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Spore

(2008, Video Games - Simulation, Rated E10+, Play it on: Mac/Windows, Nintendo DS, iPhone, iPod)
  • Is it age appropriate?

    About our ratings

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    Not age appropriate for kids under 7, age appropriate for kids over 10; suggested age 10.
  • Is it any good?

    5.0
  • Common Sense says

    This exceptional evolution sim is a masterpiece.

updated 09.18.08

Why We Rated This on for Ages 10 and Up

The good stuff

  • Educational value:

    This game is a hands-on interactive experiment in how life could have evolved.
  • Messages:

    The game lets you customize a character from scratch, including their eating habits (carnivore, herbavore or omnivore) and those early decisions have an impact on your creature's social behavior throughout the game. All of your actions have consequences, so that your previous actions will affect interactions with new species. If you have been a war-mongering species, and then decide to try to build alliances, new species may not trust you.
 

What to watch out for

  • Violence :

    The game can be played passively or aggressively. In the latter, when creatures battle each other for food or territory, they can kill or eat another creature. Some mild cartoon violence is shown with blood, but there are no details. Creatures will fall over and die. In the primordial soup stage, a red explosion (depicting blood) is shown when you eat another. Combat goals can include killing off enough of another species so as to cause genocide.
  • Sex:

    Creatures can mate, but you only see dancing under floating pink hearts.
  • Language:

    Not an issue.
  • Consumerism:

    Not an issue.
  • Drinking, drugs, & smoking:

    Not an issue.
 

What Parents Need to Know

About Spore

Parents need to know that this game features some mild violence and blood, specifically pertaining to fighting against other creatures. The violence is shown thorough cartoonish graphics which lack of any real detail. You can be tasked with killing enough of another species as to cause genocide. The game also lets you "mate" with others but you only see the two swooning together with tasteful floating hearts. Consequences of your actions is a big part of the gameplay, so that aggressive behavior does have a cost. The online aspect of this game allows you to send the creatures you create into the Spore universe to help populate the game for others playing it and vice versa. While the Spore universe is monitored, parents worried about the creativity of others when making creatures that might appear to be sexual or offensive (know as "Sporn") can opt to turn off the online aspects. This is a game in which you are in control of a species' evolution.

Did this review help you decide?

Families Can Talk About

  • Families can talk about how Spore is both a game and a simulation designed to mirror real life, human interaction, and our evolutionary course. Why did you decide to design your creature as you did? If you played as a carnivore, will you go back in a see what it is like to be an herbivore? Did you find that you liked being aggressive or did you spend you time trying to build alliances? What did you think of the collaborative nature of the Sporepedia? Have you seen other creatures that fascinated you?
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Our Members Say

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  • What did you think about Spore?
  •  I think this game is

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See all 10 member reviews

Most Recent Reviews

  1. Teen Reviewer
    Age 15
    Lives in Texas
    I rate this title on for age 13 and give it 5.0

      • My highlights are:
      • Educational
      • Safety isn't an issue
      • Easy to play

      Easy to play and very fun!

      I love this game! Its so fun! Its cool to make your own creatures and raise them!

    • Parent Reviewer
      Lives in Virginia
      Kids ages: 20, 25
      I rate this title on for age 10 and give it 5.0

        • My highlights are:
        • Educational
        • Positive messages
        • Easy to play

        Love that kids learn by experimenting.

      • Teen Reviewer
        Age 15
        Lives in Ohio
        I rate this title on for age 9 and give it 4.0

        Awesome

        This game has awesome God-like abilities and amazing things to discover. Hours of endless fun!

      • Kid Reviewer
        Age 12
        Lives in Minnesota
        I rate this title on for age 8 and give it 4.0

        GREAT!

        Great game, when it first came out i was hoping for a little more than it gave me but it is still great! There is nothing bad about it exept for a little blood.

      • Teen Reviewer
        Age 13
        Lives in Rhode Island
        I rate this title on for age 10 and give it 4.0

        Great game, but the hype is wrong

        Will Wright's "Spore" is a good addition to the library of games he's "created" The story is all created by you besides cutscenes between levels. You control a small microorganism in the first level, eventually growing lungs and going unto land. Here you can make alliances, hunt other animals and mate. The violence is cartoonish in nature with no blood, so no worries there. As for the "mating" it's just the two creatures dancing under a thing of hearts. Eventually, you pass the tribal and civil stages to get to the Space Stage, where the game really excells. You can explore planets, make alliances, have wars or buy and sell planets, the eventual goal being to go to the Galactic Center. Overall a great game with exellent content creators and online sharing. However, the game is almost shallow compared to it's earlier demoes. Still, a great game.

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