 | 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 Galactic Adventures
- Windows
- Price: $29.99
- Genre: Action/Adventure
Common Sense Media says
Decent but expensive expansion pack to fun sim game.
Parents say
Kids say
What parents need to know
Parents need to know that Galactic Adventures, which requires Spore to play, doesn't contain anything worse than what's found in the original E10+-rated game. There is some fighting, yes, but it's not realistic because it is against aliens on another planet. There is a little blood shown in battles but it is not excessive or gory.
What's it about?
The first expansion pack to Electronic Arts' popular evolution simulation, Spore, is now available. SPORE GALACTIC ADVENTURES adds a lot of content to the Space portion of the original game (which is required to play this add-on), including many story-based adventures and the ability to create and share your own playable missions (including collecting, combat, and exploring objectives). Players turn their advanced creature into Space Captains (and decorate them with more than 30 new items), battle intergalactic monsters in arenas, and show off their rank on a global Creature Card that shows their accomplishments and medals to the online world.
Is it any good?
If you've been playing Spore for months and feel like it needs a shot in the arm, then you'll find Spore Galactic Adventures successfully blends in mission-based game-play (complementing the open-ended sandbox play in the original game) as you beam down to the planet surface to tackle these goals. Along with more combat, puzzles and racing elements, it's fun to create and share custom-made goals on Spore.com. New creature accessories also add to the appeal, especially for those who like to tweak the look of their space captains. But the $30 price tag seems high for an expansion pack, particularly when the full Spore game is just $10 more. While a good add-on pack, its value seems for appropriate at $20 (if not less). That said, this add-on disc proves to be a clever addendum for fans of the franchise.
Online interaction: You can create and then share your own playable missions. Plus your accomplishments can be shared with the rest of the world through your global Creature Card.
What families can talk about
Families can talk about EA's practice of selling a main PC game and then many expansion packs, or optional add-ons, that require the original disc. Do you think this is milking customers for more money or is the smaller cost appropriate given the amount of new content?
Spore is a game about designing your own animal species. Why did you make the design decisions that you did? Does your species become your alter ego the way an avatar does?
- Show:
- All members
- Parents
- Teens & kids
AGE
Entertaining, but possibly inappropriate
This is a hard game to rate, considering that it is up to the players to make missions. A player could make an inappropriate mission or creature. Maxis can ban a player for this, but with so many creations, some may slip through.
Most missions involve violence, but little other questionable contet. I have encountered one use of a**, but it was by a brazilian, which may be a lighter cuss-word there, but I don't know. A strange deal was made for this; Robot Chicken missions. Why Maxis would have Robot Chicken make missions I don't know, but they are seperately rated (T). The missions are also downloaded optionally.
Was this review useful?
|
|
Kid, 11 years old
August 7, 2011
AGE
One of the best games ever made
This is so great, I used to play it SOO much. The best part of it is that you make missions to expand the universe you live in, and you also play them! A++
Was this review useful?
|
|
| Platforms: | Windows |
| Available online? | Available online |
| Genre: | Action/Adventure |
| Developer: | Electronic Arts |
| Release date: | June 23, 2009 |
| Price: | $29.99 |
| ESRB rating: | E10+ for Animated Blood, Comic Mischief, Fantasy Violence |
Contact us to give us more feedback on our learning ratings.
Review It
Screenshots
1 of 2
2 of 2
Tell us what you think about our new Learning Ratings. We value your feedback.
Great alternatives handpicked by our editors
Already played it? What do you think?
More from Common Sense Media
Top advice and articles
