Post by Enchant on Jun 8, 2006 8:30:43 GMT -5
Spore, a new simulation game from The Sims creator Will Wright, made a big splash with a detailed hands-on demo at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles last month. The game allows players to create a character that will evolve from a single-celled organism into an advanced being, joining herds, clans and civilizations on planets that become increasingly more complex and dangerous.
Electronic Arts' 20-minute demo highlighted key points in the game, and Spore won several E3 awards. The 1up.com Web site named the title best of show; the Game Critics Awards named it best original game, best PC game and best simulation game; and IGN.com called it the PC game of the show and most innovative design.
The demo began with the creature editor, which starts with a basic blob of DNA with vertebra. From there, everything—body shape, limbs, eyes, claws, hands, mouths, feet and color, textures and patterns—can be modified. The creature editor can animate the character and show what the creature will look like walking, fighting and playing.
With a newly created creature, the demo dove into real gameplay that showed off the massive variety of creatures running around the landscape, some of which were dangerous and some of which were food. As the game timelapses into the future, the creatures can end up flying UFOs, being abducted for transplant to other planets, getting caught in a tractor beam or thrown around the landscape. Its information can be scanned for entry into the "Sporepedia," a catalog of every creature. The game can be zoomed out to the view of the entire galaxy, filled with millions of planets and an almost infinite amount of gameplay.
Spore can be played at any level: cell, wild creature, civilized and organized society, planetary or interstellar levels or online, connecting with other worlds and other gamers. Spore is due sometime in 2007 for the PC.Source: scifi.com