Large RTS-style battles contrast with harmless child-oriented playing about with cute characters, while platformjumping levels move swiftly on to tiny calculator games, where you hand two numbers to a sheep and he brings you the result of both being added together. Just being shown a few of the custom-made adventures was enough to start my mind racing through the possibilities. There are all sorts of possibilities in the world editor, although the real fun comes from placing objects and creating your own adventure.Īs a fully registered and paid-up cynic, I expected Galactic Adventures to be a gimmicky load of nonsense, but I've got to admit that this could be huge. So my makeshift lake could become a frozen ice pond or a bubbling lake of lava. The water level can be increased or decreased, while environmental effects can be changed. It all fits together with water levels and such too, so if you create a deep enough depression, it fills with liquid. One thing I discovered quickly was that terrain can be easily morphed to fit whatever crazed plan you have in your head. Plonked down in front of a blank world, I got started clicking about and investigating what all the icons did.
Perhaps the best way to think about Galactic Adventures it is to imagine the Creature Creator, just a lot better, because instead of a utility to generate animalsand objects, you have an entire game-making suite at your disposal. What they'll see in Galactic Adventures may well send them to new levels of excitement, globules of spittle flying all over the place as they whip themselves into a frenzy of anticipation.Īs I tip-toed about the game, with my own personal Maxis representative answering my dumb questions along the way, it was obvious that GalacticĪdventures would be something special, especially for an expansion. The hubbub has quietened down, angergeeks have returned to badmouthing other easy targets, and actual Spore players (who, EA tells us, have created 98 million different in-game objects) can now be left to playing the game in peace. Months down the line and the first proper expansion for the game is peeping two goggly stalk-eyes over the parapet, checking that the coast is clear. Naturally then, the public (read "internet moaners") decided to unleash their nerd rage at EA and Maxis, saying Spore was rubbish, there was nothing to do and so on.
The Main Problem with the original Spore was that what people loved to do - use their imaginations to create wonderful and fantastic creatures - was overwhelmed by repetitive gameplay.