Spore has hit the 1 most wanted PC and DS game in many game websites and has proved itself to be a truely innovative game, some compare it to Gurren Lagaan of the PC gaming industry. Lacking online play however and a few other morally questionable issues has led it to become pirated widely. In the forums, someone instigated the public to download the game illegally because of something called DRM.
Want to find out what caused this amazing game’s demise? Read on to find out.
I have been a supporter of no-piracy for amazing games. Often, I would check out the trailers and reviews on a game before buying it. Sometimes I would even buy the demo. However, this time, an amazing game such as Spore has not gained my support, even as a lover of biology and a medical student. =(
Summary
Spore is a game, about evolution. Some would say it is about life, or humanity or even culture, with a common principle: All started with a cell. Eventually, you can become a herbivore that scours for vegetation or a carnivore to hunt others. A game with a goal of surviving natural selection, being the fittest by evolving. Limbs or cilia can be used for faster movement, spines and even poison for more added utility, allowing a player to play defensive or offensive, a game that is worthy to be the ‘evolution’ of gaming. Is it? We all know how EA can screw even the best game titles like CnC3 and refusing to fix it properly.
The game begins in many stages, I will outline it here.
Cell stage
Swimming in the sea, you begin as a cell. You are however not the first to have been created as predators existed. Like Pacman, you will need to run from predators and devour whatever food you can find. In here, you can already start to steer your cell to become the type you want depending on how you react to predators and prey.
Creature stage
Well, eventually, even cells become a collection of cells and your creation becomes a creature. First, I will compliment EA on being able to animate the creatures so realistically. Eventually, you can make your creature grow some parts, like eyes mouth and limbs. The variations you can have is amazing, from monkeys to raptors to fish… not joking… fish:
Creatures also have nests too and you can make friends or fight other nests. Not long later, you’ll arrive at a tribal stage.
Tribal stage
If tools clothes and fires are your thing, then this is the stage for you. If you treat this part fun and slowly explore the possibilities, it can be entertaining. However, for frequent gamers, this can be like an easy version of a RTS like WC3 and it will be over in no time.
Civilization Stage
This part is fun, you get to build your own structures, from scratch. WOOT. Even better, bomb cities of rival nations or dominate them with wealth. Violence is not the only way to solve things, but at least it gets things done faster most of the time. You can even design your own factories and gunships!! OMFG, this is when the fun becomes more like Gurren Lagaan.
Colonization Stage
Alas, it is time for the drill to pierce the heavens. Your creatures can go to outer space. NO… i’m not joking. This is the largest part of the game. Trading spice, breaking trade agreements, exploring space and transforming worlds. Even better, bring your friends creatures from online and fight them. There is no ‘online’ play however besides fighting their ghost. =( A lot of details are in there, not just the creature they made but the buildings they build etc etc, all from the early stages.
Overall thoughts
5 games packed into one, nothing as amazing as 5 dedicated games but the concept is truly astounding. Even the game bits I rate above average and they are not total bullcrap shit. The graphics and fluidity of its animation is remarkable too. Not to forget the customization. There is simply so much that the game can offer, giving it a moderate replay value, allowing to recreate creatures again and again. It may not be the deepest game but it is short fun that will make a mark in your head, especially the biology enthusiasts. Now the final question, to get it or not… it is a little pricy at 30 pounds but it is worth a shot.
WAAAAIIIIITTT…. Don’t take out your wallets yet. I said the game was worth a shot, even the pirated version is worth 20 pounds but not the real one.
Why?
Remember i mentioned DRM? YES DRM. It is known as Digital Rights Management whilst some others prefer Digital Restrictions Management. Spore can only be installed in a system thrice!! Once you format your computer a few times or have lap tops and desktops as separate wares, you will need to buy a new one. Meanwhile, the pirated version allows you to install on as many systems as you want, as many times as you want. The online play too is also not very… inspiring. WHY WHY WHY ELECTRONIC ARTS, DO YOU SCREW UP EVERY SINGLE GAME WORTHY OF MENTION OUT THERE. Anyway, if you want to ‘support’ EA for its innovation, be prepared to be chained down.
