer thing.

To me Microsoft has ruined gaming.

There are many things that 'could' ruin gaming for me if I let them. Draconian copy protection schemes, bug infested games, hardware requirements, etc., etc.

But I don't let them. It's not perfect in the gaming world but there is much fun to be had.

Many have had technical glitches with the online portion of the game. I did not try that part yet but I can say that I played the game for about 12 hours and it never crashed, glitched, or hiccupped. This was after starting two new games on separate planets and taking one all the way to the galactic stage and flying to about ten or twelve other planets. Of course I'm on XP and not Vista so I do not know how stable it is on Vista.

Graphics-wise it really is nothing to write home about but then again it does get the job done. The fact that you get to design not just your creature but later your buildings, vehicles, ships, and spaceships is very cool. At the galactic stage the scope of the game is just huge and a bit overwhelming but there is plenty to do and it's not just the same stuff over and over.

My first impressions are that this is a top-notch game with very high production values and huge amounts of replayability. For me each stage was done just about right with the tribal stage being about the hardest, at least for my creatures. The game had a lot of hype behind it and for the most part I can say it lives up to it.

I bought the Galactic Edition because it had so much to offer that you just don't get anymore these days. Rememeber the days when you would get little figurines, maps, big manuals, and sometimes whole books? Those days are gone so when they offer something like this for a mere 30 bucks more I jump on it.

For 30 bucks you get the 100 page Spore book, hard-cover book about the art and concepts, National Geographic DVD about how to build a better being, a DVD about the making of Spore, a poster (these used to be commonplace in the video games market), and a very nice plastic case that holds everything. For me it was well worth it.

Lots of people are downing the game and I figured it would happen given the hugely negative climate in gaming but let's face it - there is no game out there that will ever meet every one of your expectations. But gaming for me isn't about just one game but about many gaming moments combined. I remember staying up the night before my college finals just so I could beat XCOM and downing more coffee than is healthy for a horse just to pull it off. I remember playing Crusader: No Regret and No Remorse and finding new interesting ways of killing the bad guys. Nearly everything was destructible in the game and it had the classic office level where you could just go nutso and glass would be shattering everywhere. I remember just recently on Oblivion when I loaded it up and finally made it outside near the main city. The completely awe-inspiring visuals of the sunset just outside the main city gate caused me to just sit there and admire the view.

Gaming is about so much more than what one game delivers or how technically accurate it is. In the end it's about fun and if it's fun I'll play it even if it's Yars Revenge, Pitfall, or River Raid on the old Atari 2600, or RC Pro Am on the Nintendo, or Wing Commander on the PC, or Oblivion on the PC. If it's fun I'll play it.