Spore: In Depth Review: Part 2: Solo Creature Phase

Or better named: The Solo Creature Until You Get a Larger Brain and Then Become a Pack Phase.

In this phase ones goals are to find food, avoid being eaten (much like the cell phase) and make friends. I also got some sort of special ability called Siron Call that I have no idea what exactly it did except make my creature sing out. Your other goals in this phase are to get points called DNA which equates to money that you can spend to modify your creature, and in the process you get a larger brain.

To gather DNA you need to either kill other creatures or befriend them. Since I had choosen to be a herbavour I wasn't interested in killing the other creatures so for me to gather DNA I ran around befriending as many of them as possible. A task that was kind of neat and felt a little like Close Encounters of the Third Kind the first time I did it, but then quickly became a repetitively boring game of simon says where the creature you wish to befriend performs some move or manuver and you have to copy it with your creature. Interestingly enough if your creature has a very high skill in one manuver, in some cases you can simply perform that manuver over and over and still achive the desired effect, while in other cases no matter how perfect you as a player copies the creature your trying to befriend: If your creature doesn't have a high enough skill they won't befriend you. No fret though, since most creatures are harmless and wont eat you wether you make them your allies or not. (At least for me. I know the game is based on player content (or supposed to be), but I'm sorry it was utterly peaceful most of the time; With the scariest creature I met being some giant-green-spider looking thing that I managed to befriend.

The idea of collecting food and staying alive can make for a very exciting game. However, I'm sad to say while the concept sounds exciting it really falls flat on it's face in Spore. Most of the creatures I ran across were not interested in eating me, and even those who might think to nibble on me were extremely easy to befriend.

Things might have been a little bit more interesting if I had been a carnivour, but some how I doubt it. At one point I was amused when a UFO flew in and started abducting creatures. However, it didn't bother me. (Too bad, I would have loved to have seen the inside of their space ship. :P )