Although I said I wouldn’t be able to get hold of Spore for a few more weeks luckily I was wrong and I got hold of it the other day. Since then I’ve been losing a lot of my life to the game, although it’s initially hard to discover why. The problem I have with Spore is that it’s an absolutely excellent idea but the gameplay built around it can become pretty repetitive and, foremost, it lacks a lot of depth. However, the wonderment of it all overrides this extremely basic gameplay.

It’s an absolute joy to explore the universe of Spore, and it makes it even more of an amazing experience when you know that each and every creation that populates your very own galaxy is created by other players. For example, once I’d jumped out of the cell stage of Spore and made it on to land I came across a nest inhabited by a herd of creatures that looked remarkably like elephants, except they all sported nice little mustaches. It’s really unlike any game as you know that each and every time you load Spore up you’ll discover something new, and that’s why Spore is - by far - one of my best gaming experiences of the last few years. To get this experience though you really have to immerse yourself in the game, you have to begin to love your creations and get past the linear gameplay.

Spore is also a big experiment in new technology and I think that everything that goes on in the background while you play will pave the way for games that will use this technology in new and exciting ways. Spore isn’t perfect, and if you’re not a creative person that you may hate it. I do believe that expansions are absolutely needed this time around though, as there’s so much more that can be done with the Spore technology.

I’ll have a full review of the game up sometime in the next few days (or you can check my review round-up here). I also be doing some Spore diary posts over on my other blog if you want to check those out. Feel free to share your stories in the comments section as I look forward to hearing them.