My thoughts on Piracy and DRM
Freedom comes at a price and I don’t want anybody to feel that he has a ‘right’ to pirate. However, this digital rights management doesn’t mean they have a right to control the games they want without announcing the DRM part of the game. Of course, many poor innocents may be tricked to buying the game before realizing that they can only install in on one computer once. Even the pricing is wrong ffs.
A more expensive alternative isn’t offered too. This game has already been massively pirated. If you want a game to be bought, use innovation, like ArenaNet of Guild Wars. Put juice in your game and people will buy them. Don’t strangle a game that has juice with restrictions. It gets the fucking juice out and nobody wants it anymore. If you want to put restrictions, mention it on the front cover! Of course if you think you won’t install it more than thrice, by all means take your wallet out.
EA… you failed me again. I know you have been working hard on changing your image and this is the first game you tried, but cut down on the greed… please? Gamers are wrong to pirate but GAMERS ARE YOUR CUSTOMERS. DRM just says that you don’t believe your game is good enough to last forever! See Xenogears, people still buy it now.
Of course I am not all talk and no action. I do use my brains. It would be nice to offer a password or email system allowing 1 account per computer and online log on. This way would be more acceptable than DRMs. Allow both DRM and non-DRM versions to be on the market. Most people who have computers can afford internet anyways, even if its a slow internet, all you need is a logon page. No two computers can log on at the same time. =O
10 Comments
September 15, 2008 at 8:21 pm
Well, I boycott DRM myself. And that doesn’t mean not buying, it means not pirating too.
Yeah, I haven’t been able to play Portal yet.
September 15, 2008 at 8:31 pm
I just bought Spores this weekend, but I didn’t even open the box. I installed the game from a pirated copy. *sigh*
Personally, I like neither pirating nor DRM. IMHO, it’s sort of a chicken-and-egg situation. People pirate games and DRM is born. A game has DRM and people pirate.
September 15, 2008 at 10:05 pm
I have bought it! Ah well. I wanted the downloadable content from other players. I will probably keep it around. DRM is silly, and EA sucks. EA should be burnt down. Razed. And stuff.
September 15, 2008 at 11:22 pm
I don’t like spores they make me sneeze.
September 16, 2008 at 2:05 am
In my house, the computer hooked up to the internet isn’t the gaming computer. The internet computer is good enough to run firefox, MS office, and the like. It’s a cheap computer but if it gets a virus, it’s no big deal. So DRM asise, even if I’d be allowed unlimited installs, the pain and bother of lugging my gaming computer up a level and plugging it in makes buying this game a hard sell.
I’ve also heard from people that I know that the game obviously had stuff stripped out of it to be used as expansion packs. This greed by EA further makes me less likely to buy the game. If you want a business to change it’s practice you need to hit where it hurts – their income.
And then we get to the concept of DRM. I don’t like to give money to people that treat me as a criminal right off the bat. Making me even less likely to buy the game.
As you can see, I’m probably not going to buy the game, even though I’ve been looking forward to it since the first time it was unveiled. And finally, at this point, the DRM only hurts your legitimate customers and strengthens the argument for pirating the game. But, I don’t see myself pirating the game, I’d rather continue playing excellent games Civ4 or Medieval 2:Total War or the DRM-free Gal Civ 2.
September 16, 2008 at 8:33 am
The characters were scary.. at the same time CUTE!
September 17, 2008 at 3:46 pm
DRM AIDs. Are you running Vista?
September 18, 2008 at 7:20 am
Anonymous -> DRM is a chain to punish legal players, not pirates.
Uhsieh -> Which CD key did you enter? the original or the pirate? To access online play, you’ll need the original, but its not much really.
Panther -> Agreed. EA sucks.
thenullset -> I understand how you feel, EA has never bothered to listen to customer advice, now they are trying to change the way they release games. However, their money making concept is hurting the legal players and not the pirates. Thats what is going wrong. Meanwhile, they hurt their own income too. I want to hammer the right shit into their head, but they will never get it. EA is a company focused on money making and not customer satisfaction like blizzard, hence they buy smaller companies and use the fame of their titles, which is quite sad.
Nagato -> I am running Vista.
September 19, 2008 at 5:04 am
My computer isn’t powerful enough to run this ):
September 20, 2008 at 5:37 am
My situation is the same as Shin’s. I need a new computer…Or Chii.