 | ON: Content is age-appropriate for kids this age. |
 | PAUSE: Know your child; some content may not be right for some kids. |
 | OFF: Not age-appropriate for kids this age. |
 | NOT FOR KIDS: Not appropriate for kids any age. |
Spore
- Nintendo DS, Windows, Mac
- Price: $49.99
- Genre: Simulation
Common Sense Media says
This exceptional evolution sim is a masterpiece.
Parents say
QUALITY
Kids say
QUALITY
What parents need to know
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.
What's it about?
For a game that's seven years in the making and more than a year past its planned launch, a lot is riding on SPORE, the latest simulation from celebrated game designer Will Wright. Spore might best be described as an evolution simulation. You goal is to create a unique species from scratch and through careful nurturing, interaction with other life forms and developing new technologies, you'll advance through the five main stages, each of which plays out almost as a separate game altogether.
In the Cell Stage, for example, you control a teeny microorganism by navigating through a primordial pond and consuming other cells in a primal survival of the fittest. You'll eventually grow larger, sprout legs and lungs, and venture out onto dry land for the Creature Stage. Now you must explore your environment, hunt for food (you choose whether your creature is a carnivore or herbivore), collect new body parts and other items (used to design a faster or stronger being) and mate with other critters (don't worry, no "act" is seen, other than two beings swooning underneath floating pink hearts). This stage might prove difficult for newbies because even though you follow the onscreen instructions carefully when greeting new species, you can fail to impress other tribes by dancing or singing. Without these alliances, it can take you a while to reach the next stage by hunting alone. The next stages -- Tribal, Civilization, and Space -- are reminiscent of real-time strategy games, where you're collect resources, explore different cultures, and use diplomacy or war to reach your goals.
Is it any good?
While not for everyone because of its geeky bioanthropological premise, and it certainly can get challenging despite a clean interface and many helpful tips and hints, EA's Spore is an ingenious concept delivered in near flawless execution. Not only is it hands-down the best computer game of the year so far, but is also one of the deepest and most gratifying titles to grace your monitor in a decade. If only Darwin was alive to see this.
What 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?
- Show:
- All members
- Parents
- Teens & kids
Kid, 12 years old
May 29, 2011
AGE
Some violence, 8+
Very realistic evolution sim with fantastic creature creator and smooth gameplay. Good for people 8 and older who like creating people or creatures and playing with them and developing them. The idea of a role playing game where a creature is the main character is one that, in my opinion, should be used more often.
Was this review useful?
|
|
AGE
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.
Was this review useful?
|
|
AGE
Simple enough for younger kids, but the online portion is questionable on occasion
This game is not exactly as educational as it is "cute" and "cartoony" (which was not the original feel of the game). You control a creature from a cell (or should I say simple, multicellular organism) to a space-faring race. I was clearly targeted more for boys, as there are no signs of female anythings in the game. It is not as educational as it sounds, as there is very little realism. What you create can be shared to the online "sporepedia", an encyclopedia of sorts for the creations on Spore. The online portion is not very well controlled, and on occasion an inappropriate creation will pass by the eyes of the moderators. There is no blood in the game, and the "red explosions" mentioned are actually pink/purple. This game was originally planned for release far before 2008 and was shown in demo back in 2003-04. The demo was much more realistic, and the released version strayed far from it, angering many of the fans. This game has more of a "silly" feel to it than an educational one.
Was this review useful?
|
|
AGE
Amazing!
Spore is one of the best PC games to ever excist. You can build creatures, buildings, cells, almost anything. The violence is mild, and the only blood I saw in spore was when you stabbed cells with a spike, but the blood was purple. The only thing you need to be worried about is user created content. Which can be reported.
Was this review useful?
|
|
AGE
Over-Hyped Mess
Spore looked like a real good game in 2006! It was a deep, and interesting life simulator! Unfortunately, the finished product was none of these things. The game is essentially four half-baked mini-games and a somewhat entertaining sandbox at the end. The first stage is cell stage. You swim around eating stuff. That's it. Creature stage. You run around with ridiculously over-specialized creatures either befriending everyone or killing everyone. It's mindless DNA (XP) grinding. For this, the creature creator is almost fully cosmetic. Your creature has eight legs and eyes on it's back? It performs as if it were a human. Parts are based on stats that don't stack, so you could have a one-legged blob with a couple of stat parts that works exactly the same way as a humanoid creature would. In tribal stage, you either throw concerts with everyone or slaughter your foes until you are the only one left. In Civ stage, you see one of the laziest attempts at an RTS ever. In this stage, you run around preaching, buying, or killing. The end. Now, for the last stage, you have Space. This is actually a sort of OK stage. You fly around doing missions and exploring, which can be a good way to waste hours of potential productivity. Overall, Spore is just a collection of levels, with a mainly cosmetic set of editors. The add-on Galactic Adventures makes the game somewhat more tolerable, but the complexity limit for everything is unacceptable. On the technical side, many computers will be able to handle this game, but the big problem here is the DRM. You can only install this game 3 times. The DRM that enforces this is also a rootkit, which means that it latches on to your computer and can't be removed with anything short of a full wipe of your hard-drive. Since neither the manual nor game box inform the customer of this, EA is illegally installing a rootkit with this game, and in fact two class action lawsuits have been filed against the corporation. To sum everything up, the description for this game given by this website is completely wrong, the game is definitely not worth your money. There's a reason this game has a 4.6/10 aggregate user score on Metacritic.
Was this review useful?
|
|
Kid, 11 years old
November 1, 2010
AGE
great!
great game, like sim city 4, but smaller and more about the figuring out how to stop being little stupid cells and become super orginizems
Was this review useful?
|
|
Kid, 12 years old
January 17, 2011
AGE
e.g. Great game. And very cool.
This game rocks! But in the tribe stage you fight with waepons like torches and other stuff.
Was this review useful?
|
|
AGE
Best game eva
Its an an awesome game you don't need to worry
Was this review useful?
|
|
AGE
Fun, but violent!
I love spore! It's soooo cool! But it's gross when your monster eats someone else's monster cause ther's blood, monsters bite eachother!
Was this review useful?
|
|
AGE
BEST GAME EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!
The only thing is animated violence and a little tiny bit of blood. It's really cool because it teaches you that life on another planet can be just about anything!
Was this review useful?
|
|
| Platforms: | Nintendo DS, Windows, Mac |
| Available online? | Available online |
| Genre: | Simulation |
| Developer: | Electronic Arts |
| Release date: | September 7, 2008 |
| Price: | $49.99 |
| ESRB rating: | E10+ for Comic Mischief, Fantasy Violence, Animated Blood |
Contact us to give us more feedback on our learning ratings.
Review It
Tell us what you think about our new Learning Ratings.
Great alternatives handpicked by our editors
Already played it? What do you think?
More from Common Sense Media
Top advice and articles
